Ferry AC woes expand, mystery odor remains mysterious

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The Martha's Vineyard ferry was sidelined Sunday. -Rich Saltzberg

The air conditioning on the MV Martha’s Vineyard has not been fixed. As The Times reported Monday, a part was expected to come in Tuesday to fix a compressor control panel.

“The replacement part didn’t perform as expected,” Steamship Authority spokesman Sean Driscoll said Friday. Driscoll also said the part arrived late, likely because of the July Fourth holiday.

In addition to the failure of air conditioning in the concessions area, Driscoll said the port and starboard side of the “01 aft deck” have lost air conditioning. Driscoll wasn’t able to cite the cause. He did say he believed temporary air conditioning units have been deployed.

The Martha’s Vineyard returned earlier this year from an $18 million midlife refurbishment, but has suffered a host of mechanical breakdowns and other problems.

Passengers took to social media over the air conditioning.

“Terrible!” Scott Ryan posted on Facebook. “And people who are posting elsewhere that it’s no big deal and that AC is a frill are in my opinion completely off base — first, people are paying good money, and secondly, the extreme heat we have had is hazardous for children, older people, people with asthma, pets, etc. It is unacceptable!”

“GM Morning Friday! 7 a.m. outta WH — Martha still has no AC upstairs either! And it smells odd!” Paulette Silva-Souza, a regular commuter, also posted on Facebook.

“If by odd you mean the men’s room in the fourth quarter of the Patriots game at Gillette Stadium, then yes you’re right,” Eric Twiss posted in reply.

Driscoll said the crew could find no indication of bad odor on the vessel.