Window unit AC on P23, how to reduce rudder slop

Posted By: Jeff T., P23, Galileo
Date: 7/20/08 6:49p.m.

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I had the rare opportunity living aboard the Precision 23 for four days last week when my 10 years old daughter attended youth sailing program in Oriental, North Carolina. The boat slips at the Wayfarer’s Cove marina at Arapaho, NC and is only few miles away from the sailing school so we commute daily by car and used the boat as hotel. In order to sleep in the hot and humid North Carolina summer night and in a very sheltered marina, the first day I installed a 5000 btu window unit AC on the boat. I am not sure if anyone had tried and documented how to do this on a Precision 23 so my apology if this is a repeat. Many have done it on other boats but the steep P23 companionway angle makes this a challenging project. My original plan was building a plastic hood out of an inverted Tupperware and mounting the AC on the foredeck hatch. Once I got to the boat I realized the cabin roof curvatures were a bit more complicated and I really don’t have the time to trial and error since I need to have the AC installed that night. Plan B was to install on the companionway which is not my favorite option due to accessibility. However I had brought enough wood working tools to build another boat so I proceeded with plan B. The toughest part of this project is finding the balancing point where, (1) the unit sits far enough inside the cabin so the cooling vent and thermostat control unit are inside the cabin when the hatch boards are closed, and (2) AC sits far enough out so the heat exhaust outside, and (3) AC must tilt back for drainage,. Compounded to the difficulty is that exaggerated sloping angle of the P23 companionway that is slanted forward to the bow, which is opposite to the desired tilting angle for drainage (to the stern). The end result is an AC unit wants to fall into the cabin when all the above conditions are met. So after 20 trips from the slip to the marina parking with multiple measuring and cutting, the below picture shows the end result. The assembled filler pieces are equivalent to area of the middle and bottom hatch boards combined. The top-most piece can be removed for easier entry/exit (although my daughter still had to use the sink as a step). The bottom-most piece is necessary so the AC unit not sitting directly on the thin fiberglass lip. The unpainted strip of wood that is wider than the opening is so the unit doesn’t fall into the cabin. I wish I can say this will work for all P23 but I found all ACs are a bit different but I hope the basic design concept works for you all who are interested in doing the same. We had a wonderful 3 nights of sleeping. The 5000 btu cools the cabin very nicely after got used to the compressor noise. To connect to the marina power supply, I found in Home Depot 15 amp utility adapter for $7 that has identical configuration as the $60 marina adapter. The AC is 6 amps and I had no problem running it. I was able to work portion of the week using marina lounge’s WiFi but I have to admit that it was more fun chatting with full time cruisers than working. I did store the AC, untie dock line and go sailing one day. We had rare NE winds around 15 knots and the P23 beat into wind at 5.5 knots with full main and furler out to about 100%. I was lazy on the trip back and sailed just with full jib but still averaged over 4.5 knots. I do like to know if anyone has solution reducing the slop on the rudder gudgeon which is quite pronounced running downwind. ComPac 19 had similar problem and I over-drilled the gudgeon and inserted SS sleeve. The Precision gudgeon however does not have a lot of material to work with. Any suggestion?