Marine & Boat Air Conditioning, Gold Coast

A self-contained unit in one cabin and a chilled-water plant serving six zones are both “marine air conditioning”, and they are priced worlds apart, so the honest answer is a quote, not a figure. What moves the number: the system type and BTU capacity the heat load demands, how many zones, how much ducting, raw-water plumbing and electrical work the install needs, and how easy the spaces are to reach on your boat. The sizing calculation comes first; the quote follows in writing before any work begins. If you ring 07 5612 7161 with the vessel and the spaces you want cooled, we can usually tell you the sensible approach on the call.

There are three broad types. Self-contained units put the compressor, condenser and blower in one raw-water-cooled box and cool a single zone, ideal for cabins, trailer boats and smaller cruisers. Chilled-water systems use a central chiller to cool water that’s pumped to fan-coil air handlers in each cabin, which suits larger vessels and superyachts with many zones. And DC (12V/24V) self-contained units let smaller craft run aircon off the battery bank without a generator. Most also run reverse-cycle, so they heat as well as cool. We’ll recommend the type that suits your hull, your zones and how you use the boat.

Sizing is the single most important decision, and it isn’t just cabin length. We calculate the heat load from the volume of each space, the amount of glazing and how much sun it takes, the insulation, and the climate you cruise in, then specify the BTU capacity that comfortably keeps up. An undersized system runs flat-out, never dehumidifies and still feels warm; an oversized one short-cycles and leaves the cabin clammy. Getting the BTU right is why a properly specified system feels better than a bigger one fitted badly. We do this calculation as part of every quote.

Yes. DC self-contained air conditioners run on 12V or 24V and are designed exactly for running at anchor on the battery bank without starting the generator. The catch is runtime: aircon is a heavy load, so it only makes sense when it’s matched to your house batteries, charging and solar. We’ll work out realistic run times for your setup, and where it stacks up we size and install a DC system, often alongside a lithium and charging upgrade handled with our electrical team, so you can stay cool overnight quietly.

Both. Air conditioning for boats isn’t just a big-vessel fit-out, a lot of our work is boat air conditioning at the smaller end: self-contained units in trailer boats, half-cabin cruisers and sailing yachts, often the 12V/24V DC systems that run at anchor without a generator. The sizing discipline is identical whatever the boat, we calculate the heat load for the space, fit the unit with proper ducting, raw-water plumbing and condensate drainage, and commission it before hand-over. If you’ve been told your boat is “too small for aircon”, it usually just means nobody sized a system properly for it.

For most owners, yes. Reverse-cycle systems cool through summer and reverse to gently heat the cabin on cool mornings, winter nights and southern passages, all from the one unit, with no separate diesel or electric heater to fit and maintain. Even on the Gold Coast the heating earns its keep on a cold start or an early-season trip south, and it adds very little to the install. Unless you only ever boat in the tropics, reverse-cycle is the sensible default, and we fit whatever the job requires.

Poor cooling usually isn’t just low refrigerant. The most common causes are restricted raw-water flow, a blocked intake, strainer or weed in the through-hull, a tired pump, a dirty condenser or blower, or a control fault, and sometimes a genuine gas leak. Water dripping into the cabin or bilge is almost always a blocked condensate drain, a failed condensate pump or under-insulated ducting sweating in the heat, not the unit failing. Both symptoms are cheap to diagnose and miserable to live with, so we check the whole circuit, water side first, before touching the gas. Topping up refrigerant without finding the fault just books the same call-out twice.

Yes. We supply and install Frigomar, and we service and repair all the major marine air-conditioning brands, Frigomar (sometimes searched as “frigoma”), Dometic, Webasto and Cruisair among them, whether we supplied the system or not. That covers compressors, raw-water pumps, refrigerant, blowers, condensate pumps and controls, with gas handling done by appropriately licensed technicians. We carry common parts and source genuine spares, usually within a couple of days from nearby suppliers, so an older or unusual unit is generally repairable rather than an automatic replacement.

Most servicing, gas and pump checks, fault-finding and condensate repairs is done dockside by our mobile teams across the Gold Coast and South East Queensland, and we travel to jobs across Queensland and New South Wales, including private docks and marinas, when the job requires it. A full system install, a chilled-water plant or a multi-zone retrofit runs from our Coomera workshop at Gold Coast City Marina instead, where the rest of the engineering team is on hand for the electrical and plumbing sides. The engineers, and the sign-off paperwork, are the same in both cases.