Live Aboard In The Tropics, is air-conditioning a must have?

[Reefmagnet]

Bloody heck. Boom tents, water sprays. If you're gunna live in the tropics get a boat designed for the tropics. Here's my check-list. Full cockpit canopy that can remain up while sailing for constant shade; dodger with opening panels; deck hatches that open to catching air from the bow; Dorade vents; heaps of opening portlights; cream coloured decks and white hull; and wall to wall fans. Chuck in a decent fridge and good to go!

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[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

Bloody heck. Boom tents, water sprays. If you're gunna live in the tropics get a boat designed for the tropics. Here's my check-list. Full cockpit canopy that can remain up while sailing for constant shade; dodger with opening panels; deck hatches that open to catching air from the bow

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With respect mate, what you have just described is "a boat" with… "a bimini". That's your solution?

[Reefmagnet]

Originally Posted by Muckle Flugga

With respect mate, what you have just described is "a boat" with… "a bimini". That's your solution?

I prematurely posted. And I said canopy lol. Biminis are for tinnies!

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[Moonos]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

Bloody heck. Boom tents, water sprays. If you're gunna live in the tropics get a boat designed for the tropics. Here's my check-list. Full cockpit canopy that can remain up while sailing for constant shade; dodger with opening panels; deck hatches that open to catching air from the bow; Dorade vents; heaps of opening portlights; cream coloured decks and white hull; and wall to wall fans. Chuck in a decent fridge and good to go!

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So that's what they are called, Dorade. Learn something everyday

Here is a bit of info on them http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...s-56972-2.html

I like the idea to have 2, one facing forward the other facing astern. It should create nice cross ventilation 👍

[sestina]

Another vote for a tension flat top awning for use at anchor. Ideally with sidescreens to ward off low sun. A bore to put up and strike, but the difference below decks is remarkable.

A proper flat top, with stretchers is so much better than the 'tent' sort. Mine can stand 25kts before it gets struck. Good for catching rainwater too.

[zeehag]

tarps as air scoops and shade, fans at anchor.
in marina, air conditioning.
no misting. too humid.
summer humidity here is 99900000 percent . you do NOT want misting.
this is tropical latitude 19.15 north. misting--you will melt. totally. our heat is only 85 f - 90 f in summer, but the humidity will make you sweat like a pig in an oven.
misting makes it much worse.
folks do surviive here with fans only. the water under boat is only 100 f in summer, 80 plus in winter.

btw the magical cowl vent in a dorade box donot let in that much air.

[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by zeehag

tarps as air scoops and shade, fans at anchor.
in marina, air conditioning.
no misting. too humid.
summer humidity here is 99900000 percent . you do NOT want misting.
this is tropical latitude 19.15 north. misting--you will melt. totally. our heat is only 85 f - 90 f in summer, but the humidity will make you sweat like a pig in an oven.
misting makes it much worse.
folks do surviive here with fans only. the water under boat is only 100 f in summer, 80 plus in winter.

btw the magical cowl vent in a dorade box donot let in that much air.

I think the "misting" comment was a joke. "Sweating" the boat, my terminology, does indeed work. I use a deck hose, freshwater and pow… much cooler decks in seconds. I really don't get why this should seem difficult to understand. Physics is physics. Evaporation dumps heat. Without it we'd all be dead.

[Canibul]

I grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast, and never even owned an airconditioned car until I moved to New England in my 20's. I didn't realize how deprived I was. Or is that depraved? I forget. I played football through seven years of school in Texas, including two-a-day workouts in full pads in the August heat. 100 deg. was not uncommon, sometimes every day for a week or more. I don't recall anyone having any issues with it other than the obvious sweating and discomfort. We drank a lot of Gatorade and ate salt tablets and got right back to it.

We just spent ten years living in a house here on Providenciales, with no air conditioning . the trick is getting used to it, and having plenty of air flow and shade. I've worked in Thailand, Singapore, the NW corner of Australia, Pakistan, and all along the north coast of South America on steel workboats. I do know a little about that environment.

Speaking for myself, I dread going back to Houston in the summer now but not because of the heat. It's because constantly going from air conditioned car to open air to air conditioned shopping to open air to airconditioned hotel or house etc. drives me nuts with the temp jumping from 70 to 98 to 70F every half hour. I get sniffles, runny nose, etc. and start feeling like I need airconditioning. Then when I get back to the tropics, after about a week re-acclimating, I realize I never needed it in the first place. We have one on the boat, and a generator, but only use it in marinas when we're blocked from the breeze or for the white noise effect to drown out the neighbors.

I did just spend about $ 600 for Cafano fans, and love those things. Makes a huge difference. Also hatches that open and scoop air into the boat, plus a way for the air to get back OUT of the boat. Not a big issue with the catamaran, up in the breeze but I don't think I'd want to be in a monohull down in 100 deg. water. Isn't that what they do to lobsters?

There have been a few billion people living happily enough without air conditioners, you know.

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by Muckle Flugga

I think the "misting" comment was a joke. "Sweating" the boat, my terminology, does indeed work. I use a deck hose, freshwater and pow… much cooler decks in seconds. I really don't get why this should seem difficult to understand. Physics is physics. Evaporation dumps heat. Without it we'd all be dead.

pour water on decks yes.
other excess humidity you do NOT want.
trust me.
the humidity here reduces when canes come thru. and only then. you do NOT wantt o add more humidity to the 9900000 perent already in air.
come on down and see if you truly need to ....
what about "i am here experiencing this" is it that folks donot understand?????

[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by zeehag

pour water on decks yes.
other excess humidity you do NOT want.
trust me.
the humidity here reduces when canes come thru. and only then. you do NOT wantt o add more humidity to the 9900000 perent already in air.
come on down and see if you truly need to ....
what about "i am here experiencing this" is it that folks donot understand?????

Where are you? Likelihood is I have sailed there as well. I've lived on boats/sailboats in the tropics for a decade of my life, in all three major Oceans and many seas… so… where are you?

And who said anything about adding humidity?

[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by Muckle Flugga

Where are you? Likelihood is I have sailed there as well. I've lived on boats/sailboats in the tropics for a decade of my life, in all three major Oceans and many seas… so… where are you?

And who said anything about adding humidity?

Ah, I see. Manzanillo. Yep, sailed the length of the Mexican Pacific coast. So? Of course one doesn't want to add humidity to the air… but really, how are you going to do that in reality, out in the open surrounded by water which is constantly evaporating? Currently speaking to you from Thailand.

[Reefmagnet]

Originally Posted by Muckle Flugga

I think the "misting" comment was a joke. "Sweating" the boat, my terminology, does indeed work. I use a deck hose, freshwater and pow… much cooler decks in seconds. I really don't get why this should seem difficult to understand. Physics is physics. Evaporation dumps heat. Without it we'd all be dead.

It may work, it just doesn't work very well as humidity increases. In summer humidity can often max out at 100% along the coast. The reason why people "sweat like pigs" in these regions is not so much because of the heat; it's because sweat can't evaporate quickly enough. I strongly suspect this is why evaporative air conditioners are almost non existent in tropical coastal buildings; and boats for that matter.

On the plus side, for 6 or so months of the year, the tropical climate can't be beat!

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[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

It may work, it just doesn't work very well as humidity increases. In summer humidity can often max out at 100% along the coast. The reason why people "sweat like pigs" in these regions is not so much because of the heat; it's because sweat can't evaporate quickly enough. I strongly suspect this is why evaporative air conditioners are almost non existent in tropical coastal buildings; and boats for that matter.

On the plus side, for 6 or so months of the year, the tropical climate can't be beat!

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Yeah well, if that were true mate, then the water would just sit there, sloshing around the deck now, wouldn't it? Funny that dozens of liters of it will just evaporate in 2 to 5 minutes, taking much of the deck heat along with it (as is instantly obvious) eh? Where do you think it is all going? And no, I have pretty much never seen a situation where this is not effective, having lived on boats in the tropics for a decade or so, all round the world including along the tropical coasts of your fair country.

[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

It may work, it just doesn't work very well as humidity increases. In summer humidity can often max out at 100% along the coast. The reason why people "sweat like pigs" in these regions is not so much because of the heat; it's because sweat can't evaporate quickly enough. I strongly suspect this is why evaporative air conditioners are almost non existent in tropical coastal buildings; and boats for that matter.

On the plus side, for 6 or so months of the year, the tropical climate can't be beat!

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What you are not accounting for is that the air is not uniform in temperature and surfaces may far exceed the temperature of the air further up, rapidly increasing the actual air temp locally. If the general air is at or near "dew point" (100% relative humidity), wherever it is being measured, that dew point will vary wildly depending on the actual air temperature. Ascend a few feet and the situation will be different, descend, and different again, measure against a sun exposed deck at 2 or 3 in the equatorial afternoon and I can pretty much guarantee you it will be FAR below dew point.

You are treating the "air" as if it is monolithic, and uniform. It isn't.

See?

[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

It may work, it just doesn't work very well as humidity increases. In summer humidity can often max out at 100% along the coast. The reason why people "sweat like pigs" in these regions is not so much because of the heat; it's because sweat can't evaporate quickly enough. I strongly suspect this is why evaporative air conditioners are almost non existent in tropical coastal buildings; and boats for that matter.

On the plus side, for 6 or so months of the year, the tropical climate can't be beat!

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One more thing: at dew point mist forms. Notice this almost never happens in the tropics? This is because instabilities in the atmosphere cause convection currents of rising air, which form cumulus and then cumulus castellanus, and eventually cumulus congestus and cumulonimbus clouds. Only under the latter is the atmosphere truly saturated. Before this point of the development of the tropical day, which is only occasionally and briefly attained, warm wet air from the surface is rising and drawing cooler, drier air down from on high. These convective systems mean that it is almost never truly near 100 percent relative humidity, for more than a short time, and then only in certain localised altitudes and areas. Were this not the case, the tropics would be constantly enveloped in a dense fog.