Refrigerator insulation - Hunter 30

Apr 14, 2009
19
Hunter 30 sd Port Canaveral, FL
I have a 1981 30' Hunter and want to add insulation to my refrigerator. I don't see any way but to glue some to the inside of the unit.

Has anyone else done this? If so what kind of insulation did you use? What type of adhesive?

Thanks,
Will Duncan
 

kito

.
Sep 13, 2012
2,011
1979 Hunter Cherubini 30 Clemmons
I don't have a frig but I was wanting to insulate the ice box on my 79 H30 too. My wheels are still turning on what to do. I have some 1" thick rigid foam sheathing in my garage that I was thinking of glueing to the outside of each side. I can get to all 3 sides and bottom but not the starboard side without tearing out the galley. Then I was thinking of somehow enclosing the ice box from underneath with a cardboard box...cut a few holes in it and pump in some "great stuff" foam to fill. The easiest would be to find a spray foam to coat the outside of the box. The "great stuff" only pumps out of tube and has no wide area coverage. If anyone knows about a spray foam that would work, please post.
 
Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
Using 'great stuff' is a bad idea unless you can get the nozzle to withing inches of every place you want foam. It expands and sets so quickly; it does not 'flow'. There are commercial grade foams designed to do that.... I just can't remember what they are at the moment.
 

kito

.
Sep 13, 2012
2,011
1979 Hunter Cherubini 30 Clemmons
I seen some fireproofing foam at Lowes. I got to believe it would cover a wide area. Not sure of it's insulating qualities though.
 
Feb 26, 2004
23,050
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
The thing to be VERY careful about is how much the stuff, whatever it is, expands. You don't want to crack the fiberglass. Jack's right.
 
Oct 27, 2011
154
Hunter 1980 Hunter 30 San Diego, Mission Bay
I'm thinking about this too. The box is big enough that gluing polyurethane sheets on the inside might be OK. I think something like Gorilla Glue might be a good adhesive; it has a foaming action that would help fill gaps. You'd want to seal any gaps between foam slabs, then glass the whole inside or maybe use thin plastic to create a box to keep the water out of the foam. Seems do-able, at the expense of some ice box capacity.

I've also thought about spray foam on the outside. I bought a can of Hilty CF 116 Reusable Insulating Filler Foam that I plan to experiment with. I think it has reasonably good thermal insulating properties - thermal conductivity of 0.04 W/mK (about an R-value of 5 per inch I think). It comes with a tube to direct the spray and can be resealed and reused. I'm thinking that by extending the tube I could get the foam into the nooks and crannies at the top of the box. Another thought is drilling holes thru the box from the inside and injecting foam thru the holes. In any case, I too am churning on this.