THE near DEATH AND RE BIRTH
OF A
1979 HUNTER 37 CHERUBINI CUTTER
HUNTER 37 CUTTER
A/C Heating & Cooling
Well, it,s here. I bit the bullet and purchased a new unit. I had been looking for used ones but they were going for 70% of the cost of a new one, and I am weary of purchasing mechanical equipment that is used and corroded. A/C units are bad enough in a residential setting, much less in a marine environment. Plus I wanted heat to keep the chill off in the fall and spring while spending week ends on the boat.
The unit is bigger by 3" that most others. I made sure the blower pointed in the right direction. The electronics are in a box with a 5ft umbilical cord. I was able to wrap it around the hull and place the box on the lower shelf of the cabinet in the aft cabin. It is out of the way, yet very easy to work on if needed. Thermostat went on the bulkhead and it even has a remote with temp on it.
I made a cardboard box to the dimensions I needed for the unit to fit. Spent a whole weekend shoving it into every nook and locker available with no luck. Finally, had to realize that the nav station would have to be it. I had seen pictures of freezers placed were the nav table is so I tried to keep the station and build something that would allow me to place the unit in.
I stole some sheets of styrofoam from the shipping department and I used them to mock up the cabinet I would have to build. I was undecided weather to build a floor unit and have extra storage or half height unit so I could still stick my feet under it and also have secure storage under it. I decided on the shorter unit. I also allow me to place the air return under the cabinet and placed two runners in order to slide an air filter on it. It is easy to pull out from under the cabinet, yet it is out of sight.
The unit was heavy and instead of dragging it up the ladder, I used my forklift to raise the whole shebang into the cockpit. Jeff, my helper is pulling it off the pallet.
Started by removing the nav desk, cut off the table leg to the new height and placing a cleat on the bulkhead in order to support the new cabinet. Holes on the hull liner are for the power cables going into the interior of the nav desk. I have a 6 plug strip inside of it for the TV, Ipad charger and Handheld VHF
Cabinet taking shape. Used 1/2 cabinet grade birch plywood to make the box and lined it with vertical grain 1/4 teak plywood.
Cabinet is finished and lined with foil faced insulation to keep the noise down and minimize the equipment sweating in the summertime. The 16x16 hole is the air return with the air filter installed from below.
I wanted the cabinet corner to match the galley corner. Sharp corners are not safe on a boat. Made a teak corner out of a left over trim piece of teak.
On the left is the finished cabinet. On the right is the cabinet stained and sealed. Unit is in and duct work installed. I have a 4" T with an adjustable baffle. I can select how much air is directed to the front cabin vent or the rear cabin vent. The T directs air to a 4x12 vent in the front and a 4x4 vent in the rear cabin. It was the easiest way to get air to the cabins without a lot of duct work. I could have run an additional 3" flex hose to the front cabin by running the hose on top of the port side water tank, through the head sink cabinet, into the hanging locker and to the front cabin bulkhead. However all the holes through the bulkheads and the loss on the 15ft hose did not make sense to me. As it is, and with the louvers directed towards the front cabin, air gets there without any problems.
BEFORE
& AFTER
Cabinet ready to be closed. Installed a 1/2 sheet of styrofoam as a lid to seal the unit as much as possible. Nav desk drops on top and can be removed by taking out 4 screws, all in one piece.
A new 3/4 seacock was installed to supply water to the unit. Did not like the idea of sharing the engine coolant seacock to supply both engine and A/C unit. A new GROCO water filter and a A/C pump were fitted
And here it is. I stuck a water hose to the intake seacock and open the water. Fired the A/C unit and enjoyed that nice cool air. Water exits on the port side. I placed the exit about 8" from the water line as most installers recomended to minimize the noise of splashing water while running the A/C at night at the marina.
