Refrigeration

[David R Sloan]

Planning on refrigerating my icebox. Any ideas where I should locate the compressor?

 

[Steve Dion]

Lots of air!

David:I am not familiar with the layout of your boat but the main thing is go have plenty of air circulation. On our '85 H'31 we have an aft lazarette across the entire stern of the boat. Just forward of it (and connected) on the starboard side of the boat is the "pit". This entire area has good air circulation.If you do not have a locker where you would have this much air available you may consider venting it from the outside or even the inside of the boat with a vent or vent hose. These units will freeze up if they do not get lots of fresh air. They will also not cool properly.

 

[Ray Chapman]

Water cooled

I installed a water cooled refrigerator on my boat to avoid the air circulation problem. I had installed an air cooled one on a previous boat. You need very good air circulation for an air cooled unit. Living in the north this can be in the cabin. Some units come with duct work that mates to the unit. The specs on the unit should tell you how much cooling space is needed. Look for a good sized locker that you don't mind lossing, because you can't block the air circulation. Also figure on adding batteries as refrigerators use a lot of power.Ray Chapman