Because I am bored and it's boating related, I thought I'd report the
results of my search for and replacement of the original NorCold refrig on
the boat. I got several good suggestions here, but decided to replace it
with a NovaKool unit, primarily because it was locally available (picked it
up in my truck) and it fit perfectly in the wood enclosure on the boat
without having to do any modifications.

The original NorCold was a noisy son of a gun. The master bedroom
(stateroom for the nautical types) is located below the pilothouse area on
the Navigator. The galley and refrig is located behind the raised
pilothouse, resulting in the refrig being behind a bulkhead in the
stateroom. Whenever it ran (these type refers have a 50 percent duty cycle)
, the compressor hummed loudly in the stateroom. It used to take a night or
two on the boat to get used to the noise. The new NovaKool is silent.
Initially, I had to go check it once in a while just to make sure it was
running.

The other benefit is that it is bigger, internally. Due to the design and
placement of the condensing coils under it, rather than on the back, the
internal space in the NovaKool is over 9 cubic feet versus the 6.6 cubic
feet of the Norcold.

And it works much better. Since new, I had to keep the thermostat setting
on the Norcold almost all the way up to maintain 34-36 degrees in the refrig
section. I've had to back off the thermostat setting of the NovaKool to
less than half-way to maintain the same temperature without freezing stuff.

So, all in all, it worked out great. I like the feature of having the
freezer section on the bottom rather than on the top. And it holds more
beer, to boot.

Eisboch

I wonder how old your Norcold unit was. The original Norcold in my '90
MaXum (same size as yours) was also *very* noisy; so much so I replaced
it with the updated Norcold II unit about '98 or so. The new unit is
very quiet, and the T-stat is never over 2 (1/4 scale) to maintain 34°
JR

Eisboch wrote:
Because I am bored and it's boating related, I thought I'd report the
results of my search for and replacement of the original NorCold refrig on
the boat. I got several good suggestions here, but decided to replace it
with a NovaKool unit, primarily because it was locally available (picked it
up in my truck) and it fit perfectly in the wood enclosure on the boat
without having to do any modifications.

The original NorCold was a noisy son of a gun. The master bedroom
(stateroom for the nautical types) is located below the pilothouse area on
the Navigator. The galley and refrig is located behind the raised
pilothouse, resulting in the refrig being behind a bulkhead in the
stateroom. Whenever it ran (these type refers have a 50 percent duty cycle)
, the compressor hummed loudly in the stateroom. It used to take a night or
two on the boat to get used to the noise. The new NovaKool is silent.
Initially, I had to go check it once in a while just to make sure it was
running.

The other benefit is that it is bigger, internally. Due to the design and
placement of the condensing coils under it, rather than on the back, the
internal space in the NovaKool is over 9 cubic feet versus the 6.6 cubic
feet of the Norcold.

And it works much better. Since new, I had to keep the thermostat setting
on the Norcold almost all the way up to maintain 34-36 degrees in the refrig
section. I've had to back off the thermostat setting of the NovaKool to
less than half-way to maintain the same temperature without freezing stuff.

So, all in all, it worked out great. I like the feature of having the
freezer section on the bottom rather than on the top. And it holds more
beer, to boot.

Eisboch




--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth

"JR North" wrote in message
.. .

I wonder how old your Norcold unit was. The original Norcold in my '90
MaXum (same size as yours) was also *very* noisy; so much so I replaced it
with the updated Norcold II unit about '98 or so. The new unit is very
quiet, and the T-stat is never over 2 (1/4 scale) to maintain 34°
JR


It was new in 2000. (Came with the boat).
Model TEK II --DE/EV-561
The current replacement for it is a DE/EV-581 (I think), but is basically
the same.

Frankly, I don't think it ever ran properly.

Eisboch

On Tue, 8 Aug 2006 17:09:34 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:

Frankly, I don't think it ever ran properly.

Not for nothing are they usually referred to as "NeverColds".

Good luck with the new one, coils on the bottom are a good start I
think.

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 8 Aug 2006 17:09:34 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:

Frankly, I don't think it ever ran properly.

Not for nothing are they usually referred to as "NeverColds".

Good luck with the new one, coils on the bottom are a good start I
think.


So far, so good.

BTW ... there's a fairly new GB 52 EU in a slip two boats down from me at
Kingman. I was eyeballing it Monday and decided I really liked the layout.
Maybe if I traded both the Navigator and the 36 GB, combined they would add
up to a decent downpayment.

Eisboch

Eisboch wrote:
Because I am bored and it's boating related, I thought I'd report the
results of my search for and replacement of the original NorCold refrig on
the boat.

We also had a Norcold drop-in that was noisy, inefficient,
and didn't really keep things all that cold. Plus, the
uselessly small freezer section frosted solid in about 20
minutes. In all, a useless POS.



.... The new NovaKool is silent.
Initially, I had to go check it once in a while just to make sure it was
running.


Couldn't find a NovaKool to fit the same drop-in, plus we
put in a seperate freezer and wanted a fridge-only unit.

We went with a survivalist 12V floor standing fridge that
would fit under the counter space. Had to cut away a little
cabinet work, but we refinished & now it looks pretty good.

I added a 120VAC/12V power converter & a selector relay, it
will run on 120 when on shore power or generator.



So, all in all, it worked out great. I like the feature of having the
freezer section on the bottom rather than on the top. And it holds more
beer, to boot.


Ours has worked great too, it's nice to not have to defrost
it. It's much more energy efficient

Fair Skies- Doug King

On Wed, 9 Aug 2006 01:02:40 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:

BTW ... there's a fairly new GB 52 EU in a slip two boats down from me at
Kingman. I was eyeballing it Monday and decided I really liked the layout.
Maybe if I traded both the Navigator and the 36 GB, combined they would add
up to a decent downpayment.

Yes, the new ones are a little pricey. Your Navigator 50 looks pretty
good, what would you like to improve upon?

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 9 Aug 2006 01:02:40 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:

BTW ... there's a fairly new GB 52 EU in a slip two boats down from me at
Kingman. I was eyeballing it Monday and decided I really liked the
layout.
Maybe if I traded both the Navigator and the 36 GB, combined they would
add
up to a decent downpayment.

Yes, the new ones are a little pricey. Your Navigator 50 looks pretty
good, what would you like to improve upon?


Just another impulsive itch that I managed to get rid of without scratching.

All in all, I've been very satisfied with the Navigator. It's not
everybody's style, but it is built like a battleship and maintains some
classic boat features that I like. For example, it has a real cockpit,
unlike some of the floating condos that you have to climb a 12 foot ladder
to enter. It has plenty of room, has a very good hull for rough water and,
due to the high sides is a very dry boat, even in heavy seas. I think I'll
keep it for a while longer, even though I am not taking it out much right
now. Did I say "much"? It hasn't moved other than to take it over to the
travel lift to be hauled for hull cleaning. Good thing diesel fuel doesn't
go "stale", although before I take off anyplace distant I'll probably get
the fuel polished.

Mrs.E.'s GB is much more traditional with all the teak and classic trawler
lines. I like it more and more, but I am still attached to the Navigator.
Too many good memories of learning and cruising to forget about.

Eisboch

On Wed, 9 Aug 2006 12:57:01 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:

Good thing diesel fuel doesn't
go "stale", although before I take off anyplace distant I'll probably get
the fuel polished.

You might want to think about adding a built in polishing system to
either boat. That was one of the improvements that I made to our GB
last year and it is well worth the relatively small investment to know
that the fuel is always clean. I run it here at the dock 24 x 7 and
switch from one tank to the other about once a week. My local
mechanic did the whole system for well under $500 including parts.
I can send you the details if you're interested.

Mrs.E.'s GB is much more traditional with all the teak and classic trawler
lines. I like it more and more, but I am still attached to the Navigator.
Too many good memories of learning and cruising to forget about.

I suspect that if you were running offshore in the GB36 that the
Navigator would look pretty good. Does it have stabilizers?

Wayne.B wrote:
You might want to think about adding a built in polishing system to
either boat. That was one of the improvements that I made to our GB
last year and it is well worth the relatively small investment to know
that the fuel is always clean. I run it here at the dock 24 x 7 and
switch from one tank to the other about once a week. My local
mechanic did the whole system for well under $500 including parts.
I can send you the details if you're interested.


I don't know if Eis-man is interested but I am. This is one
of the improvements I am looking to add in the near future.

My email is

Spambots can probably guess the "eight" for the numeral, but
I doubt they can speak pig Latin. Thanks

REgards
Doug King