Mark I Refrigeration Insulation Upgrade

[Windseeker]

I forgot to mention that I used the 3/4" foam gasket like Michael used on his doors. I still have some condensation on the knob and door. Not sure why. Perhaps I did something wrong or that Bourassa lives in a dryer climate? Don't know. It's very humid here on the Chesapeake.

[Windseeker]

Since my last post, I tripled the insulation on the interior panels. Glued them together with spray adhesive and ran Aluminum foil tape around the outside to prevent moisture penetration. I doubled the insulation on the top covers and wrapped then with foil tape. I accidentially cut the cord on my digital thermometer. My repair on the cord was not so good, so I cannot accurately tell what the temp was for sure. We took the week of Memorial Day for a cruise on the Chesapeake and it was bloody hot and humid. We motored 2200 RPM basically every day for avg 6-7 hours a day to get where we needed due to lack of wind. I had two 10 lb block of ice in the fridge. Before it would melt in 3 days. After 8 days, I had probably 10% left. Everything in the evaporator stayed frozen and the bags of ice in the freezer against the hull would slightly melt during the day and re-freeze at night. I lost little in the way of ice in the freezer. This is all very different than what I experienced before. I'm pretty encouraged with the results. So far, I think this is a good solution for the weekend warrior who spends a week or two at a shot on the boat for vacation plus weekend excursions.

I'll try my best to get some data for you. I have a new thermometor on order. My freezer was cranked to 7 and the fridge to 6 or so. I still had sweating on the counter tops. I will revisit the foam gap between the unit and countertop. Also, the spillover fan broke. I replaced it with a 80X25mm computer chassis fan. It's bigger, but the holes for the grill line up exactly - you just need longer screws. Does anyone know the CFM requirement for the spillover? I've tried different fans. Last week I was running a super quiet 2000 RPM fan with approximately 17CFM, but the fridge levelled off at 45 deg F. I think it needs to be around 25-30 CFM??? I'll try to get more data and figure out a way to put pictures posted through my ISP.

[Windseeker]

I promised I would figure out a way to give pictures. For a Moderate Climate, this has worked so far for me.

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzerxbig/

[cuthbert]

Would love to see the pics, link does not work but it has been a few years. I have sent a private message re the homemade vent you added as I want to try the fan reversal and then have the warm airflow ducted into the bilge or similar using a domestic dryer vent kit from a hardware store.

[Amnesia]

About 10 years ago we reversed the fan flow on our Adler Barbour cold machine unit and added a tee into the ducting for the bilge/engine heat exhaust duct to vent the warm air...at the time there was a kit for this from A.B....unfortunately I'm getting to old to remember details like part numbers.

point was to vent the warm air off the coils, not blow ambient bilge air across the coils...just reverse the fan flow, and tie in to the existing engine exhaust.

Significantly improved the drastically substandard refrigeration that Catalina built into the boat...the only real complaint we've ever had about our C350 which we absolutely have loved over the last 13 years.

at the time there were many emails about this conversion...don't know what happened to them as the C350 IA evolved...I think there were some bruised egos when it was pointed out that instead of adjusting the thermostat to reduce condensation and icing, adjusting it the opposite direction would actually make the freezer section really cold! (despite the resultant continuous electric draw)....that's what a generator is for...did you know your thermostat could be adjusted to run the unit colder? I can't find those old (12 yrs ago) discussions anywhere...maybe look up old Main-sheets from about 2005

[SeaBreeze]

I made some of the frig upgrades mentioned in this string and it really helped. We all seem to have complaints about our frig/freezers. Yesterday I discovered something shocking that may make us a little more tolerant of the defects. Out boat is now in Tampa. Docked with bow facing south so starboard side (freezer side) faces the afternoon sun. We closed the boat up for 6 weeks with the frig off and counter top openings open and front door open. Other than two small dehumidifiers, fans, bilge pump circuit and battery charger all loads were off. I have a digital thermometer with 3 sensors that display current temp plus min and max temp. One sensor in main cabin, one between white evaporator and outer freezer compartment wall and the last one in the center of the frig compartment. This time of year daytime highs run in the mid 90's. Water temp in the marina in the high 80's. The shocker - max temp in the freezer compartment was 140F, max in frig was 137F, max in main cabin was 99F. I double checked sensors for accuracy. I couldn't believe it. Accurate within 3 degrees. Solar load on starboard side is much higher than I would have thought.
Rick
Sea Breeze