Comments about Carry On Air Conditioner:

Cools my 33' express easily. No going in the lagoon to clean strainers! Everything in arms reach! I slip it down through the hatch when not in use and hand it up to someone on top when I want to use it. Just plug it in. A con for me however is the old cover no longer deflects the rain, even after waterproofing it again. Raining in my boat not good. The unit has lasted many years of alot of use.

Comments about Carry On Air Conditioner:

Although this is easier to get in place than my other AC solutions for my Macgregor 26 sailboat, it has a hard time keeping the boat cool during the summer. I haven't tried mounting it in the companion way which might make cooling more efficient. That setup would keep me either in or out of the cabin so I don't that would be a great solution.This unit might work better if the airflow vents could be moved in order to change the direction of the airflow.I am constantly fighting with the level adjustment foot. It gets stuck up in the unit and it is a pain to pry it back out.My previous AC solutions have been $99 - 120 window units from [@]. Setting them up is more difficult by far and requires some creative diy plenum contruction, but they have cooled better that this unit.

Comments about Carry On Air Conditioner:

It works well in August Florids Heat once the sun goes down. It cannot cool the salon area of a small catamaran while the sun is beating down on it. HOwever, it works great and one can sleep comfortably and it is not too loud. I did buy a warranty that for three years guarantees service on your boat, so one doesn't have to take it somewhere for repair.

Service and delivery comments:

I had the unit shipped to a store in Stuart Florida during August 2011. When it arrived I got a call it was there, great, I will be down in 2 weeks to pick it up. Ok. I call the day I am coming and they bring it out from the back on a hand truck on its end. The manager was very nice and told me it needed to be stored level for 12 hours before use. This is 5pm in August in Stuart Floria, Heat index 104!! Why was it stored on its end for 2 weeks in the store? Beacause that's how it was shipped and no one thought of storing it correctly. Of course we were going to use it that night on our boat, but we couldn't so that was a major disappointment for such an expensive purchase!

Comments about Carry On Air Conditioner:

My wife and I spent a long weekend over in Bimini in the month of July on our 24ft.W/A and used this same unit except we have the cruise Air model.This ac,to me,worked better than I thought it could ever have worked.The thermostat was right on,and our cabin was very comfortable.Yes it is a little heavy but I already new this before buying it,so there was no surprise there.The best thing I like about this unit is the fact that I can keep it for the next boat I end up with.Its not a permanent install.And most of all,the savings from not having to rent a Place while in Bimini has almost paid for itself just in one weekend trip.Well worth the investment.

Comments about Carry On Air Conditioner:

I have an older one of these units from when they were by Cruise Air. They work great as long as your expetations are realistic. Trying to cool a boat in direct sun is like trying to cool a tent, it all depends on heat load. I live in the Dallas area and when the outside temp. is high 90s or above during the day, cooling the cabin to 80 is realistic. Instead of the cloth hood over the unit and hatch, I cut and finished a piece of plywood to cover my hatch opening and then in the center of it, cut an opening to fit the unit's supply vent. I noticed before I did this that there was quite a bit of condensate on the vent which is not an issue now. In the evening, once the sun is not beating down from above, this unit does keep the cabin pretty cool and the noise does cancel out other outside noises so you can sleep. I guess you have to just be possitive and have realistic expectations.

Comments about Carry On Air Conditioner:

Takes about 10 minutes to set up and keeps you cool for sleeping aboard. The only downside is it's too heavy for my wife to lift.

On 100 degree days it cools things down and brings down the humidity so you're comfortable but it's not going to freeze you out. It works best if you also have a fan to move the cold air around the boat.

Comments about Carry On Air Conditioner:

BE WARNED, THIS IS A NON RETURNABLE ITEM!
I would not recommend this unit to anyone.
This is a waste of money.
The cabin of my boat is very small. During the night it was colder outside of the cabin than inside of the cabin. It could not even cool the body heat that we were putting out.
I even tried insulating it better and using a small fan. This thing is junk.

Comments about Carry On Air Conditioner:

I use this carry-on AC on my MacGregor 26. I have tried several AC units including small household window units with a homemade plenum, and a free standing AC unit that stands on the floor inside the boat with an exhaust through the forward hatch and a hose to drain condensation out through the galley sink drain. This carry on model is the easiest to set up even though it is somewhat heavy. I have had to experiment with leveling and direction of the vents because if the vents blow the cold air too high in the cabin the area does not get cooled efficiently. It might help if the inside vents were adjustable, unfortunately, they are not. Due the the cabin arrangement I had to enhance the airflow with a small fan in the middle of the cabin to cool the berths in the back of the boat. I also suspect that the AC unit's performance would be enhanced if there was more to insulate the hatch it sits in than just the cloth bag that comes with it.

I was able to use this with my 2000 watt inverter type generator. The model I have ran for about 7 hours before it needed to be refueled. I had the AC temperature setting at about half way.

Another factor in any AC unit is how hot it is outside. I just came back from a two week sailing trip along the Texas Gulf Coast. The weather this June was hotter than usual and got up to 100 more than once while in one of the marinas I stopped at. The inside the boat temperature was cooler than that but the unit never got us cold during those hot days. It did however keep us pretty cool at night .

Although most of the water condensation is channeled outside of the unit on to the deck, some condensation will form on the internal parts of the unit and drip inside the boat.

My recommendation is this: this unit is heavy but it is the easiest of several different units I have tried to set up (the catalog picture does show two people carrying it aboard) I can store this in the v-berth while sailing and when I get tied back up at the dock, pull it out on to the deck through the front hatch, sit it on the deck and have it running in 3 - 5 minutes; it may need extra homemade insulating around the hatch where you install it; an added small fan may help the air flow through the boat; IMHO, it really needs to be about $500 less expensive but knowing what I know now, I would buy it again. I wish I could give it 3-1/2 stars. I settled for 4.

Comments about Carry On Air Conditioner:

I love this A/C unit. It will freeze you out when in Key West during the summer.