10 Things To Consider When Selecting A Marine Cooling System Provider

When out at sea, it’s essential that boats are cooled appropriately. From leisure yachts to heavily manned workboats, everyone aboard will be relying on cooling systems to keep them safe and comfortable.

However, many boats will outlive their incumbent air conditioning and refrigeration systems (if they were built with them at all).

Whether you’re looking to retrofit a new cooling system onto a refurbished boat or update an existing system that’s no longer fit for purpose, you will have a big decision ahead.

Firstly, you know that your in-house marine engineering team don’t have the air conditioning or refrigeration knowledge required to complete the task from start to finish. They need support which will complement and enrich how they work.

Secondly, you want to work with a provider who is passionate about your industry and understands its customers, including the demands of life at sea. To suggest a comprehensive solution, they need to realise the intricacies of each boat you work with – but the result can’t be too complex for your own team to use and maintain once the project is complete.

So, to find the ideal marine cooling system partner, which questions should you ask?

Here’s our 10 top tips…

1. 1. Marine Expertise
    
    Cooling systems can be fitted to any number of vehicles on land, air and sea. However, the nuances of marine vessels mean that experience in the former will not always benefit the latter.Few off-the-shelf cooling solutions will fit seamlessly into a nautical application. It requires years of specialist marine knowledge to predict the challenges that seafaring equipment will face and therefore adapt the system to ensure long-term success.
    Don’t take a risk on a generalist to build your critical cooling systems. By insisting on a marine specialist, you can ensure that your industry-specific pain points are address, accounted for and prevented at source
  2. After Sales, Spares and Repairs
    
    The installation of a new cooling system is just part of your relationship with your provider. You need to be confident that, once the boat sets sail, any maintenance or repair issues are managed quickly, conveniently and with diligence. What happens if your boat experiences a maintenance issue at sea and the existing crew aren’t sure how to fix it? It won’t take long for conditions on the boat to become uninhabitable. The pressure to find a solution will be high.
    When choosing a cooling system provider, make sure that they are expecting to continue your relationship after the build is complete. Whether it’s a phone call to help diagnose an issue, or a trip to your boat to facilitate a wet-dock repair, you need to be confident that your supplier won’t leave you high and dry.
  3. Relationship With Suppliers
    It’s important to partner with a cooling system provider who stocks the required parts to facilitate efficient maintenance, as well as one that keeps direct contact with manufacturers. This will ensure that any parts which aren’t available on the shelf can be obtained quickly, without needing to liaise with third party suppliers yourself.
  4. Flexibility to Meet Tight Timescales
    
    When a boat is in your dockyard, you’ll no doubt agree a completion date with your customer. It’s essential to your reputation that these promises are kept.Your cooling provider will need to be reliable enough to work to a fixed timeline, while also being flexible enough to assist when things may not go to plan. An expert who can quickly offer advice – be it over the phone or in person – can make a critical difference when time is of the essence.
  5. Proven History of Varied, Bespoke Cooling System Builds
    Custom design is essential to the build of cooling systems that will meet and exceed expectations.
    Unexpected snags can complicate even the most of robust of plans. It’s important that your cooling system provider is both experienced and creative enough to work around these roadblocks, without adding significant time delays or risk to your project.
    Always ask your provider to show you case studies and examples of when bespoke cooling system work has been completed. This experience could make all the difference if there are difficult waters ahead.
  6. Retrofits and Upgrades
    It’s highly unlikely that your boatyard works with the same type of vessel, every time. For your services to remain versatile, your cooling system provider should also be well-versed in working on both retrofit and upgrade projects.
    Completing upgrades and retrofits to boats is quicker and easier when your boatyard partners with a reliable expert that can tackle ALL boat cooling challenges. It will allow you to keep attracting a breadth of custom and give your customers much-needed confidence that you will be up to task, no matter how unique the watercraft.
  7. Different Climates
    Cooling needs differ on location.
    Does your provider understand the nuances of geographical needs? Will they be ready to advise your customer of the best solution, wherever they may roam?
  8. Offering Value
    Boat retrofits and upgrades are not often ‘budget’ pursuits, but that doesn’t mean costs should spiral.
    A provider who is willing to find the best solution to suit your budget – without compromising on practicality or quality – is a commercial must.
  9. Consultations
    A solution starts with a deep understanding of the problem.
    When choosing a marine cooling supplier, make sure that they are eager to provide comprehensive consultations to ensure the solution they propose is correct – before work commences, or any paperwork is signed.
    They may even be able to offer some of these services without charge, depending on the nature of the request.
  10. Customer Service Commitments
    To help you complete your project on time and to requirement, your provider should be willing to set up a Service Level Agreement. This will help you to manage expectations and plan your project appropriately, ahead of time.
    Will your supplier help you how and when you need it? This is the time to make sure.

Nauticool is a leading supplier of turnkey air conditioning and refrigeration solutions for marine settings.

You can trust us to install and service industry leading brands, to your exact requirements.

With 19 years of industry experience, thousands of customers throughout the world rely on our advanced technologies, products and services to improve and enhance the environments around them.