Easy Air Conditioning
Warren Elliott

May, 2008 Hull #: C380 #44

 A fair number of our C380/387/390 boats have air conditioning which was installed either as an option by Catalina, or by the Catalina dealer who was the commissioning agent. And, per our lively Sailnet email chat group , some Captains have put in A/C themselves. Of course, most of these boats are located in the south and southwest, where summer heat can be oppressive, requiring some form of relief.

On the other hand, those of us in northern climes have more of a choi ce: we could do nothing, possibly suffering a bit for those few really hot days, or we might go “full up” with an A/C system [usually two unit totaling over 20,000 BTU], perhaps suffering only pocketbook distress. Besides requiring at least a few “big bo at-bucks”, these units take considerable space which might otherwise be