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Jim Jim is offline
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Default DIY refrigerator in sailboat

On Feb 7, 8:43 pm, wrote:
I'm building a 26 foot pilothouse sloop and the plans call for a large
icebox. My experience doing the kind of cruising I expect to do on
this boat is that finding ice consumes a lot of time, it doesn't last
long, it takes up a lot of space, and the food items can get soggy if
I am doing any hard sailing. I have noticed that Fisheries Supply in
Seattle sells "conversion kits" for converting ice boxes to 12 VDC
refrigerator. This seems like a sensible choice, and might even be
good to build in right from the start. Does anyone have experience
with these kits or any kind of application other than a drop in box?
I am thinking that with 4" polyurethane foam that I'll be able to
handle the power consumption with a pair of Grp 31 batteries. Does
this seem reasonable?


With precautions, use dry ice - nned to make sure it does not touch
the surface of the cooler - wrap in a wrag maybe and sit on top of a
wire mesh screen/box - will keep frozen things touching or very close
- will refridgerate things further away - build a rack/sections in a
cooler - dry ice lasts a long time if you do not open frequently and
maintain an absolute tight seal - the main issue: dry ice availability
- not sure how easy it is to get it - but dry ice is used often around
halloween in haunted houses for the smoke effect - just a thought.

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Default DIY refrigerator in sailboat

Jim wrote:

On Feb 7, 8:43 pm, wrote:

I'm building a 26 foot pilothouse sloop and the plans call for a large
icebox. My experience doing the kind of cruising I expect to do on
this boat is that finding ice consumes a lot of time, it doesn't last
long, it takes up a lot of space, and the food items can get soggy if
I am doing any hard sailing. I have noticed that Fisheries Supply in
Seattle sells "conversion kits" for converting ice boxes to 12 VDC
refrigerator. This seems like a sensible choice, and might even be
good to build in right from the start. Does anyone have experience
with these kits or any kind of application other than a drop in box?
I am thinking that with 4" polyurethane foam that I'll be able to
handle the power consumption with a pair of Grp 31 batteries. Does
this seem reasonable?



With precautions, use dry ice - nned to make sure it does not touch
the surface of the cooler - wrap in a wrag maybe and sit on top of a
wire mesh screen/box - will keep frozen things touching or very close
- will refridgerate things further away - build a rack/sections in a
cooler - dry ice lasts a long time if you do not open frequently and
maintain an absolute tight seal - the main issue: dry ice availability
- not sure how easy it is to get it - but dry ice is used often around
halloween in haunted houses for the smoke effect - just a thought.

Dry Ice is solid CO2 and that gas is heavier than air and *will*
suffocate you given the chance. You'd need to keep your coolbox in a
locker that had an overboard vent just like a gas locker. Its also
*interesting* to drop a lump into a bucket of warm water, thats how they
used to produce theatrical fog. Could be a bit of a nusance in a
knockdown . . .

--
Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)
ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk
[at]=@, [dash]=- & [dot]=. *Warning* HTML & 32K emails -- NUL:
'Stingo' Albacore #1554 - 15' Early 60's, Uffa Fox designed,
All varnished hot moulded wooden racing dinghy.
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Default DIY refrigerator in sailboat

Dave wrote:
On Thu, 08 Feb 2007 13:05:31 -0500, Larry said:

it uses the much-more-economical-
to-operate, forbidden R-12 refridgerant


That ought to get the enviros going.

Why? New R-12 hasn't been made in 12 years.

The problem with Larry's suggestion is that while there might be a
small saving initially, I wouldn't have much hope of an ancient "dorm
fridge" surviving in the marine environment for very long. And if it
does leak out, how expensive do you think the repair and recharge
would be? This is a reasonable solution for the back of an old van,
not a very good one for a custom installation on a boat. An Engel
would be a much better solution.

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Default DIY refrigerator in sailboat

Jeff wrote in
:

The problem with Larry's suggestion is that while there might be a
small saving initially, I wouldn't have much hope of an ancient "dorm
fridge" surviving in the marine environment for very long. And if it
does leak out, how expensive do you think the repair and recharge
would be? This is a reasonable solution for the back of an old van,
not a very good one for a custom installation on a boat. An Engel
would be a much better solution.



Considering I have $5 in it, how long does it have to "survive in the
marine environment" to break even? A day? A week? A month??....(c;

How long does an Adler-Barbour last for $1000?

Larry
--
VIRUS ALERT! VISTA has been released!
NOONE will be spared!
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Default DIY refrigerator in sailboat

On Thu, 08 Feb 2007 22:17:04 +0000, Ian Malcolm
wrote:

Dry Ice is solid CO2 and that gas is heavier than air and *will*
suffocate you given the chance. You'd need to keep your coolbox in a
locker that had an overboard vent just like a gas locker.


Nonsense.

The real problem with dry ice is that is difficult to obtain many
places.



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Default DIY refrigerator in sailboat

Larry wrote:
Jeff wrote in
:

The problem with Larry's suggestion is that while there might be a
small saving initially, I wouldn't have much hope of an ancient "dorm
fridge" surviving in the marine environment for very long. And if it
does leak out, how expensive do you think the repair and recharge
would be? This is a reasonable solution for the back of an old van,
not a very good one for a custom installation on a boat. An Engel
would be a much better solution.



Considering I have $5 in it, how long does it have to "survive in the
marine environment" to break even? A day? A week? A month??....(c;


As I said, its no problem in the back of a van. When it dies, you
swing by the recycle yard and drop it off.

The OP was asking about installing on a small boat, which would
require a custom installation. Are you seriously suggesting designing
around something that someone else already threw out?


How long does an Adler-Barbour last for $1000?


The one in my old boat was going strong when I sold it at 16 years.
And why would you pay $1000 for one?
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Default DIY refrigerator in sailboat

Everyone I know with an Engel raves about them. Not one has a complaint.
Their claims on power usage seems unreal, but they all insist it is
really as low as they say.


There is another option worth considering on a 26 footer:

http://www.bigfrogmountain.com/engel_products.htm

I have not personally owned one of these Engels but have heard good
things about them. They should not be confused with the smaller,
cheaper chests which use a solid state cooling device. The Engels
have a real compressor in them, and power draw is supposedly
reasonable.


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Default DIY refrigerator in sailboat

William Ewald wrote in
:

Smuggling of freon from countries where it's still legal is a big
problem, right after heroin in terms of volume.



Shhh....The AC in my 1973 Mercedes was smuggled in in a sailboat. It cost
80c/16 oz can in the Caribbean. It was MADE IN TENNESEE A YEAR AGO!

It's all bull****. Americans are being taken for a ride with R-134a.


Larry
--
VIRUS ALERT! VISTA has been released!
NOONE will be spared!
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Default DIY refrigerator in sailboat

In article ,
Larry wrote:

VIRUS ALERT! VISTA has been released!
NOONE will be spared!



apropos of nothing, but the above seems SO real. Those of us on
alternate OSs will be spared.

I'm well paid to support Windoze in the near future, but have Mac at
home. UNIX is much more stable.

Mac OS on top of UNIX makes the transition seamless.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's NEW Pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/
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Jere Lull wrote in news:jerelull-DE5725.19552809022007
@news.bellatlantic.net:

UNIX is much more stable.


That's very true, but what % of the software everyone wants to
run....runs under Windoze? Owning a MAC has always meant being fleeced
by Apple for proprietary software and left out of the freeware/shareware
legacy. It's like standing on the sidelines all suited up to play
football, but not allowed to play on the field.

Apple's greed was long ago trumped by Billy letting OTHER people have
easy access to port their programs to DOS. It was simply a stroke of
genius on his part that made, no matter how you hate them, Micro$oft the
standard for the PC.

CP/M was quite stable, too, but it went nowhere.
Remember the "other" DOS competitors he blew out of the water?
PS2 anyone?

Apple had their chance, got greedy as hell, and blew it. MAC is a very
nice machine and quite stable....but it's NOT what the software is
written for at tucows.com, download.com or any of the other shareware
sites....

Vista will stablize...just like XP did...about 2 months before Micro$not
abandons it for another buggy bloatware OS rendition. Win98SE is very
stable....still! It downloads from usenet with Xnews for weeks without
crashing, here....(c;

Now, this is on-topic because we're running DOS 5 or 6 on boats....(c;

Larry
--
VIRUS ALERT! VISTA has been released!
NOONE will be spared!
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