It gets mighty hot on a boat in the summertime. So, you go down into the cabin to take a break from the sun only to find out the air in the cabin’s as hot as crawling into an oven. An air conditioner sure would be nice right about now, wouldn’t it? 
Cool Your Boat
One of the easiest ways to air condition your boat is with a carry-on portable air conditioner. This completely self-contained unit sits in a standard foredeck hatch opening, so all you have to do is put the A/C unit in the hatch, plug it in and turn it on to add climate control to your cabin.
When it’s time to cruise, just unplug and lift the air conditioner out of the deck hatch. Roll up the electrical cord and stow the A/C unit ‘til next time.
Another way to cool your boat is to install a permanent air conditioning unit. It sounds intimidating, but if you’re reasonably handy with tools and have a free day, you can probably have your new A/C unit in by nightfall. Permanently mounted air conditioners often use ductwork to distribute the cool air throughout the boat.
If you boat where the weather fluctuates between hot and cold, you might want to consider installing an air conditioner/heat pump unit. It’s not that difficult to do the job yourself, and when you’re done, you’ll have a climate control center that’ll keep you cool in the summer and toasty warm in the winter. It doesn’t get much better than that, does it?