Better Days A27 FC Refit

[Jay Knoll]

Isotherm compact medium size

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/isotherm- ... hgodPQEGOg

it had the largest evaporator that I could fit thru the box opening (and since I've discovered the relative lack of insulation I'm glad I stepped up to the larger size).

[Vic K]

FYI: I went another way and insulated the box from the inside. This was originally an ice box and with refrigeration really didn't need that much space. I'm using a Vitrifrigo unit with an L-shaped evaporator. It's working fine on a low setting. I believe if I turned up the volume it would become a freezer. I did rebuild the stairway and put the condenser under the step.
Vic

[Jay Knoll]

Vic

I thought of that, in fact had done it that way on my sailboat, but just wasn't willing to cut the box's volume down that much. The Admiral is a superb cook and likes to have space for supplies. We'll see how it goes. Different boats, different wakes.

[Vic K]

Jay,

Both will work. I'm just happy that they've upgraded/changed these boat refrigeration units. You can hold this little Vitrifrigo in one hand.
My wife is also a great boat chef I just thinks she needs to practice her craft more. When we cruised the Bahamas we wore out a bread maker. If you have room you might think of adding one of those little marvels to your galley.
I really like the work you've done to your boat. Good job. Are you in the water?

Vic

[Jay Knoll]

Vic

Thanks, yes we are in the water. Did a sunset cruise Sunday evening with friends, just a magical evening -- and it forced me to clean up the "work in progress" mess. The Isotherm unit is small as well, so much more compact than the old Adler Barbour we had on our cruising sailboat.

Jay

[Jay Knoll]

Ice Box Interior.JPG

Moving right along, got the unit installed and running, dry fit on the rebuild of the steps. I'm going to put a drop down door between the two steps. I'm concerned about condensation on the supply lines to the evaporator. Has anyone put foam sleeves over the supply lines in their refrigeration setup?

[daleash]

Can you tell me dimensions of the deck hatch that you repaired? Was the hatch a build that you did or did you buy it and drop it in place?

[Jay Knoll]

Hi Dale?

The PO cut a hole in the cockpit sole and put some aluminum stripping around the edge of the cutout to form a hatch cover. Of course, it leaked. So I rebuilt it, creating the "gutter" that you see in the earlier posts. the size of the cutout is approximately 26" x 33". Hope this helps.

PS. It still leaks, but at least the water goes into the bilge via the hoses rather than spilling over everything and running into the aft cabin.

Jay

[Jay Knoll]

So far so good on the refrigeration

Started the system up on Sunday I put 24 cans of water in the compartment. The hole at the bottom wasn't sealed, I just stuffed some rags in while I tested the system in case I had to pull things out. No problems, it has been running fine for the past several days. As I feared the supply lines were dripping with water from the FL humidity. So today I wrapped them with pipe insulation and foamed the hole shut. The box is holding 40 degrees, and inside the evaporator it is 28 degrees, with the thermostat set at the 5 setting. Admittedly it has been cool for FL, down in the 50s at night but it has been up in the low 80s during the day. I'm depending on solar for power. So far the panels (4 55 watt) have been doing a great job, it has been partly cloudy since I turned things on and the battery voltage hasn't dropped below 13.4 volts. The compressor is remarkably quiet, the solar vent in the main cabin makes more noise than the compressor does when it is running. I'm a happy camper.

I'm in the process of painting the woodwork that will form the cabinet between the two steps, I should have the project completed by the end of the week. I'm not sure I'm going to enclose the area when I've installed the compressor, it is far back from the edge of the step and it would be impossible to kick it with your feet unless you were lying on the cabin sole. I like the idea of LOTS of ventilation so I may just leave it open.

Jay

[Beta Don]

I decided there wasn't much hope for making the original icebox energy efficient, so I went another direction. I installed the same Isotherm unit you used, but I put it in a 90 liter icebox, similar to a Yeti or an Engel, but since I couldn't bring myself to drill one of those full of holes, I used a *slightly* less expensive box . . . . but it was still $300

The cooler is mounted between the lazarette seats on a pedestal which raises it to table height and I have a folding oak tabletop on the top of the box - The table is the width and length of the box top with a 6 inch leaf that folds out each side. We have a 1 cubic foot freezer and a 2 cubic foot fridge. It makes ice (inside the evaporator) and it keeps ice frozen in a large drawer under the evaporator. the compressor is mounted in the port lazarette under the engine exhaust tubing

Surprisingly energy efficient, even when making ice. The compressor kicks on and runs for about 15 minutes and then it cycles off for about 30 minutes. It draws about 3.5 amps when it's running and is almost completely silent. It's been running non-stop now for about 2 months and the solar panels will run it indefinitely if we're anchored out for several days

Don

[Jay Knoll]

Finally got the painting done and the door installed. In retrospect I should have made the door out of cherry instead of plywood. Oh well, if I really get tired of it I now have a template so I can knock out a replacement quickly. It was a bit tricky sizing the door given the geometry of the galley/step.

[JT48348]

That is some good work, Jay! Its amazing you shoe horned that thing into such a little space.

I'm debating what to do with my ice box. I plan to install a marine fridge unit in my vberth around the corner from the new galley. The top loading icebox is just the right size cutout for my induction hob, which leave a generous galley counter to work on. I'm thinking of creating access into the sidebox side to use for storage.

[Jay Knoll]

On to the main cabin, the liner is generally ok but it has broken free in some spots

And someone tried this repair

Forward Bulkhead Before.JPG

I really didn't like that so I milled some cherry, routed a grove in the underside to accommodate the screw heads and mounted it over the damaged seams.

Came out OK, I've still got a couple of cover strips to construct where the cabin side strips meet the forward bulkhead but the First Mate is very happy

[sail149]

Has anybody thought of the ice box under the dinette seat?
I don't know about insulation but it has a drain for melting ice.
Sorry about all the tubs with different screws I took out .

[Jay Knoll]

Hi warren

I put in a yeti chest in that area. I built out the space with rigid foam so the cooler is a tight fit we used this for two years as our primary "cold spot" on the boat it worked well but it was hard finding block ice and we got tired of buying cubes and dealing with the melted water. Now we use it for cold drinks and use the fridge area for food.