With our current boat our concern has been all about staying warm in northern waters but we are now on our way south and wondering about staying cool. We have plenty of hatches and an air scoop but we have been wondering about fitting air conditioning. We have s 4kva 240 volt A/C diesel generator and also have ducts in place for heating and dehumidifying.

I was wondering about simple air conditioning solutions that would be easy to install and not too power hungry.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Simon

Hi Simon,
Much of what you might have done for cold weather cruising will help with warm weather: insulation goes both ways for ex.
Off the top of my head as we have not had to worry about being too warm in many a year.
1. We had a foredeck “tent” to keep sun off the cabin top. Many boats have an awning: often full deck and keeping the sun off of you and the deck makes a huge difference.
2. We have a lot of Hella fans and they have lasted well. Install with a fuse as motor can lock and heat up/start to burn. Caframo fans move more air, but were not as reliable. (all fans installed 15+ yrs ago and most are still going strong. Fans may have improved/changed).
3. Warmer water (20-25C) usually takes a big toll on the duty cycle of your frig/freezer. We added insulation on the outside to the extent reasonable and also added insulation on the inside of the freezer, especially on the bottom where there was closer contact with the hull and the warm water.
4. We noticed, when really humid, moisture on the top of our frig/freezer on the counter top. We started using a ~~2cm “condensation pad” covering the tops of the frig/freezer: easily removed when there was action in the galley, but helping for those long periods of inaction. Where there is condensation, there is a leak of frig/freezer cold.
5. As mentioned before: we had gaps between the headliner and the hull which we filled with insulation. This made a huge difference on sunny days, especially when the aforementioned tent was not deployed.
6. We had a bimini and used a large lightweight movable “scrim” with big clips to give shade where we wanted it.
7. Our dodger windows had light reducing “shade” screens that could be installed on the inside of the windows. Our dodger’s center panel could be removed for good air flow.
As I think of other items, I will add.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy