the adventures of a girl, her dog, and two cats.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

hot, hot, hot

As I write this it is 85 degrees inside the boat. The pets are sprawled on the floor trying to stay cool. I can tell they are displeased with this development. I am soaked through and should probably just put on a swimsuit and take sun on the foredeck.

I'll be heading out to buy some fans, do laundry, and grab some groceries, but would prefer to get some air conditioning up and running before I close up the boat in the heat with pets aboard. The trailer-trash-esque rooftop RV air conditioning unit installed on my aft hatch has been acting "fritzy." It now flips off at the breaker after running for about 30 minutes on the low cool setting. When away from the boat or not desperate for the air conditioning I have been running the fan only setting to at least keep some circulation going. I have now taken the cover off and removed the filters, which were completely filthy. I am hoping that the dirty, clogged filters were the cause of the unit's temper tantrums and that with them clean the unit will be happy and safe to operate again. The filters are currently drying in the sun in the cockpit.

I began looking at portable room air conditioners, but they are mostly priced north of $200 and require venting through a window. Venting through a window means issues with screens and the need to install port visors to keep rain from coming in the open window. I would like port visors anyway, but at $35-50 each (and with six port lights), the price tag is a bit painful at the moment. I would love to get rid of the loud and ugly rooftop unit, but if it can keep chugging along a little longer I would rather invest that money in other boat projects. I am glad I did some advance research about portable air conditioners because the less expensive units I might have been drawn to in a store are all evaporative cooling systems or "swamp coolers" and increase the humidity rather than decreasing it. With the condensation and mold challenges aboard the last thing I want is an increase in humidity!

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Thanks for reading! Have you had a similar experience you'd like to share? Have a link to an interesting blog fellow readers and I might enjoy? Just want to say hello? Post your comments below. I'm a smart, resourceful girl doing things her own way, so I just ask that folks keep the unsolicited advice to themselves.