Catalina 350 International Association

Hi all,

I received the new (improved?) insulation panels for the underside of the refrigerator and freezer hatch covers but am not sure how to remove the old ones without damaging the doors. Is there a special tool or some social solvent or something? Can anyone help me understand the best method to remove them?

Thanks in advance for any/all suggestions.

Phil
Paramethia
Hull #55

Phil, I was unable to remove the refrigerator door liner without damaging it. Your boat is a few years older than mine but I suspect the liner is the same. I ended up fashioning.a new replacement out of a sheet of Fiberglas Reinforced Plastic. It is available from Home Depot. BTW, I found there was very little insulation in my door. I never messed with the countertop doors.

Phil,
I did this several years ago, and as I recall, it was difficult but not impossible. The fiberglass insulation panels on the underside of the counter top lids are held in place by blobs of 3M 5200 adhesive along the edge and in the middle. To remove, I used a 1" wide putty knife with a chisel edge. First I drove the knife under the joint between the door surface and the fiberglass insulation panel. I went in about 1/2" and did this all around, not skipping any space. When I finished this I was able to pry the panel up at the edge and look inside. Then I saw that there were also large blobs of adhesive holding the middle of the panel to the door. I then repeated the process with the knife, driving it in to the hilt (It was about 6" long knife) all around. As I recall, this did not completely sever the adhesive, but weakened it enough to simply pry it off, tearing the remaining adhesive off the two components. Then I used the knife to remove the most of the remaining adhesive from the door surface, and applied the same adhesive material to the inside of the new panels and along their edges to secure the new panels to the door.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

Peter Denoncourt
Kite, Hull # 72

Thanks, that helps a lot! How did you get the positioning correct of the new panel on the freezer? The fridge I figure I can hold from below thru the front door to align it, but not sure how I'll do the freezer...

Where did you get the new deeper panels and when? I know Catalina offered them a number of years ago but I assumed they were long gone. Also, how much did they cost you? This is an upgrade I would like to do as I believe I still have the old panels (hull #229)

Phil,

Maybe you could use a "soft" sealant or even blue tack or similar to hold the freezer panel in place long enough to ensure it doesn't foul the edges, or alternately pack the new fibreglass liner into a central location in the opening and use double sided tape or similar to lower benchtop lid down onto it, stick it in place, lift up and mark, then permanently bond aligned to the marked lines?

Just a thought, I am planning on doing this over the winter.

Russ Peel
Avalon #150

william vanwagoner wrote:Where did you get the new deeper panels and when? I know Catalina offered them a number of years ago but I assumed they were long gone. Also, how much did they cost you? This is an upgrade I would like to do as I believe I still have the old panels (hull #229)

I actually ordered them about two years ago, and am just now getting around to install them. I ordered them directly from Catalina (Warren Paddy). They're not actually deeper, they just fit more tightly to the openings and leave much less space around the fittings (hinges and locks) and much less space around the edges.

Phil, regarding alignment of the doors. As I remember, I did the refrig first, and as you mentioned, marked the the edges before applying the adhesive. I noted at this time that there was still some clearance of these new panels in the opening, but a lot less than with the original panels. To do the freezer panel, I measured the distance from the edge of the new panel to the edge of the door on all four sides (using the refrig door as a model). Then I duplicated this clearance on the freezer lid, and TAPED the new panel into place, so that I could try the fit before applying the adhesive. I don't recall if I had to make any adjustments, but if so I would have done that and retried until it fit well. Then I marked the door edges and removed the tape and applied adhesive, aligning the insulating panel to the new marks.

Good luck,

Peter Denoncourt
Kite, Hull #72