Frig design help needed....

[Sumner]

I'm in the process of designing a new frig/freezer for our Endeavour. It had an ....

.... upright where the two bottom left arrows are. I pulled it out before we left the boat, above. It worked on 12v/120v and if someone is interested in it and wants to make a contribution to this site for it get a hold of me. It is in storage by Charlotte Harbor Boat Storage. We don't want to keep it due to the front opening door and the loss of cold air every time you open it. We need something more efficient.

Now on to the help I need. I'm torn between making a 'spill-over' frig/freezer or a frig with a...

...freezer evaporator like above. I like the first idea as the freezer could be a little larger. I like the second due to the fact it is simpler in design/construction. I'm wondering if I use the freezed evaporator if I could box in an area below it that would also stay frozen to some degree?

Has anyone made or have the spill-over design on their boat? If so do you like it?

The boat also has a rather large original ice box and we will keep it for storage, but I don't want to convert it to an electric unit as it would be hard to increase the insulation on it and it is in an awkward place to use to the left of the sink in the photo at the top of the post..

The new one will be a top loading chest type mounted in the same area where the front opening one was. I'm extending that counter towards the center-line of the boat some. I'm shooting for a little less than 3 cu. ft. of frig area and a little less than 1 cu. ft. of freezer space and want to run it with.....

.... a BD-35 compressor.

I'd appreciate any ideas/thoughts or personal experiences. Thanks,

Sum

Our Endeavour 37

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[woodster]

dont know your budget Sum but you may want to look in to the Isotemp....dont buy them direct from Isotemp ask them what dealers they have in your area hence better prices and better service(suppliers are so ridiged at that level).... units that are water cooled and have no coolling fan or coils ...they run very quite and efficently on 12 v only and do a very good job with out running them on the high side of the setting of the Tstat...then you cound ud ethe spill-over most likely.....

regards

woody

one other note ask Steve Dion what he thinks about the units..

 

[Merlin Clark]

I've always had adler barbour cold machines but if I were to do it again and had the scratch I'd go with the frigoboat. I really like the keel cooling concept.
I built a top loader for my 32 Traveller about 20 years ago, using 6mil plastic sheet for moisture barrier, heavy aluminum foil for heat reflector and 2 lb urethane foam 3" thick. I built the inner liner out of 1/4' CDX fir and 2 layers of cloth and West epoxy. That was about state of the art back then and I'm sure there are better materials now. I think I used Daniel Spurrs "Upgrading the Cruising Sailboat" for guidance, or maybe it was Don Caseys "This old Boat". Both great books. The biggest issues was ensuring there were no gaps in the barriers or the insulation. You've got a great space to work with and the existing icebox position with having to reach over the stove could be painful, not to mention trying to get to anything down low in the ice box.
With your talents I'm sure you'll build something outstanding.

 

[Steve Dion]

I am with Woody on the Isotherm SP units. We have had ours for 5 years without any issues. You can contact them for tech support but you may want to consider E-Marine Inc for a place to purchase.

 

[FastOlson]

Well, you did ask for our thoughts.....

I recall a great boat building article from many years ago... gist of it was:
While getting the mechanical part is important, it is still secondary to the box design.
First, build a box that will keep one block of ice intact for at least five days, in hot weather, without any added cooling (refer/fridge).
This will involve several layers of closed cell foam and a lid with an air-tight seal and ample insulation.

While I like the Frigoboat system I installed in '02, there are several other perfectly good choices for removing heat from your ice box.

But for total electrical economy of the reefer and for economical compressor sizing, the main thing is still.... insulation.

My .02 worth, although worth about what you paid...


LB

 

[Merlin Clark]

Wow! I just looked at the prices on Adler Barbour cold machines and evaporators! The system I installed on my last big boat is now around $1,400. That puts the "cheap" option in the ball park of much more efficient systems.

 

[Ross]

I built the ice box for Bietzpadlin with two layers of 2 inch extruded styrofoam cementing all of the joints and filling all of the gaps with Great stuff canned urethane foam. I built it as a completely closed box and then cut the top carefully on a taper and saved the plug. The inside is finished with very light weight glass cloth and epoxy. There is a condensate drain with an "U" trap to keep air infiltration to a minimum. It will keep cold for a week in 90 degree weather with forty pounds of ice frozen in gallon jugs. Ice gives up 140 btu's per pound when melting. That comes out to about 800 btu's per day. The advantage of having ice in jugs is that even when the ice has melted there is still forty pounds of cold water in there.

 

[rhythmsurfer]

LB has it right. I have a freezer just like your picture. My favorite thing is the vertical ice cube tray and it will also freeze a beer bottle. The PO installed it my Hunter 36 1981 but did not alter the insulation. It may have been original equipment but I am not sure. Last week I filled it to the top with ice and bottled drinks. I came back 36 hrs later and half of the ice was melted. This was with it running with shore power connected. It's DC. I guess you need to ask yourself again about access. Searching through 3 ft of ice cubes to get to the rum is sometimes a little aggravating. I plan to add more insulation this Fall. On a side note: I got my wife an ice cream cake for her birthday and we took it out on the boat. I used dry ice and surrounded the cake on all sides in a plain old cooler. That thing was frozen solid after being in the cooler for 4 hrs. We let it "thaw" for 15 minutes and still had to use a chef's knife and mallet to drive the knife down into the cake so we could begin to slice it. Dry ice is the best!!!