What powers the cabin a/c in the offshore boats? I see some boats have shore power, others have full. Can someone explain? Does the boat need to have a generator to run the ac and other electronics inside, or does it run off of an inverter powered by the alternators on the engine?

Is there a 12v ac system? What comes in the Fountain 38 Lightning?

A/C units need 120V service. Either get it from the docks or bring a genset. Inverter power will need at least 2,500 watts and will kill 2 regular batteries in 2-3 hours.

Most of my buddies (and I) carry the Honda 2000 which powers a 10,000 BTU A/C if you install a "hard start" kit on the A/C power supply line.

Either inverter or genset. Some guys have had success with inverters, but they have limited hrs of A/C. gensets are a pain. On my 382 I have to shut the water pickup when running at speed,to the gen,so it does not flood with water. Also I cannot run gen underway at high speed because of water pickup out of the water. It works well at idle or at anchor.

why wont a genset work while at cruising speeds?

Because the A/C and some on the gensets are water cooled. And while at cruising speeds it is highly possible to starve the units of water

There is a 12 volt A/C system available, but it also requires special batteries. I have seen some boats that have auto compressors mounted on the engines for A/C. But when at dockage the boat would have to idle.....and who wants a load boat running just to cool the cabin!

I replaced the scoop-style pickup with a flush one and fixed this problem.

Was that just a simple swap out? I'd like to be able to run the AC while moving. Also, 382 Newbie mentioned he shuts the supply line off while runnning-I never do and haven't run into any siiues. Should I be shutting it off?

Check out Mermaid. They have a system that will start and run off of an inverter and deep cycle marine batter for approx. 6-8 hours. http://www.mmair.com/marine_division/air_conditioning

It could be done, You would want to rig a through hull pickup into a sea-strainer. The sea strainer would need a very specific pressure relief valve with an overboard dump. This would keep the sea strainer full with just enough water to consistently feed the A/C unit.

You lookn' for a REALLY simple install and will defintely run even at a 100mph no plumbing necessary?!

http://kooleraire.com/