Marinette Boat Forum

There's a roof hatch in the forward berth of my 30' M. I'm guessing it's a 14x14 opening which would be the right size for an A/C unit. Anyone use it for that? Would save from having to cut another hole in the hull.

You might find that an AC unit that would fit in the hatch... Cruise N Carry comes to mind is too small to do the job in most our Ms

If you are in a covered slip a small unit would help.

Most our Ms require a min. of 14K=16K btu units.


safe harbors,

dave

I would not block that access/exit. I consider that an escape hatch as much as I do ventilation.

Yikes. I was thinking 8,000 btu would be plenty based on square footage. Kinda thinking about a portable at this point. I plan to enclose the aft deck in canvas so I t would be nice to have a/c or heat I can move around.

8k BTU might get the interior reasonable on a cloudy day, but the great thing/bane of our Big M's is the glass. I made new curtains for mine with liner blocking material between the glass and the actual curtain material. That helps with keeping some of the solar radiation from heating the interior but it still gets "HOT" sitting in the uncovered slip on a sunny day. I have a single 16K BTU on the boat (Cruisaire) which feeds air thru insulated ductwork to the dressing area adjacent to the forward berth and into the salon area. If you're unsure, contact a heating and air conditioning company and ask them to do a load check for the boat. While they deal in homes, a boat such as ours shouldn't present too much of a problem to determine what size would be correct.

Bill

A couple of us have put low profile air conditions on roof. I have a 16000 btu carrier & it keeps it in the 60s on a hot day. Wayne

shelbygt wrote:There's a roof hatch in the forward berth of my 30' M. I'm guessing it's a 14x14 opening which would be the right size for an A/C unit. Anyone use it for that? Would save from having to cut another hole in the hull.

Shelbygt,
I went with two of these type of units for my 37' I used a smaller btu unit in the v berth and a larger with heat for the salon.
http://www.homedepot.com/b/Heating-Vent ... 5yc1vZc4m4
I was able to use the side windows for venting.
bill

Bill, how do the portables work for you? I'm thinking it might be nice to be able to move the heating and cooling source around. Any drawbacks to it though? What brand did you go with or would you recommend?

Yes, I went with the Haier brand. They do a good job. I bought them mainly for use at night. As some said you cant have to much ac on a boat and stay away from the Cruisair units they ain't worth the hassle of installing, I mounted mine so as not to be portable. I didn't want them rolling around while underway.
bill