I finally got the ac unit installed 2 weeks ago and it is wonderful.  We were in Florida for family issues and left the ac/heat off this last week so I’m only counting this as 1 week with heat & ac.

I had everything hooked up and ready to go late Saturday afternoon.  That includes drilling a hole in the hull for the discharge thru hull.  When I hit the switch it didn’t work.  #%£|¥£%#%#%#%!!!!!!

A neighbor on the dock got his volt meter and we tested power and that was installed correctly.  I emailed Butch (our consultant for installing the unit) there was an issue and he was at the boat at 9am Sunday morning troubleshooting the problem.   The manufacturer sent a 6 pin cable for the thermostat and it needed an 8 pin cable.  Butch had one in his truck and we were off to the races!

The first week we ran the ac a lot to keep the humidity levels down.    We developed a horrible problem with mildew/mold.   This is a common problem with boats and the solution is to keep a hatch open so there is fresh air constantly circulating in the boat.  We will add fans to the quarter berth and v berth to limit the mildew/mold growth.

That brings us to this morning at 4:30am.  I got up because I had to pee.  We have a composting toilet which is another term for a really expensive bucket.   When the toilet is empty it sounds like you are peeing into an empty bucket.   If you can’t hear any bucket noises stop peeing now!   Couldn’t hear any noises this am, uh oh!   I’m going to have to empty this before Jan gets up.  While I’m getting dressed to go outside and empty the bucket Jan starts hollering that it is raining in the v berth.     Seems we have it so warm in the boat that condensation was forming on the hatch in the v berth and falling on our pillows.  The hatch is not insulated in any way.  We’ve had this happen with other hatches just not the v berth hatch.  The solution is to just crack it open an inch before we go to bed.

We’ve learned to keep the clothes we’re going to wear tomorrow in the main cabin as it is warmer in the cabin than the v berth.   It got down to 36 degrees last night and we slept just fine, minus the rain on our pillows.    The dock gets very slippery when it frosts so that is another issue to deal with.    We keep an entrance mat on the dock so it was not slippery when I got off the boat this am to empty the bucket.

I’m still working on installing the grills for the unit but as long as I have heat I can take my time until Jan says time’s up!

Presently it is 73.9 degrees at shoulder level in the cabin. It is 73 degrees at table height and 66 degrees on the floor next to the return air grill.  Being so much colder at floor level makes me regret not keeping my slippers when we moved onto the boat.

The humidity level is 38%.  Yesterday we got 1.66″ of rain and the humidity level was in the 60% range.

With so much rain finding a place to hang up wet clothes was a problem.  I installed 2 double hooks in the bathroom to handle wet coats, etc.  A simple project but it really helps make it easier to live aboard.

More to come,

Jan, Matt & Scout

Featured Picture was taken on our trip to Florida.  As we were driving 70 mph down highway 95 – Jan yells “Oh wow look that cloud looks like a pig flying.”  She was able to snap the picture with her iPhone (which she loves!) before the clouds broke up.  We will live on a boat when Pigs Fly… hey it really happened!

When Pigs Fly!