F26 Poor Mans Boat Air Conditioner

[vabeach1234]

Well I just couldn't bring myself to pay $1600 on air conditioning for my 1972 F26 Hardtop Express. And I couldn't bring myself to cut a whole in the fiberglass to install a window unit just infront of the passenger seat like I've seen often. So here's my answer.

Parts:
Goldstar 5000 BTU window unit.
3 New Hinges
Extra cabin door from Ebay. (I didn't want to destroy the original)
Perko lockset
Painted Steel Grate (from Home Depot) to protect A/C fins
Spare pieces of wood
Screws.

http://s853.photobucket.com/albums/ab96 ... nditioner/

What do you think?

Call me cheap but I'm cool and it only takes 500 watts and 4.8 amps to run it so I can run it off the inverter while away from shore power.

Ken

[wvernie]

How many watts is your inverter? I saw a Trojan in a marina in Jax. Fl. and he installed his AC in the wall beside the cabin door..I believe his was a 1976 YachtCruiser and it looked like a neat job on installing it. I think you have a good idea and saved yourself some greenstamps staying cool in the process.

[vabeach1234]

My inverter is the following:

The XPower Inverter 1500
http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/165/p/1/pt/29/product.asp

It's 1500 watts continuous and 3000 watts surge. I bought it at Costco for $90.00 2 years ago. I couldn't believe it was so cheap.

I need to start building a battery bank so I can run the A/C longer.

[prowlersfish]

Ok your cheap . but hay it works it looks prttey good too .
nice Job !

[JuiceClark]

Didn't think of that...mine was a lot more work:

...waiting until the neighbors were out of town
...getting in their dirty bilge - hot and dirty
...disattaching their compressors
...carrying them all the way down the seawall to my boat
...etc. etc.

[prowlersfish]

Juice can I have at least 1 a/c Back ? and next time take the a/c out of the top not the bottom !

[Sea Ya]

My inverter is the following:

The XPower Inverter 1500
http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/165/p/1/pt/29/product.asp


I need to start building a battery bank so I can run the A/C longer.

How long can you run a/c when engine is on charging the batteries? Does ithe Inverter get real hot? I have a 71' F26 I want to run a window unit. 5K BTU's I need an inverter to run the A/C when under way. Any unforseen problems? Anyone. i have 2 batteries I can get more. Any problem hooking up like 4 batteries in parralel < spelling?

[rossjo]

Batteries in parallel work great for powering items,:) but the difficulty is in charging. The problem is that a charger will charge the battery with the least resistance (the best battery) and the others (the high resistance, older batetries) will suffer. In the end, only 1 or 2 batteries in your completely parallel setup get charged, so you don;t really get 4x with 4 in parallel.

You need a charging systems that charges each battery seapately - whihc gets expensive, because you need to use thes ebatteries in paralle, so you end up with a compelx (expensive) switching or diode based charging system..

The alternative (used for years in the telecom industry) is 48Volt DC - whihc uses 4 2 Volt betteries in Sereies. This charegs and discharges nicely with a sinlge charger - but ihas a weakness in that the whole ssytem could be come disabled if ANY of the batteries go bad (high resistance) blcoking the power or simply reducing t well below 48 volts

I've been planning a design with 2 parallel banks of 4 each 12 volts batteries in series = 2x48V Series banks ...with 48VDC solar panels to charge. Then use a surplus 48VDC > 120VAC inverter .

[vabeach1234]

I just wanted to bump this post. The old site that I posted the photos to doesn't exist anymore. So I added them to my photo bucket site. And I think someone on here was inquiring about cheap solutions to air condition.

http://s853.photobucket.com/albums/ab96 ... nditioner/

FYI, the A/C that I installed has the compressor (the heavy end of the unit) on the door latch side of the door. I've seen the same air conditioner under a different name with the compressor on the hinge side of the door (basically a mirror image of my air conditioner) which would be ideal due to less moment/torque on the door hinges.

Ken

[prowlersfish]

Ken the posting was under Gauges ( you know how things get side tracked)

[mytrojan]

I bought a small a/c unit for $70 at Walmart. Fits in cabin window perfect-no modification needed.


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[1967 seavoyager]

We have a guy that got a rooftop for a camper & put it in the bow hatch. about $650.00

[guglielmo6160]

when I purchase my 71 F31 the original heat /ac unit was mounted on the wall foward of the head, and inbetween the dinette and the head. I was told this was an original unit, of course it didnt work, it was raw water fed. so for now I removed it and put in a unit. It works great , but needless to say the head is like an oven, being it vents into the head. My plan is to install a permanent marine type set up this coming spring, my setup is just to white trash for me, LOL but it does work.[img][img]http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo63 ... 0_0723.jpg[/img][/img]

[jathomps68]

I bought a small a/c unit for $70 at Walmart. Fits in cabin window perfect-no modification needed.

Sure wasn't expensive. How effectively does it cool down your boat?