[PSUBS-MAILIST] Air conditioner

[Jon Wallace]

In the recreational, personal, sub-world you generally can't have your 
cake and eat it too.  Put two adults in a small sub like the K250 and 
you sacrifice comfort for occupancy.  Freon based AC units whether auto 
or household are not practical solutions for the traveling submariner, 
such as convention diving.  There was zero space for such an AC unit on 
board the Boston Whaler used to tow SNOOPY out into the ocean, and the 
support boat was being tossed in 2-4 foot seas.  It simply is not 
practical unless you are building a support boat specific for your sub 
diving and trailering it along with your submarine to the dive location.

The best solution for the average psubber is to use a small ice chest 
(six-pack size) stuffed with ice and then circulate cabin air over that 
ice.  Use a small computer fan to force air over the ice if necessary.  
The first refrigerators were nothing more than ice-chests, low-tech, 
easy maintenance, not super efficient but adequate to keep things 
relatively cool.