Carver Owners Forum

My 93 MarineAir 16K BTU air conditioner died last year. Breaker popping when the compressor/water pump came on. Disconnected the pump, still trips. Measured continuity from compressor motor to ground...confident that the compressor motor is toast. Later confirmed.
For a year, searched the interweb's for experience in reaching/replacing the a/c unit. In the Mariner, the kitchen cabinets and the rest of the boat were built around the a/c unit. No good way to get to it. The interwebs were not as helpful as i hoped. Access is terrible.
We just complete the replacement of the unit, still some dressing to finish, and put the cabinet back together.
I'll be posting my experience, with pics - best i can, to share with the world. Probably less of a "how to", more of a how we did it, but Mariner owners may especially benefit.

Some quick notes:
remove the second shore cord, pop circuit breakers.
take the sink out
the cabinet wall needs to come out - Lots of screws from inside, and the corner trim needs to come off. I used a hammer & wood block to remove the trim-it is held in by small finishing nails.
Once the panel is off, there is much more room to work.
Inside the cabinet, there is a half wall that needs to be removed. There was a sneaky screw from underneath the panel that needed to be forced out...the rest is evident.

You will need wire cutters (for nylon straps), screw gun, and i highly recommend a screw gun adapter that is flexible. (i'll post a picture - at least 12", longer if you can find)

Most of all, you will need a helper, mine was great & i would still be in the hole without her help.

Hopefully i am able to upload pics in followup postings...not quite figuring it out now.
More to come.

The photos are not in great order, but would be helpful to anyone trying this.
The new unit is a MarinAir 16K 110V. Apparently not related to the original company Marine Air Systems.
The new outlet is 6" round, which does not fit the square boat ducting adapter/splitter. Im still working through this.
the old water hoses came from aft, the new unit comes in/out from forward. I did need to add some 1/2" ID hose.
Electrical is very straight forward to connect.
I still have the vents and wire routing & tie-down to finish, but she works!

I have used a couple of the MarinAire units on other boats as replacements and now the Carver has 3 of them on board. Nothing but good to say about them.

Thank you .. This gives me an idea what I’m getting into ..

Pura Vida wrote:Source of the post The photos are not in great order, but would be helpful to anyone trying this.
The new unit is a MarinAir 16K 110V. Apparently not related to the original company Marine Air Systems.
The new outlet is 6" round, which does not fit the square boat ducting adapter/splitter. Im still working through this.
the old water hoses came from aft, the new unit comes in/out from forward. I did need to add some 1/2" ID hose.
Electrical is very straight forward to connect.
I still have the vents and wire routing & tie-down to finish, but she works!

I got the shelf out easily, where are all the screws to get the "wall" out? Using your picture for reference.

Thank you

Pura Vida - thanks for posting this process. Just one point of clarification for me. Is the cabinet wall you removed the piece that holds the access door on? ( Your top picture ) Or, did you remove the piece that has the stereo and air vent cut outs, or both? Thanks. er

Cooler wrote:Source of the post Pura Vida - thanks for posting this process. Just one point of clarification for me. Is the cabinet wall you removed the piece that holds the access door on? ( Your top picture ) Or, did you remove the piece that has the stereo and air vent cut outs, or both? Thanks. er

No, don't believe we took the door off...those half-walls were inside the cabinet space - i think to protect the A/C unit from storage items getting moved into the unit.
Definitely a PITA to reach...lots of screws holding all that.
The Vent panel was removed...held in by a bunch of finish nails in the rounded-trim pieces.

Yep, I know where those half-walls are. Thanks for the clarification. er