Need AC help/venting/cramming it all in

[dh]

I'm still in the planning stage of my first TD (Benroy), and need some help with trying to fit in an AC. I've decided to put it in the back on the floor, and made as many trims as I could to get room for it. I decided to go with a Colman queen size air bed, it is 78" long, not the standard 80", and I gained another 3/4" by putting in the front spars short side up, and a slight modification of plans on the way the rear is cut out for the hatch seals, and I have just 15.5 inches (If I skin the inside of the hatch) of room for an AC that is 14.75" deep. How do I need to vent it? I planned on putting it close to the driver side wall, and putting a vent in the wall to the outside. I know I'll need to put a hole in the floor for the water to run out, but not sure how this is best done. All these mods are not just my little AC, I also want to fit a Colman Power Chill cooler (15" deep) in the gally as well. I plan on mounting it chest style on a pull out platform. Also, I thought up a little trick, mounting a 19" LCD TV to an inside cabinet wall, giving a cabinet in the gally deep enough for a microwave. Has anybody bolted an LCD TV directly to plywood like this before?

Any help would be appriciated.

[48Rob]

Hi DH,

Your TV/microwave idea seems sound.
It is all about using your head to save/make space for the things you want.

I installed my flatscreen to the outside wall (plywood).
It is bolted through, using the wall mount bracket that came with it.
The bolt heads are hidden behind exterior trim.

Though not shown in the picture, my DVD player, an "in dash" model, is mounted in the wall between the cabin and galley.
Only the face is visible in the cabin, the rest, including the wiring, is hidden in a cabinet in the galley.

Rob

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/1948rob/Cabin%20car%20project/mirror.jpg?t=1250594799">

[Cave Man]

I have a BenRoy style unit that is starting to get restored. Basicalley Im gonna stay with the same shape and galley. The rest is up for grabs. Im looking at a mini fridge and the A/C I was thinking of mounting on the front wall over the head of the bed. But the idea of under the galley is nice too. And with some ducting you could have the return on the unit and duct the output up and into the cabin off the rear of the galley?

Is there a way to put it on a slide out of sorts that would let you open a hatch and then pull it out like a drawer and the face of the unit seal on the inside wall?

Good luck with the build.

[planovet]

I put my airconditioner on the floor and vented it out the bottom of the tear. Here is a LINK to some pictures.

[john]

On my first build I put my A/C on the floor. I decided to put it on a raised platform (around 4") so the intake on the front would not be blocked by the mattress. The platform also gave room under the A/C for me to route the "outside" through the A/C. Pics say it best.

[dh]

How easy is it remove the unit to clean out the coils?

Back in college, I had a place with no central AC, just a window unit. I had to clean out the coils every season, I'd get about 1/8" of dirt built up on them.

[john]

There is a wood "bezel" around the A/C inside the tear. It rests against the angled metal that the window is supposed to drop onto. Removing the four screws that holds the "bezel" in place allows the A/C to be removed.

In reality the A/c has not gotten enough use to worry with cleaning other than the supplied filter.