Continuous A/C

[Karl]

I have a smaller Hatt than most of you (32'), but for those of you who do not liveaboard, do you run the A/C continuously even when you're not on your boat? I have a terrible mildew smell in the cabin that I can't track down (SE Florida) and someone has suggested I run my A/C all the time. I'm on my boat once a week and use it about every other week. I keep it docked behind my condo.

I did not have this problem until June when I brought it back from Bimini, which is confusing to me. I've looked everywhere to see if there is food we left on the boat after returning, but have found nothing. The smell is terrible when I enter the cabin, but then with the cabin door open it either reduces in intensity or I get used to it and I can't find it's source. I'm wondering if I have a dead rat somewhere, but I think that would be nauseating and I would be able to recognize that smell.

I do use Damp-Rid and that takes a lot of the moisture out of the air and initially helped neutralize the smell, but it's back now. Just wondering what others are doing with A/C and if it reduces or eliminates the mildew, and any advice you may have. Thanks.

 

[Pascal]

i used to leave the air on full time on my previous (non liveaboard) boat. either in de humid more if you controls have that or at a higher setting like 80deg. this way it doesn't run a lot but still keeps the boat dry

are you sure it's mildew/humidty ? if it came suddenly, it could be something else... dead critter, etc...

 

[Paul45c]

Agreed. If you have the digital controls (SMX is CruiseAir's) they have a special humidity control program. If not, like Pascal says, put it to 79 or 80 so that it's running lightly, but often enough that it dries out. Your boat will get totally nasty inside down here if you don't. Good luck.

 

[jim rosenthal]

This sounds more to me like something that got onto the boat...how to track it down is the problem. Can you isolate it to one area of the boat or another?

You can try the AC to see if it dries out the boat, but if your boat did not have this problem before you went to Bimini, I tend to think it was something that somehow got acquired there.

I don't know if you have a holding tank system, but one of our other members had a problem where the tank pumpout tube was leaking up at the top, inside the tank, so it couldn't be pumped out all the way. Could that be the problem?

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

This is an email a buddy sent to me to convert his 4 A/C units on his 50' Marine trader from the old style controls to the new digital ones. He has had the new controls in for over 2 yrs now and hasn't had the first problem.


Hi Charlie,

I left a message and my home phone number on your cell phone, my cell doesn't work well at our house. I bought the A/C control units from Coastal Climate Control, (410) 224-7627.

My Invoice shows date of 4/9/2002:
1 -- FX-1 Basic Kit, 110/220v, 15 cable for $283
1 -- Sensor, 15 ft, $25
1 -- Mounting plate $5

 

[Passages]

FWIW, I no longer leave A/C on when I'm not on board. Reason being I had a problem with the condensate drain plugging with stuff causing the drip pan to overflow makinig a mess of the walls, carpet and shelf underneith.

I cleaned out the condensate drain lines and pan, but it could still happen again.

Not worth the risk IMHO.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I'm not in a hot climate so I don't really have a need for continuous A/C anyway, but I still would not think about running it on a boat that is unattended. If a hose breaks and starts to fill your bilge, you will regret the decision to leave it on. Most of us turn off or don't use pressure dockside water either for the same reason. I know that many people do use the dehumidify function, but that is on those new clorox bottle boats. Who cares if one of those sinks. They can easily replace one of those. My Hatt, on the other hand, would not be so easy to replace.

As far as the Coastal Climate controls, I installed one of their digital controls and it was quite simple and works well. I plan on ordering three more.

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

On our Hatt, the A/C drain hose for the master stateroom was routed to drain into the shower pan. IF we did not take a shower onboard,(we normally use the marinas showers) it would end up overflowing and we would have standing water.
I ended up putting a 800 gph Rule pump and float switch inside the pan which has worked out great. No more water in the bilge.
We normally run our A/C 24/7 in the summer as we are full time liveaboards plus 8 of the 23 boats here are the same. Someone is always around.
As far as turning off the dock water, we do if we're going to be gone for more than a day, but we also have a "water meter" installed on the hose so we have to reset it after 450 gals pass thru it we got at Home Depot as a safety measure.

 

[ELECTRA VI]

Karl, Where are you in S. Florida? I have had problems with smells in the past, but it turned out to be a dead rat on board. Lighthouse Point seems to have a rat problem.. Figured out how they were getting on board and into the boat and fixed that problem. Having said that, I would not run my A/C continuously when I am not on board. Since you keep your boat behind your condo, why not just go out and open her up in the daytime. That's what I do on weekends, and it seems to work.
George
ELECTRA VI
1966 34C #068

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

In my case, was born/raised in Ft Lauderdale (actually in Plantation), moved to W.P.B in 1979 (at the ripe old age of 28) then came to Jacksonville in 1985.
Do miss the pretty water and fishing down there.........

 

[67hat34c]

some people use a household dehumidifyer which is simply a self contained ac unit. put it on a timer and let it run for 2-3 hours per day.

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

We have a guy who lives onboard 2 slips down 6 months a year (during the winter) on a 41 Silverton. We put 2 dehumidifiers on his boat, with one hose draining into his kitchen sink and the other draining into the sink in the front head last summer while he was gone and they did great.

I would go onboard once a week and crank up his motors, genset, run the A/C units and check his batteries but the dehumidifiers did great, no mold or smells.

The year before he didn't have them and talk about a mess even though I ran his A/C several times a week for him. Even then he had to hire a company to come clean the boat for him due to the smell........

 

[Karl]

Thanks folks for the responses and suggestions. After reading your comments, I think I need to find the source of this smell and not mask it with the A/C. My boat is in Deerfield Beach and I'm aware of the rodent problem in our areas. Of course, I'm hoping it's not a critter, I haven't seen any signs of them around our docks, but who knows what goes on at night. Also, I never saw any droppings which is the usual tell-tail evidence. I'm thinking that if I do have one onboard, it probably came on in Bimini. I had my previous boat docked behind a house in LHP and one of the neighbors who had a 26' open fisherman behind his house, told me that a family of critters invaded his boat and died and he had to hack saw part of his boat to get to them. He also told me how disgusting the smell was. The smell on my boat really smells like a strong mildew odor, so I'm hoping for the best.

On the continuous A/C side, you have convinced me not to run it when I'm not onboard. That's been my thought anyway and I just had to have it confirmed. On a previous Hatteras I owned, the inside track of the salon windows became a collection area for rain moisture seeping through the track and was a source of mildew odor. After I discovered it, I just kept it clean, washed the curtains to get the mildew out of them, and used Damp-Rid, and my problem was solved. That's not the case with this one. In the next week, I'm going to go through the boat and hope I find the source. I'll let you know if I solve it. Thanks.

 

[john d.]

HELLO MY NAME IS JOHN D I ALSO HAVE A 32 HATTERAS WHICH I LIVE ON IN ENGLEWOOD FLORIDA, MY AIR RUNS ALWAYS , I USE DIFFERENT HUMIDITY PACKETS DOES NOT SEEMS TO BE LARGE PROBLEM, YOUR AIR UNIT SHOULD HAVE A HUMIDITY SETTING SO THAT IT WILL REMOVE SOME OF IT . I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN TALKING TO YOU ABOUT OUR BOATS MY E-MAIL IS LISTED ON SITE BUT I WILL GIVE IT NOW jdsoneofakind@yahoo.com IF YOU GET THE TIME PLEASE SEND MAIL THANK YOU JOHN D

 

[egaito]

I ran the "humidity control mode" for a long time, and this year started the routine of leaving one unit on, so the boat wasn't freezing when we got here in the winter, and in the summer at about 80. The change came as my hoses became more "permeated". With the units running, it keeps the odor moderate until I can convince someone to do the work or dive into it myself...definately not a summer job.....