On 7 Feb 2007 17:43:07 -0800, 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?

Al Gunther Kingston, WA ---- 47° 48.1'N, 122° 30.0'W
http://homepage.mac.com/agunther/.Public/index.html

Al, I agree 100% with Larry's response. We cruised for 2-1/2 years
with an Adler-Barbour Cold Machine conversion. Everything Larry said,
including the Amp-Hours is absolutely correct. Also about the radio
interference. That has changed some. Adler-Barbour sent a newer
version of the controller that was a lot better, but still not cleared
up. We had to switch it off when using HF Ham radio for email, but no
more problem on the VHF.

You might want to look at the Norcold SCQT4407. It's about half the
price of the Adler-Barbour. We're planning on getting one for our
current boat, a Morgan 302. A friend has one in is S2 and it seems to
work well. Any comments, anyone, on the Norcold?

Rick