Sizing and installing A/C in a Brewer 12.8

Hello,

My wife and I are now the proud and happy owners of a 1984 Brewer 12.8, formerly named "Tribute" and soon to be named "Sojourner II" (Sojourner was our last boat in which we cruised the S Pacific from 1999 - 2004 ). We are now located in central FL near Cocoa Beach, hence the A/C subject.

I am going to install AC units in the man salon and aft cabin, and I am sure that dozens of owners have done this on the Brewers. Rather than re-invent the wheel and work in a vacuum (as I am known to do) I thought it wiser to reach out to fellow owners and see what brilliant solutions they came up with!

The questions I have are:-

What make and model has worked well?
What BTU has seemed adequate for the 12.8s in the main salon / V berth, and aft cabin.
What locations have folks chosen for the compressors?
Drain to bilge or overboard?
If overboard - where did you locate the thru hulls? (we already have a Seafrost refer system that drains overboard)
Any advice on ducting?

I would value any and all input / advice / experience you may have.

Fair Winds,

Steve & Jen

My name is Fred Chance & I am quite familiar with your Brewer "Tribute" Jack & Carol are really good friends I have an 88 Brewer 44 Also with a dark Blue Hull Mine has Reverse cycle heat & air I suggest you look at Mermaid That is made in FL & get at least 18,500 BTU capacity unit for fwd unit & 7,500 or 9,000 btu for the rear unit Cruisaire also makes a nice unit. My tel # is 717-580-8191 Please feel free to call for much more info as I type very slow I look fwd to hearing from you Incidentally you have certainly have purchased a great boat The former owners spared NO expense to keep it in great shape. Hope to hear Fred

Hi Steve & Jen

I put mine under the navigation station. On the plus side it has short duct runs. On the negative side it is noisy.

theincrediblehull.blogspot.com/search/label/Air%20Conditioning

www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5473206...=3863368192920784490

Hi Fred,

Nice to meet you! Yes many people know Jack and Carol, and Tribute, and we couldn't have bought from better owners!! It is a wonderful boat. Thank you so much for the info, I will give you a call.

Fair Winds,

Steve

Hi Tod?

Thank you for the reply and info. I have the sit down, forward facing nav station with an opening seat. There is also a large chart storage locker under which there drawers and lazarettes. Looking at your pics you may be talking about that "nav station" since there is much more space than under my nav station.

Did you get the one unit for the salon and aft cabin? Did you do anything for the V berth?

Hi Steve & Jen

It lives under here. Works well for access and servicing. Because the ducts are very short it is a little loud. Not a deal-breaker but I may try more soundproofing at a later date.






Regards

Gerry

the Gtod stands for Gerard Timothy (George, Joseph -which I left out) O'Donoghue. I put in the T because I'm humble.

Ref your Vee berth, I don't think it needs its own unit. It will get sufficient cooling from the main cabin, especially at night when the boat cools down. Fans, however, are a must.

Re the aft cabin. This is not a bad idea. I gave it some consideration but dismissed it based on cost and complexity. If I found that I need cooling in the aft cabin I would run a duct from the saloon unit, via the bilges to a vent in the aft cabin.

Re location; a small unit may fit in the deep locker under the forward end of the aft bunk. I have a water heater here. Keep in mind the noise issue as the unit cycles on and off. My wife is the original "Princess and the pea". This is an example of a possible unit which they also believe may run on a DC inverter;

Coastal Climate Control

Thank you Gerry - good info!

My 12.8 came with 16000 btu cruise air reverse cycle unit under the middle of the starboard settee. Direct vent for main saloon. 6 inch duct thru hanging locker into V berth. Control panel on hanging locker wall in main saloon.

For aft, 7000 btu is in lower center locker under map storage locker in walk through. (Water heater just fwd, and storage just aft). Duct thru hanging lockers in aft cabin, so exits on starboard side above bed. Control panel there also.

I saw a nice idea on Gratitude, B44, Van Schweibert. His aft unit was in the engine room, with duct /vent under the aft companion way ladder. Maybe you have enough room in engine room for a unit?

We use ours only at dock due to big current draw. Being in Michigan, we used the heat cycle as much as the cooling until boat got permanently moved to florida for winter cruising.

Hope.this helps.

Yes, the aft HVAC on Gratitude is in the engine room, on a shelf, with immediate vent and controls on the bulkhead beneath the aft ladder. While a good place to tuck it, and without the need for vent tubes in lockers, etc., the location does prevent us from utilizing the space for another purpose, such as a vanity or shallow built in dresser.

Thank you Terry. How well does the 16K cool yours? I'm assuming you don't have a dark hull, which could add 20% to the BTU needs? Fred Chance recommended 18.5K for that reason.

There is not much room above my racors in the engine room, and for heat reasons I was leaning away from locating it in there. But other folks have with apparently no issues. I was originally thinking about the aft cabin stbd hanging locker, but don't yet have the specs on a 7K to see if it would fit. The loss of storage doesn't concern us since the 12.8 has more then we would ever need.

This is only for use at the dock in the FL summer - without it my capacity to do projects would be halved... I'd spend more time drinking cold beer than working... which is not such a bad thing.

Thanks again,

Steve

Hi Van,

Thank you.

I looked at that location but there doesn't seem to be enough room. There is some sort of shelf / support there but not enough space above it. Even with that moved it looks like it would be too small.

I read in an install manual that they should not be in the engine room unless they are in a completely sealed box to prevent an CO being sucked through. Also the efficiency is supposedly less due to engine room heating - although I can't think of many scenarios where we would have the engine running and AC on. Our AC use is mainly for the dock in FL summers. I'm assuming you've had no issues with those concerns?

Regards,

Steve

Frankly, the only time we run our AC units is en route back to the boatyard to "exercise" them and flush the salt water from the pumps, etc. (we keep Gratitude in Charlotte Harbor Boat Storage, Placida, FL for the hurricane season and access the boatyard in a "locked" "freshwater" canal system). We have not used them enough to experience issues with cooling, CO, etc., so cannot really offer guidance. Sorry. BTW, you have a lovely boat -- we love our Brewer 44!

Thank you for the feedback! Yes "Tribute" aka "Sojourner II" is a beautiful boat! Cant wait to stretch her legs...

My 1984 12.8 #247 still has the original 2 ac units which work great. They are split systems. The main saloon unit is under the forward facing nav station seat with the air handle in back of the main saloon hanging closet. There is also a small duct to the v berth. The unit is 16,000 btu. The aft cabin unit is 9,000btu and the compressor is in the engine room over the port fuel tank. The air handler is over the engine just forward of the aft ladder. I don't use them very often unless in a slip but the will both run from my 4 kw genset. If I want to run both at the same time I get one started and cooling then start the second. If plugged in with 2 30amp cords everything can run at the same time.

HI Fred,

I looked into Mermaid and they don't have an 18K unit - they have a 16.5K which has an 18K heating cycle, would that be the one you are referring too?

Yes this is the one It will fit nicely under the starboard setee in the center section. For the aft unit a Mermaid 8000 BTU unit will fit in the engine room directly behind the steps in the aft cabin A shelf can be made to accommodate the unit between the aft wall just behind the Racor filters
Both these units should come with the digital controls I have been most pleased with both units If I had any complaint it would be noise They are both located very near where you sit or sleep so the blower noise (particularly on start-up) is a little loud. however the comfort that they provide far outweigh the noise

Good luck Fred feel free to call me for more information 717-580-8191