ICE BOX INSULLATION

[Tim]

Ed: I have an '85 Hunter 31 and I'm seriously considering installing refrigeration (my wife says it's either that or we get rid of the boat! She'stired of helping me lug ice!). Before I do so, I want to get a better idea ofthe amount of insullation surrounding the ice box and what degree of difficulty it would be to add some to the outside of the ice box (I already have an appreciation of the difficulty installing insullation inside the box). Any other advice on refrigeration add-ons for the 31 from you or anyone else out there would be greatly appreciated. I will report back to the forum my results this fall. Tim

 

[Steve Dion]

It's cold INSIDE.

Tim:We have a Technautics Marine refer on our '85 H'31. Our unit is 3 years old this year and (other than a leak) has work flawlessly. It has a holding plate that fits prefectly above the shelf. We made a second shelf that fits forward of the original one too. We added an additional gel cell battery just for the refer unit (95 amp). Because of the lack of insulation it will not freeze things, but the beer and wine are cold on Friday nite when we arrive. I am also looking at a method to add some insulation around the box. If we figure out anything I will let you know. One alternative method is to remove the counter top. What I am not sure of is the entire ice box going to come out with the counter top? If we do this we will also be able to fix the drain so it actually goes into the bilge or we could hook it to a pump so we could pump it overboard.Technautics now has a new unit that uses 50% less power than the unit that we purchased. I think it is called cool blue. These units are designed for someone with basic skill to install themselves. I installed the holding plate and the compressor and had a refer guy finish the plumbing and electrical.It is going to be interesting to see if someone has a solution to the insulation problem.