Does anyone have experience using 3M thinsulate material in
conjunction with foam to insulate an icebox / cooler? I am rebuilding
a 26ft Haida sailboat and, as space is at a premium, I am trying to
reduce the thickness of the insulation needed around the icebox.

Thanks for your input
Robert

Thinsulate is intended for clothing so it is primarily rated in CLO
units or Clothing equivelent units. A CLO is sort of like the Chill
factor. It is the amount of insulation required to keep a body
comfortable at 70ºF in still air. One CLO is roughly equal to R1.14 but
the effective CLO depends on what clothing is on either side. There are
many grades of thinsulate with different lofts and CLO ratings that
theoretically range from about R0.6 to arround R3.5. The Primaloft
Sport used in down jackets is 1.2" thick and rated at R3.4 so regular
urethane foam works out about twice as good. Overall it is great for
socks and gloves because it is flexable but not the best for
refrigerator insulation.

RodiniaOne wrote:

Does anyone have experience using 3M thinsulate material in
conjunction with foam to insulate an icebox / cooler? I am rebuilding
a 26ft Haida sailboat and, as space is at a premium, I am trying to
reduce the thickness of the insulation needed around the icebox.

Thanks for your input
Robert

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

About 1 yr ago 3M marketed the stuff to marine pubs - I never coulkd
get 3M to point me to a person/source/website or anything - I'd forgot
about it.


On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 14:02:27 -0500, Glenn Ashmore
wrote:

Thinsulate is intended for clothing so it is primarily rated in CLO
units or Clothing equivelent units. A CLO is sort of like the Chill
factor. It is the amount of insulation required to keep a body
comfortable at 70ºF in still air. One CLO is roughly equal to R1.14 but
the effective CLO depends on what clothing is on either side. There are
many grades of thinsulate with different lofts and CLO ratings that
theoretically range from about R0.6 to arround R3.5. The Primaloft
Sport used in down jackets is 1.2" thick and rated at R3.4 so regular
urethane foam works out about twice as good. Overall it is great for
socks and gloves because it is flexable but not the best for
refrigerator insulation.

RodiniaOne wrote:

Does anyone have experience using 3M thinsulate material in
conjunction with foam to insulate an icebox / cooler? I am rebuilding
a 26ft Haida sailboat and, as space is at a premium, I am trying to
reduce the thickness of the insulation needed around the icebox.

Thanks for your input
Robert

Hi Glenn,
Thanks for the "Thinsulate" information. I guess I'll be using 4
inches of foam.

By the way, I have always wanted to build a sailboat of my own and it
wasn't until I ran across your website a couple of years back that I
was able to convince myself that I could do it. The information and
chronicals on your website gave me the courage and drive to go ahead
with it. Thanks for all of the details and information on your website
and keep up the good work.

Cheers
Robert.

P.S. progress of my project can be found at
http://www.rodiniaone.com/haida/haida.htm