Chip & Debbie Willis on s\v Elegant'sea: We put the Mermaid 5200 BTU HVAC unit in the hanging locker

July 2012 - Marina Kona Kai Shelter Island San Diego, CA

We had the Mermaid Marine Air 5200 btu HVAC stored under the settee seat.

To start this we needed to clean up the bottom of the hanging locker. This is the aft hanging locker in the stateroom. This is where the Mermaid Marine Air 5200 BTU AC\Heat unit is going to sit.

We have ordered ducking from Marine Discounters and it has been about a month and still no delivery. They said they are on back order. Guess we will chose a different place to order the rest of our ducking :(.

First off we wanted to move the Lewmar H3 Anchor Windlass cables up so they were not under the shelf for the Mermaid Marine Air 5200 BTU unit. Just in case we need to service them.

Next we sanded the deck an then moved over the water lines and inch and in doing so we put a new clamp on them. This also served to prevent the new bottom brace from rubbing on them.

Then we fabricated a support for the shelf that the Mermaid Marine Air 5200 BTU HVAC unit was going to sit on. We put two 2x4s together on top of each other and then strapped them together.

We will foam up the holes when we finish with the setup and dry fit.

This is where the previous owner had the house wet cell batteries. The holes he drilled for ventilation.

Debbie working on support piece while sitting on the dock.

Support piece all done.

This will help support the shelf in the middle under the HVAC unit.

Then we flitted the shelf for the HVAC unit on top of the support and side supports.

Then we screwed the shelf onto the support piece we made. It woks well and all can come out together if needed.

We had picked up a ½ thick 4x8 piece of Marine plywood at Dixieland Lumber.

After that was done and fitted we fabricated a support piece for the AC unit to sit on that will be screwed to the shelf.

So we have a support with a piece of 1/2 marine plywood and a shelf with 3/4 plywood with water groves for drainage if needed and so it is really a little over 1/2 thick. Then we have a 1/2 plywood piece under the Mermaid Marine Air 5200 BTU HVAC unit . That totals 1 1/2 inch of plywood total for support. The shelf is not that big and is supported on three sides. This should not go any where and be sturdy in a heavy sea.

Debbie made a series of cuts with he circular saw to make the piece of plywood for the AC unit to sit on. She then ripped the plywood in half so we could store it on the boat for more project use. We were only using a 4x4' of it to begin with.

Dry fitting the Mermaid Marine Air 5200 BTU HVAC unit.

We had tried placing it in various ways but chose this position for the best use of the hanging locker and serving the HVAC unit if needed. Also for through hull access and routing wires and hoses.

On the left you can see a spot where there was a selector switch for the batteries. The house batteries were here by the previous owner at one time. We may use this spot for the AC breaker.

Next we tried to install the electrical unit for the AC(HVAC).

This was going to be an impossible task because there are four small screws that needed to go up and under the shelf. Not easy to reach and no seeing them. We eventually gave up on this and have purchased some small nuts and bolts to hang down and attach it that way.

Now we remove the Mermaid Marine Air 5200 BTU HVAC unit and cut the hole for the return air grate.