Marine Air A/C Unit

Click image to enlarge.

Can one of you 350/390 owners tell me if their salon A/C unit is mounted this way with the grill panel covering a substantial fraction (about 1/3) of the inlet side of the A/C? Do you have any icing problems? Do you have a different unit (VCP16K) or is it mounted differently?

Are there any experienced marine A/C guys that can tell if this mounting arrangement will substantially reduce the cooling capacity or cause icing. There is about 1" between the face of the unit and the grill cover. The main fan behind the evaporator IS aligned with the opening for the grill in the wall.

Would raising the unit to better center it in grille wall vent opening help prevent icing on humid days and would it increase air flow and the amount of cooling?

I notice the manual talks about needing a 4" min clearance in front of the return air grille but doesn't say much about the clearance between the evaporator and the solid objects. Would it help to move the unit back from the grille wall if the unit cannot be raised to center it in the grille hole?

Is it worth my time to grab the long nose and straighten those flattened fins you see on the coils in the picture. Also, there are some openings in the floor of the A/C compartment. Should they be sealed up to prevent humid air from leaking in from the outside?

The air outlet duct hose is about 19" around which suggests a radius of 6" or a diameter of 12" but I think that is probably the outside measurement with the insulation. The inner diameter is smaller. I would guess the inner diameter where it is screwed into the outlet is about 4". The outlet duct is about 4 or 5 feet long. The manual says the minimum duct diameter should be 7". What diameter duct does everyone else have in their installation? Would running additional duct connections help and where would you put them? There's not much room to run anything else unless several much smaller ducts are used.

History: The first year of operation, the unit shorted out. A Marine Air repair person removed the unit, repaired it in the shop and reinstalled it, but found that it was still shorted. He removed it and sent it to the factory and installed a refurbished unit, I think, which is the one you see pictured above. I'm not sure if was the same model as the original. Anyone have a model number from their unit to compare?

My unit tends to ice up if it is not set to automatically defrost by going into heat mode for 1 min periodically. But, it's not very comfortable to be sitting near the unit on a hot day when this happens. Any suggestions or comments on these problems are welcome. (Click link below.)