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.

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.

just to throw a spanner in the works
NORCOLD is ENGEL
The long tubular compressor that another poster mentioned is the
engel/norcold compressor.
the reason i know is a friend of mine is the dealer/repairer for these in WA
http://www.engeland.com.au/
he has often done conversions from the norcold to the engel.
Norcold is often 110v and Engel is often 240v
on freeze they will draw 5 amp
on refridge i think is is 2 amp.
on the newer models the older models draw more power 7 and 3 i think
i helped another friend install one into my old boat(i sold the boat to
him and now he is a friend him)
he built the suround in foam and glass with a small division so that it
had 2 chambers one is fridge the other freezer
works fine and all he has is 2 300 cca car batterys with 2 solar panels.
he plugs it into mains to draw it down then as soon a he leaves it auto
switches to 12v.
so far it has worked very well for up to 2weeks constant with out out
side power.
Shaun