Robski97
Well-Known Member
U earned the wrenches on that one! JOB WELL DONE ...
Rob
Rob
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Brian-
This is a common issue with 44DBs. I battled with Sea Ray when my boat was new. Local A/C tech told me that the flow from the salon A/C was too small. Sea Ray's answer was that CruisAir signed off on the design. Here's what I have done the following things to address, and for the most part rectify, the issue:
1- I have had 90% sun shades made for the side windows and a 100% (blue sunbrella) for the front window that I use when temperatures are forecast to be 95 or above (which has been all too frequent this year).
2- The outflow of the salon unit was quite restricted from the factory. The opening of the vent at the bottom of the register in the salon was considerably smaller than it should be... see this picture here:
Note how the opening on the underside of the register is significantly smaller than the 7" oval opening that it is attached to. By my measures this represented a 40% reduction in the cross-section. Something tells me CruisAir did not sign off on that! I widened the opening on the underside of the register to be the same size as the actual duct attached to it. This greatly improved airflow to the main salon register.
3- I added a duct from the salon A/C unit to the galley. You can see it on the right here:
(Pardon the fingerprints on the door).
This has also improved overall airflow across the salon unit and has eliminated "dead space" (as Frank mentioned) in the galley. I added a 7x7x4 tee to the outlet of the A/C and ran 4" duct behind the love seat to the false panel (which is no longer false) in the galley. There was some non-structural modification involved behind the galley cabinets... but that's another whole story. Let's just say that the guys in the yard over the winter were wondering what the hell I was doing with a Sawzall with a 10" blade on it...
4- I had new custom supply registers made for the forward A/C outlets to have dampers, so I can selectively force more air to the outlet from the front unit that is in the salon (up next to the dinette). And I put an oscillating fan up there to make sure that sure finds its way around the salon.
5- I also had a 90% white sun shade made up that we put up in place of the three middle aft curtains to keep the sun from shining directly in to the salon.
6- I insulated the cockpit locker just to the right of the salon door. The openings in the locker all provide hot, humid, unconditioned air directly to that unit.
None of these were particularly cheap or easy fixes though, so you should exhaust all other options before pursuing.
Can I get the little blue wrenches next to my name now?
Brain,
NO chemicals.. Ill come by one weekend and flush it for u. But thats not ur issue.
Its undersized equipment and too large load . Also unconditioned air migrating into the space doesnt help....
Alittle insulation during construction would help but that's another thread completely!
Rob
Hi Jetlag
I'm also in the Houston area and have been thinking about having a cover fabricated for the windshield of my 400db similiar to what you have done. May I ask where you had the cover made?
Steve
I dunno... I'd say putting a roof over the boat is a pretty major mod! And a cool one too (pun intended).:thumbsup:I am convinced that 90% of the problem is solar gain. We moved to a covered slip this Summer and it is amazing. I leave both units on 80 degrees with the fans set to intermittent when we leave the boat for the week. When we walk up to the boat the next weekend with Houston temps very near 100 most days... the boat is comfy and often the units are not even running. We have absolutely no problem getting the salon and stateroom uncomfortably cold. This is an '07 44DB with no mods or work done to the ac system. We used the double layer, insulated, windscreen cover while we were in an open marina and we keep it aboard for when we travel. It makes a tremendous difference. I do acknowledge that Sea Ray allows a huge amount of outside (hot unconditioned) air to enter the salon unit. They claim it is by design... I think it's stupid. Also, when we were in the open marina the sun would really heat up the hull of the boat in the area that the salon unit is located. That would in turn heat the air in the area where the unit draws from.
Best of luck.