Carver Owners Forum

88’ Carver 3807. Have 3 A/C units on my boat. 16, 9 and I think 6k btu. I believe they are original. They are freon R-22 units. They do reasonable, but at the peak of summer they struggle. Understandble with condenser water coming from the lake that’s in the 90s. We went to Kentucky to look at a newer carver yesterday. Water may have been a bit cooler, but it was comparable. The two units on that boat were less that a year old. Blowing absolute snowballs. Are the newer units that much better? I thought ours were fine until we experienced those.

The newer units perform better, are much quieter, and draw less power. That being said, here is what I have been replacing mine with on the last 3 boats. Totally satisfied. https://www.marinaire.com/Products-s/12.htm

If you haven't already, you also might want to do some flushing on your units to make sure there's no growth inside the water passages. That insulates and also slightly slows the flow of water. Saltwater guys have to do it sometimes multiple times a summer but in the freshwater side it's almost forgotten about. Still can be an issue with ~36 years of flow going through them.

Midnightsun wrote:Source of the post The newer units perform better, are much quieter, and draw less power. That being said, here is what I have been replacing mine with on the last 3 boats. Totally satisfied. https://www.marinaire.com/Products-s/12.htm

Are these available for purchase in Canada? The marinaire site does not have Canada as a selectable choice for shipping. My older 10,000 btu dometic unit is on the way out and needs replacing. Defender Canada site has the dometic for about $3250 can + hst. The marinaire unit is a little easier on the wallet.

Are these available for purchase in Canada? The marinaire site does not have Canada as a selectable choice for shipping. My older 10,000 btu dometic unit is on the way out and needs replacing. Defender Canada site has the dometic for about $3250 can + hst. The marinaire unit is a little easier on the wallet.

Not sure, I would give them a call to see the possibilities. I had mine sent to to my brothers house in NH. He comes up and I go down so it's not and issue transporting it up.

If you have a 12k btu unit, if it is working properly, it will provide 12,000 BTUs/hr of cooling. This is true for a brand-new unit or a 30-year-old unit. The only difference from old to new is the efficiency, or the watts per btu to provide the cooling. Newer units may also run quieter, but as far as capacity a BTU is a BTU.

Try flushing the system first and make sure the filters if applicable and evaporators are clean

Also if the air coming out is around 15-18 degrees cooler than ambient temp it's pretty much doing what it should.

The heat load in my boat is pretty high. The stern gets the afternoon sun and it will blast you like an oven if you open a cabinet when the sun has been shining on the gel coat behind that cabinet for a few hours.

This is one of those discussions that brings up the advantages of white or very light colored front salon window covering/bra. You can reduce the immediate interior temp that way from radiant heat considerably. That will lessen the load on the AC.
I know the black is nice looking and is useful in the shoulder seasons when heat is good but in the heat of summer , not so much perty.