is it worth having a cabin air conditioner installed

S

sea ray sundancer boy

New Member
Jun 29, 2010
30
waukegan harbor illinois
Boat Info
1989 sea ray 250 sundancer
Engines
5.7 mercruiser alpha 1
I just bought my 1989 sea ray 250 sundancer and it doesnt have air conditioning for the cabin. im wondering if it would be worth having the dealer install it over the winter or not.
 
many questions......do you have a genny ? will need one to run AC underway... How much time do you spend on your boat in the summer ? enough to warrant the expense of the AC ? 3- 4 thousand approx... .....consider an option.....I use dockside a stand alone upright AC, so I don't have to run the boats AC.....it has a small footprint...approx 18 x 18 inches....and overall does a pretty good job.....costs about 300- 350.....
 
kg4vgh said:
many questions......do you have a genny ? will need one to run AC underway... How much time do you spend on your boat in the summer ? enough to warrant the expense of the AC ? 3- 4 thousand approx... .....consider an option.....I use dockside a stand alone upright AC, so I don't have to run the boats AC.....it has a small footprint...approx 18 x 18 inches....and overall does a pretty good job.....costs about 300- 350.....
Click to expand...


WHAT BRAND A/C ??? BTU's??
 
if i had one installed over the winter it would probably be a marine-airr unit. i would want probably around 12,000 to 16,000 btus since i like it cold. i plan on maybe staying on it for most of the summer not that theres that much left this year but next year and maybe even making it my permenant residence. have to research that part more a friend of mine lives on his 320 dancer 1/2 the year in waukegan and the other 1/2 year in hammond in the year round section.
 
I guess it depends on the climate there. I wouldn't even consider it here but we probably have a milder climate.
Are you sure you want to live on a 25' Sundancer? If you are... make sure you get moorage where you have lotsa' room to move around cuz' the boat will be a bedroom basically. Creature comforts like cable and internet are (I think) a must!
 
the boat came with a 32 inch flat screen tv that the previous owner installed. the marina offers satillite/cable tv and wifi so that should be ok there. only thing is even though the sales manager claims that the cabins dont get too hot with the hatches and cabin door open.... im not real sure that i can swallow that since it is sitting in the sun and getting the suns reflection off of the water. he says it has something to do with the deck being white.
 
I have a 245 sundancer and I am not that far from you climate wise. It gets hot in the cabin. It seems like unless there is a stiff breeze in the right direction there is no air coming in the hatch. I put a fan in but it just moves hot air around. It might be OK after the sun goes down but brutal until then. I have already decided I need a bigger boat with a/c. I don't think its worth the money to put it in this boat. I would just be cold cramped and have 2 grand less to spend on a bigger boat. I think the only thing I might try is the Sam's club version mentioned earlier. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
sea ray sundancer boy said:
the boat came with a 32 inch flat screen tv that the previous owner installed. the marina offers satillite/cable tv and wifi so that should be ok there. only thing is even though the sales manager claims that the cabins dont get too hot with the hatches and cabin door open.... im not real sure that i can swallow that since it is sitting in the sun and getting the suns reflection off of the water. he says it has something to do with the deck being white.
Click to expand...
If your thinking about A/C your already thinking about a bigger boat whether you want to admit it or not!
 
sea ray sundancer boy said:
only thing is even though the sales manager claims that the cabins dont get too hot with the hatches and cabin door open.... im not real sure that i can swallow that since it is sitting in the sun and getting the suns reflection off of the water. he says it has something to do with the deck being white.
Click to expand...

I just sold my pontoon boat and went with an '89 220SD. I was worried about how hot the cabin would get, but was pleasantly surprised at how cool it can be. I was out there today, with the temps near 90, and it was actually cooler in the cabin than it was in the cockpit, with the bimini up. I'd definitely install a wall mounted fan to move the air around. Of course, without the hatch open it will be a lot hotter. As far as the white hull color reflecting the heat, that's true, but I also think the lake/sea water cools the hull from below also. Anyway, if you have money to burn get the AC, if not go a season without it and judge for yourself. One other thing, if you spend most of your time at the dock your cabin might be a lot hotter than if you're out in open water. At my dock it does get hot, especially since the wind generally comes from the starboard side, and not from the bow, so the hatch doesn't catch as much air.
 
Last edited:
Billnpat.....
It's a Haier, 14000 btu....I try not to use the onboard AC/heat at the dock.....low tide sometimes gets to low and I suck mud up into the pump and filter.....
 
I have a 2006 240 Sundancer and just had a Mermaid M6 6500 btu A/C unit installed by a marina that specializes in A/C and generators. These are just my opinions: I considered waiting a season to see if I REALLY needed A/C in this boat. Also looked at portable units and talked to others who use the portable hatch-mount A/C units to get some opinions.

We are having a heat wave in the northeast and the cabin in my 240 has been intolerable for over a month. Big O2 fans and opening the hatch did very little to help my situation. While many folks are happy with portable A/C units, I decided I did not want the hassle of storing/carrying/mounting/adjusting.

So, I opted for the factory-like installation. The unit was installed behind a panel in the aft cabin so no storage space was lost. Two ducts were run: one to the V-berth and one in the aft cabin, and a programmable thermostat came with it. The unit also has reverse cycle heat for the colder months.

This was absolutely the best decision for me. Just returned from using the boat over the long holiday weekend and I never slept better. It's also nice to be able to retreat to the cabin on a humid 95 degree day to take a break during the day.

If you can afford it, I believe the factory-like A/C installation is the best option. For that size boat, I wouldn't think you would require anything over 10,000 btus.
 
Too large a unit is as bad as too small a unit. 12K - 16K is overkill for that boat and will not cool as well as a properly sized unit. It will cool the air and shut down so fast, it will never remove the humidity.
 
Does your boat have a generator? If not, you can only run the AC unit when hooked up to shore power.

That is....

Unless you get a portable genny...

I think there is a whole nother thread on here about those...:wow:
 
I installed a 9,000 BTU unit in my previous boat in 1988. One summer without air conditioning was a learning experience. The boat didn't have a generator, but that wasn't an issue most of the time. I considered a portable, but decide that would be stupid, so when the "I gotta haves" started to mount, I traded up to a boat that had the things I wanted.

As David said, 12+K BTUs is way too much capacity for that size boat. 6-7,000 is sufficient, but I went with a slightly larger unit. The 9,000 was a bit too big and didn't dehumidify really well on cool nights.
 
i found a local marina that does air conditioning installations and the owner is friends of the owner of the marina i am temporally keeping my boat at .... however that may change since the chain of lakes is nice. he told me he would install a 9,000 btu marine airr unit with heat as well for approx. $ 2800.00 over the winter months. now that it seems to run much better with the new prop and some carb adjustments i will probably keep it so sounds like a winter project. just wish it would run faster than 38 to 42 mph.
 
$2800 installed sounds about right. Make sure your condensate is running to the shower sump or via a condensator venturi over the side.
 
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