T&T: AC

[Margery Griffith]

    I can't remember who asked about AC on the boat and there have been many
replies. Just don't trust Sorenson though...he's still watching 800' ships
stuck in the ice! What does HE know about heat???
    I cannot IMAGINE
cruising outside of Alaska and LAke superior whithout AC! While my Nordhavn 40
had 3 ACs it also had good cross ventilation in the saloon, but less than
needed in the berths. At least it had great screening! 
    My far better
boat, the Linssen 41 had only 2 ACs What do the Dutch know about ACs? Well,
when we arrived in Holland they had a terrible heat wave and Cinderella was
the envy of many! Our first marina in Holland had no power for us so we asked
if we could run the genny...it was against regulations! We were on the
outside, far from the office so we asked the boat in front of us if they
minded if we ran it briefly and they were happy to allow us to do so. It was
SO quiet they asked us why we weren't running it! (it was STILL hotter than
blazes in Holland...so we did run it all night.)
    The 3 ACs in the N40
worked VERY well. The 2 in the Linssen were inadaquate and we did not have
screens to eliminate bugs. The 2ACs DID keep the two lower berth areas cool
enough to sleep but the saloon got so hot during the day that we needed to
hose it off in a marina to cool it down some. SOME. Yes, I had film put on all
the windows except the front one, though we never used the lower helm anyway.
The film helped a whole lot! All the glass areas also had curtains...and the
saloon STILL was too hot!
    I would guess that adding AC after you realize
your mistake is much more difficult that installing it in the first place so
GO FOR IT! There's a whole lot of LOOP where you really NEED it!
    Marge
Griffith