Day 20 - By Aaron

Today I decided that we had to get a new portable ac unit because the one we had would not cool off the boat at all during the day.  I got one twice as strong.  My buddies Clay and Terry came down to help me hook it up.  We got everything all hooked up, and then found out that it was drawing too many amps and it was popping the outlet amp.  So we all put our heads together, or should I say my two friends put their hands together because I’m just not handy, and they both had an idea.  We went back to the store, and I bought the stuff for Clay’s idea and I bought the stuff for Terry’s idea.  Clay’s idea was $40 the other way was almost $300.  But they were both damn good ideas and with what Terry came up with, having a splitter for your boat is probably a good idea anyways, and I see most other boats around her have one.  Luckily, Clay’s a pro electrician.  He changed one of the breakers from a 15 amp breakers to a 25 amp breakers for the boat's outlets.  Then it started working right.  He said don't run the air and the microwave at the same time.    We then discovered that if this particular unit is not level, water starts pouring out.  We jammed a wrench under the edge to straighten it out a bit, seems to have stopped it from pouring out, but as I mentioned in other posts a little bit of an eastern wind and this boat starts rocking like mad as it is this very second.  I truly hope that it doesn’t start leaking because the boat’s rocking so much.   

Also, while I was at West Marine, I got a new power cord for the boat.  That was $120.  I also found out that the breaker on the shore wasn't broken, the person who checked it just didn't flip the switch right. 

I did talk to the mechanic that worked on the ac on the boat before and he informed me that he belives the compressor is bad and it would cost me over $3000 for him to fix it.  Now when I went to West Marine today I decided to go to the parts department and find out how much a new compressor would be.  I also decided to ask how much would a whole new ac unit would be.  Anyone that knows West Marine knows they are an expensive store.  The price they told me to replace the whole ac unit was only $1500.  The compressor was only around $900.  So, if I can get a part for $900 and he wants $3000 obviously he’s just trying to rip me off.  He told me to replace the entire unit on the boat would cost $5000.  I think that’s going to wait until I get home.  I truly hope that the rest of this week has no issues or problems or I might just have to head home.  If it wasn’t for my wife, trying to always make me smile, I might have just called sea tow and had them tow me back.