best AC replacements

[jim rosenthal]

Thinking about replacement AC units. Did we ever establish a concensus on who the best manufacturer was for replacement systems? I recall mention of Ocean Breeze, and Flagship Marine. Any other suggestions? I will also ask Annapolis CruiseAire to give me an estimate, but they tend to be higher than the outfits that build the units themselves.

 

[Boatsb]

Your comparing a manufacturer to a dealer/distributor. If your having it installed have the company doing the work sell you on what they think is best. If your DIY figure out who will best support you.

Many manufacturers make good,better and best versions.

I've been happy with cruisair and cant complain about the product when installed correctly. The most common issues I see is from bad installations.

 

[carolinacoast]

X2 what Scott said. My cruiseair issues always started at the pump. After several years, a good mechanic, and depco pump's great service I finally have a system that is reliable (going Monday and it will be 96! Hope I'm still right.)
Anyway, had to move the pump location to where I can always see it, and I have a manifold setup to go to the backup if it goes out.
I changed to a Monel coated shaft, and that seems to be finally the trick on longevity. 2 strainers with a manifold.
So lots of redundancy. No issues since the pumps, and manifold system was put in. I keep extra triacs too.
I don't love cruisair, but solving for proper consistent water flow has certainly helped.

 

[Cricket]

The folks at Annapolis Cruisair have always been great to deal with, have used them for at least 25 years. I hear everyone bitching about the newer Cruisair equipment compared to the old stuff, not many things we don't say that about these days too. We have a 2 year old self contained that's much quieter and does a much better job than the 20 year old unit it replaced, not sure it will last 20 years but so far so good.

 

[JonHupp]

If in the Annapolis area, talk to Nate Horton (Horton Marine Services). Fantastic job on my Hatteras AC unit repairs and a major split system replacement.

 

[piratestreasure]

We are going to replace our cruisairs with marinaire units.Will update as the refitting goes.Steven A. Deckhand (Master Unlimited Oceans & Great Lakes Pilot)Sandra J. Admiral (Full time grandma)Wesley B. Steward (Retired "Sail" Army)1972 58 Hatteras Tri-Cabin (The Dream)Twin 12V 71 N (The Twins)HIN: HATAP3251172Pirates TreasurePirates Key, Florida

 

[dottieshusband]

We replaced our salon 24k unit with a Marinaire self contained. Replaced the landing stateroom 8k unit with a webasto 10k self contained, and replaced the pilot house 16k with an ocean breeze split system... they're all good.

 

[q240z]

I buddy of mine was very satisfied with the 16k MarinAire he bought on ebay to replace a split system on a Pacemaker. That thing was amazingly quiet. I considered going with MarinAire, but ultimately decided on Flagship because they use off-the-shelf components. MarinAire, like Dometic, uses proprietary controllers. If anything ever goes wrong, your only choice is to go back to the manufacturer.

 

[Finalee]

I replaced a 16k Dometic with a 9k Marinaire. A little smaller but far more efficient and quiet. Not to mention a plastic water pan.

 

[dottieshusband]

On these Hatteras, the main power bus for the AC's is in the blower space. So my calculus was to fit the new self contained system in the space formerly occupied by the blower only.. flagship systems were all too large to accommodate that.. great systems, just too bulky. The Webasto systems are so cheap, when they break, just get a new one!