Cock pit a/c

[Ron1]

I have a 2000 380 Sundancer, looking to cool the cock pit area, boat has camper style top. Has anyone use a portable a/c unit around 12,000 btu's

Thanks,
Ronald

 

[Ididntdoit]

gonna be tough to make any kind of appreciable difference with no hard top...try it though - what have you got to lose?

 

[sbw1]

Most cockpit a/c units are 36,000 btu+. As previous poster noted, you need a hardtop to make it work well.

 

[dc380]

A friend on my dock that has a portable unit lent it to me to see if it made a difference. I believe it was a 14K BTU. I have a black canvas camper back. It was low to mid 80's sunny and it didn't even touch it. After an hour I disconnected it and gave it back. I'm in RI a lot further north then you. My next boat will have a hard top with Air. But until then a fan and blocking the sun with one of the camper sides seems to work best.

 

[bahamabreisus]

Ditto dc380, bought one, did nothing but take up space. Did OK heating in the winter

 

[Henry Boyd]

When we redid the clear on our canvas (dark blue with camper) I had them re-do it with strataglas rather than the oem vinyl eisenglass. I did this for the improved visibility, but a side benefit is that there was a noticeable drop in cockpit temperature. I don't have any temp readings but for the past two summers the front canvas has stayed up all season, and just the camper sides and back being down. If you have eisenglass it might be worthwhile looking into. We did all of the clear plus new screens and modified the rear curtain with a screen for under $ 650, so it might be cheaper than an AC unit that might not work.

Henry

Signature pic was taken before the strataglas upgrade!