The average temperature for June this year was 76 degrees compared to 2009s 68! We are already in the upper 90s. It's gonna be a HOT summer. Since we are on a "us first" program, we went out to Home Depot and bought ourselves a window AC unit! We need to fight back against this heat and the fans we installed are just pushing the hot air around.
Well after testing it for a few days, it does great in the afternoon keeping the boat acceptably less hot and at night it is actually kinda chilly. But during mid day Sunday, the sun fought back. It was still almost 90 degrees in the boat with the AC on full blast. So we might by another for the v-berth.
Now we bought a window unit, but our windows (called hatches on a boat) are very tiny so the best place to put this unit was in the companionway hatch where we enter the boat. It took some clever engineering and minor woodworking but we arranged an easy to assemble platform for the AC to sit in our hatch with towels all around it plugging the holes. Since the AC unit is in our companionway we had to climb over it to enter or exit the boat. Our acrobatic skills are nothing to brag about so we might design some kind of ladder to get in and out.
This weekend consisted of our friends Stephs baby shower, installing another fan in the cabin, and working on the engine. Our exhaust manifold cover finally came in and I attached it to the engine successfully. I just gotta find the right bolts for the throttle connection and we should be good to go!
We also spent some time with our new favorite toy, the dinghy engine, now known as Black Betty. We motored out to the Herring Bay for a relaxing swim and to cool off. The only problem with taking the dinghy out is it is kind of a hassle. We keep the dinghy (she still needs a name) stored on deck up against the mast. We use a haylard to hoist it up and down from the water. Would dinghy davits be nice? Maybe we will continue to spoil ourselves...
One of our goals this weekend was to go to the gym. We made it there to escape the heat but instead of running, we laid on the ground, watched a movie and ordered a pizza. Fail.
In other news Nala officially knows how to get off the boat. Last week we got a call from the Marina saying they found our kitten after she attempted to escape but landed in the water and climbed up the piling. Well one night as we were walking back to the boat we saw her standing on the dock waiting for us, or just shocked she was caught. We were very curious as to how she got off the boat cuz she is so small and there is a net going all the way around our boat. So we put her on the boat and got off and watched. Well the lil gremlin climbed up onto our bow spirit and balanced herself on the railing. Then amazingly was able to jump about 8 feet to the dock. We were both impressed and now worried she will run amuck. We are getting deja vu from when we had to go searching for Noodle (our orange cat) every night. Nala is from the same farm as Noodle and is actually his great neice, so I guess it runs in their genes. I hope she learns from our good cat Nomy to stay on the boat!
Eying up the Jump
The Cats favorite way to stay cool, sleeping on the fridge
Nala getting herself into trouble
We have plans to go out sailing for the 4th of July three day weekend so we are excited about having fun back out on the water!
-Joey
4 comments:
Hey Guys, here is a tip for getting the air cool during the day. I too use a hatch AC that barely scratches the surface on 90+ days. What I found though is a tarp basically covering the entire boat, or 2 tarps, one from the mast aft and one from the mast forward, keeps the sun off the deck and allows the AC to work much better. It's a difference of night and day actually. Give it a try...
Jim
We did that for the snow and the cold so i guess it should work for the heat too. Thanks for the advice!
I was looking at the roof top RV units. Carrier makes one that has a low profile, 6" high. I've seen them and don't look to bad. They even have heat (need that during the winter) and can be permanently mounted. only 900 or so last time I checked.
Yeah, it's going to be a hot summer! Heat index here in Louisiana is 110! We're thinking about an a/c as well, but we're not liveaboards just yet. Hope to be sailing this weekend too. Our boat is almost ready to go back in the water!
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