Marine Air Conditioning Retrofit Timing and Access
The short answer
Wait if the headliner or the joinery is coming down anyway. Ducting, wiring and insulation are dramatically cheaper when the boat is already open, and retrofitting a duct run behind finished joinery is where a quote gets expensive. Fit now if you are about to spend a summer aboard without it.
Boat AC Retrofit Timing and Access — Requirements and Limitations
The largest variable in an installed price is access. A duct run through a bulkhead that is already exposed is an hour; the same run behind a fitted liner can be a day, plus the risk that the joinery does not go back the way it came out.
If a refit is a year away and the boat lives in Cairns, the calculation changes — a summer of not sleeping has a cost too. But if it is a few months out, waiting usually saves more than it costs.
Related Sizing, Installation and Service Guides
Each of these answers a different part of the same problem.
- what access does to the pricethe same boat lands at either end of the range
- ask what has to come outthe question that reveals the access cost
- if you are buying rather than refittingwhat to look for before you own it
- ask about your timingtell us the refit scope and we will say