Looking to buy

[Retired1]

is the upgraded air conditioner that portable unit sitting to the left of the helm? if not the upgrade must not be good enough so they added a portable

If you’ve ever been hauled out for a long time OR only need to run one AC on a small generator, I would definitely consider those inexpensive self evaporating units a improvement, as I’m pretty sure that any boat parts are a long way away from San Carlos.

[Pascal]

That little portable AC isn’t going to cool anything even with the reflective covers on the windshield. If you look carefully you ll see there is no forward air handler as the space on the port side of the helm is covered with shelves and electronic. A single AH in the rear of the salon isn’t enough to cool the space. To effective cool a 50/53 salon you need 2 16k BTUs in perfect working order. That little thing isn’t going to cut it.

Also if the air con was “upgraded” how come there are no pictures of the improved system?

AC is often overlooked in the buying process yet a very big chunk of the maintenance budget.

[Retired1]

That little portable AC isn’t going to cool anything even with the reflective covers on the windshield. If you look carefully you ll see there is no forward air handler as the space on the port side of the helm is covered with shelves and electronic. A single AH in the rear of the salon isn’t enough to cool the space. To effective cool a 50/53 salon you need 2 16k BTUs in perfect working order. That little thing isn’t going to cut it.

Also if the air con was “upgraded” how come there are no pictures of the improved system?

AC is often overlooked in the buying process yet a very big chunk of the maintenance budget.

I used one (1) to keep the entire lower deck of a Meridian 540 in Miami cold. It worked. I used one (1) to keep a bedroom ice cold in a south facing Miami highrise as the buildings cooling tower would regularly break. I used two (2) of them to keep the upstairs of a 3900 sq.ft. house cool during power outages after hurricanes on just a small gas generator for weeks. I love those things. Haier makes remote controlled ones that only require a exit hose.
oh yeah, had a Morgan OI 51’ that had a hole in it big enough to drive a car in after Hugo in St. Thomas, again one kept the boat cold for six months, as everyone else was playing the hose in trash can games.
I had a RV type ac unit hidden under a custom table on the upper deck on a 50’ powerboat that kept the entire salon, and master stateroom ice cold. Worked perfectly for years, no issues- water cooled units are nothing BUT issues.
Plus, if one breaks (never happened) I know I can run to a big box store anywhere and buy another one, and be up and running as fast as carrying it in, and turning it on. I’m 100% sold on air cooled air conditioning.

Especially in a boat or a dwelling in a location south of our border. Which reminds me-I was on a Italian designed, Brazilian built 65’ swoopy looking power boat in Brazil, owned by a Port Pilot. It had ducted ac through out, but all were fed by a monster sized window type ac in the engine room that ducted out the heat via behind cleverly hidden vents. Genius!

[Pascal]

The biggest ones are 14 to 16k BTUs. That will work for a lower deck, for a stateroom, etc but not for anything with windows like the salon of a 53…. In any case having this thing taking floor space is hardly an upgrade.