Adlour Barbour Refrigeration on Hoyt F32

[THATBOATGUY]

The "ice box" on some boats I've owned were very large to accommodate a large quantity of ice and less attention was given to the need for efficient insulation. From what I have read this was the design philosophy on the early Freedoms (like ours). My Allied Princess was the same way. I took advantage of the extra room to install insulation inside the box. I took construction foam (which was compatible with epoxy resin) and glued in several layers and then glassed over everything to make it water/air tight. This reduced the volume of the box but left a very usable amount of space for cruising considering there would not be tons of ice going in there. I got by with a little Norcold ice box conversion unit.

BTW when I first installed that unit without the extra insulation I was having that same defect. It was running 24/7. A friend of mine noticed a big rectangular patch of water beading up on the outside of the boat and yes... that was condensation where my little Norcold was trying to reduce the temperature of the greater Pensacola area! Also the lid of the box was cold to the touch and I had to add insulation to it and create a step with air seals on both. Even so I would double up a beach towel over the counter top with the lid and if you stuck your hand under that towel you could feel the cold.

George

[THATBOATGUY]

The way to determine how many BTU's you really need for your refrigerator.

1. Load the box about like you are going to use it in about the kind of weather you are going to use it.

2. With the box cooled down turn off the refrigeration and put a weighed block of ice into the box.

3. Use the box normally as you would for 24 hours.

4. Remove the remaining ice and weigh it again.

5. Do the math.

6. Armed with this certain knowledge you can make sound decisions on how to proceed.

George

[Michel]

If your fridge is not too huge and you aren't in the tropics, you might want to have a look at the Swedish Supercool elements. It is a Peltier system, so light on the batteries, no piping, no compressor, no throughhulls, no noise. But the cooling capacity is somewhat limited, but I believe the modern units are heavier than the one I had which dated from the 80's. I had one in the F33 I used to have and it worked fine in our temperate climate.

http://www.supercool.se/default.asp?viewset=1&on=Products&initid=37&mainpage=catalogue/catalogue_list.asp?mid=41||sid=42

[fmolden]

I have a 1996 F35 and I think that Freedom caught on to the idea of insulating by that time. I have close to 5 inches in the top loading doors. The fridge unit is an Alder-Barbour with a small freezer compartment and in the Chesapeake 90 degree humid summer it will run and maintain a 45 degree temperature with a 50% duty cycle. When first loaded fully with food and beverages it will run 100% of the time and may take 4-8 hrs to cool the beer and food (for us the 1st 8 hrs is at the dock overnight anyway). It draws about 5 amps when running. I leave it on 24 hrs and with my 8D house battery have no problem starting using the house battery.

[gulfcoastsailor]

A couple of things I know... one... I am an extremely late add to this subject. two... I am not an expert on insulation.
With that said, the products collectively called reflective insulation or Reflectix evidently have a terrible record of testing well below the manufacturer's R value claims. R value in these applications may or may not matter to you. The other side of the coin is that it has a very good fire rating.

[seadago]

Hi Sward
Agree with Michel on this. Technology has moved on from compressor-driven monsters. I have a ck 30, originally equipped with one of them. Got rid of it, including the heat exchanger in the hull, and replaced it with one 36 liter, portable thermoelectric (peltier) box. It lives on the well below the cooker in the galley. Manufacturer says it will bring temp down to 25 C below ambient. I just came back from a week onboard, on low twenties during the day. It kept my beers ice cold, the milk from turning, and a few other things from going green. I just lined the inside with thin ice bricks, and make sure that whatever I put in it is cold to begin with. I have a second (smaller) one, which I keep out of the way below the forward bunk, if additional beers are required. It draws about 1.2 Ah. I turned the original refrigeration box next to the sink into storage space for non-perishable foodstuff.
To be honest, it would probably struggle in the tropics, but then again, in the tropics, anything at 10 C is ice cold.
Rafa