How to "Med Spec" a boat - air con especially

[Nick_H]

Re: decks and marinas

Yeh, we took a tour (by car) of Cd'A last year and thats how we came up with Antibes as first choice. We sat in a little square, well more of triangle, just up from the marina and it had a really nice feel to it. I've heard it gets a bit crazy mid summer, but then so does everywhere in the med I guess.

 

[DavidJ]

Re: How to \"Med Spec\" a boat - air con especially

You've had some good replies. The spec for full AC for my S37 is 18000btu so 24000 will be ok. Sealine gave me the drawings of the layout for mine which was useful because I have DIY'ed a part installation (9000BTU). The bits all in were 2000 quid from Fischer Panda who use the Italian Clima units. The intention was to do the job in 2 phases but I'll probably not get around to phase 2 because really in the med we only need to ac the saloon in the day and just leave the bedroom door open at night to let the AC cool air waft in (The saloon AC is also connected to the small guest cabin)
One thing I would do during installation is to have a two way valve for the water outlet so you can choose which side to drain the water. It's really quite noisy for the poor sods next door without ac with their windows open.

Careful when getting quotes, because the BTU spec is often based on the US 60Hz and so 50Hz conditions produces proportionally less. My 9000BTU unit actually produces less than 8000BTU's

jfm's quote for 1800 quid labour is very very good. Installation is very time consuming and I know I was working with no previous experience but it took me a whole week.(just for one unit!!)

We had some quotes when we were in Italy for the Clima unit and it was more expensive than the Fischer Panda quote.

Re teak decking. We have got teak only on the bathing platform and it gets too hot to stand on sometimes, but that's only because it's exposed. Your shady bits will be ok. I've never found white GRP too hot to stand on.

re gen sets. A boat your size is almost expected to have one but with the normal anchor draging problems in the Med and the Sealine underspecing of anchors, my guess is that you won't be doing too much overnighting in bays so if you're on a budget, maybe park this one.

Final note. This is our 4th year in the Med (not liveboarding) we are never bringing the boat back to the UK.

 

[DavidJ]

Re: How to \"Med Spec\" a boat - air con especially

[ QUOTE ]
. The downside is you cant control the temp from the cabins,

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok not from a thermostatic point of view but as long as your outlets are those flappy ones (like in a car) it will work out ok. Of course one outlet must be the constant open type so the system can't be closed off.

 

[Nautical]

Re: decks and marinas

oh er misses /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif yes of course you are right but trying to keep it nice and brown as per new and its real effort unless you are there all the time lavishing love and care on it. Once you start its a never ending round of cleaning and caring for it cus the sun just about bleaches the bu99ery out of everything.

Agree La Nap rip off for taxis as is anywhere near to Cannes/Nice et al but then cheaper to hold up there than Antibes but as you say tibes nicest by far but like everything in life, pays your money takes your choice.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Re: How to \"Med Spec\" a boat - air con especially

It will be nice to see another forumite in the Med, houghn. I write this from Mahon in Menorca where we've just had a great day out at anchor messing around with our tender and new doughnut
I agree with most of what others say particularly jfm's advice concerning aircon. It really is much better to have a central compressor in the engine bay or lazarette distributing chilled water to air handlers in each cabin. This system is much quieter than the individual units sold by the likes of hfl which are really crap IMHO. The reason that you want quiet units is that you will prpbably want to sleep at nights with the aircon on in the cabins and you wont be able to do that with noisy vibey individual units. Also you should over spec the aircon rather than under spec because there's nothing worse than aircon that doesnt actually reduce the temp. You would be right to choose aircon units from a recognised manufacturer. Apart from those mentioned by jfm, I would add Condaria. You see a lot of these on Med boats (like mine) and aircon service engineers here seem to know their way around them
One item you have'nt mentioned is the anchor. You will be doing a lot of anchoring in the Med, often overnight, so you will need a good length (at least 50m) of heavy chain and a nice big anchor that works in weed and sand like a Delta or a Rocna rather than a Bruce
Teak decks do get hot but not uncomfortably so on our boat. Navtex is nice to have but most marinas post up to date forecasts and in any case, I guess you'll have internet access and there are loads of Med weather sites. A bimini is a must unless you like being fried