Albin Owners Group

My Norcold was 14 years old and dc only. I tried to install a new Norcold 740, but the depth of the unit was hitting the hull, and would not go flush with the front of the opening. After surfing the net, I found Nova Kool out of Canada. The R1600 unit fits the existing opening with no additional cutting. The unit is only 13" deep. The down fall is that it is .4 cubic feet less than the original Norcold unit, about three beverages with flip top openings. The R1600 is ac/dc and the wiring is DYI friendly. The Nova Kool makes a great replacement for the Norcold 740 without any additional cutting.

The fridge works, great on the hard. I purchased a portable ice-maker that will make 26 pounds a day of ice. The unit is about the same size as a small microwave and will make cubes in less that 15 minutes. With the ac outlet next to the helm seat on the 28, installation issues are not a problem.

Max,

Thanks for posting the info on the Nova Kool R1600. This unit--the DC only version--is what C&C is installing on new 28TE's.

Would love to learn more about the portable icemaker.

The portable ice maker is a unit that can be bought at K-mart, Kohls or Wal mart. Very inexpensive less than $150.00. I pulled out my Nor Cold because it was DC only. I have this thing about running off of batteries and relying on the battery charger to get me going in the morning.

You lost me on that last sentence.

Why didn't you like DC only?

I'm assuming you have two batteries and also that you're plugged into 110 at the dock - did your battery charger have trouble keeping them charged when you had the DC fridge? That shouldn't be the case.

I like to keep things simple on a boat. The batteries should be used to run the boat, pumps, electronics and lights. If I am underway, I have no choice but to use DC. However, at the dock I prefer to use AC. I also have a 110 quart cooler in the cockpit which works quite well.