If you want to mount a household unit it has to have a place to sit. I did not want to crawl over the thing in the companion way. I made this bracket that uses the channel around the hatch as a support.

bracket

The bracket as you can see is just three pieces of wood. The largest is where the unit will rest. The smallest is the piece that rides in the channel by the hatch. The one on the right is what supports the unit as it is suspended out over your for deck.

bracket side view

All things on a boat should be clean and compact. I made the bracket with a hinge to fold and store easily.

bracket folded

I used the existing mounting holes for attaching snaps.

snaps

Here you see 1 inch foam board used to help give the sides some rigidity. The foam slips into the channels on the sides of the hatch and the fills the gap between the lid, unit and deck. This also helps to prevent condensation around the hatch.

foam

Then it is covered with a tarp using the snaps that I attached through the existing mounting holes.

tarp

The tarp obviously did not form to this shape. I folded it around the entire setup like wraping a chrismas gift. With the folds taped, I had a friend put in some seams.

side view

The unit is a 5200 BTU model that I picked up at Lowes for $93. The tarp was like six bucks and the snaps were about the same. I also added the overboard condensate drain line which was about 33 cents per foot and used about 4 feet of that. This project cost me about $110 total and at night it is like a meat locker even after a 90 degree day. I have to use blankets.

Be Cool!!

finished