Frig, freezer rebuild - My turn

[evm1024]

I finely bit the bullet and started the Frig rebuild. The goal is to have a spillover freezer/frig combo with a total of about 7 ft^3. R30 insulation with a combo of Iso and EPS st about 6" on most sides and 4" of iso, Cryo gel, eps on the top and front. Mostly dictated by the existing space to fill.

I was looking at the old design and thinking of going in from the top and working it that way but at some point I just grabbed the jig saw and cut the entire counter out so that the fridge could be pulled out of the boat. As drastic as that sounds it was the right choice. The 45 year old foam was wet in places and was only 3" thick if that on 3 sides. Of course it turned to granulated sugar when touched.

Right now I have complete access to the space which is 49" wide, 30" high and 30" deep on top, 24" deep at mid height and 11" deep at the bottom.

I'm thinking of an inner and outer box type construction that is bolted to the (new) counter top with 2 top loading doors. One for the freezer and the other for the fridge.

I have an existing super cold machine with the large horizontal evaporator. I am thinking of mounting the evaporator vertically - I think that an evaporator can change orientation without problem. Is that true?

Lots of other cleanup to do with this project. Some rewiring and such - POS.
At one point a 55 gallon garbage bag worth of pour in foam scraps was poured in between the existing box and the hull. What a mess. I ended up taking a crowbar to get that out in chunks.

I'll post photos as I get around to it. Or should I say photos at 11?

[LostBiker]

I feel your pain. We did pretty much the same on our boat. We ended up tearing out the old and rebuilding with new foam, inner/outer box and a new Danfoss compressor. We did the same thing with the top loading and love it.



I know a Frigoboat 130H evaporator can be mounted vertically or horizontally, but others I know cant. Im sure someone here can give you a straight answer though.



Good luck!


John

[evm1024]

Thanks for the well wishes. It will turn out as well as I put into it....

The other thing that I think I'll do is to get a replacement set of o rings for the quick connects as long as I have the compressor and evaporator disconnected. I guess that an email to Dometic asking about the o rings and the evaporator orientation will be productive.

Here are a few photos - Enjoy (my pain or efforts)

They show cutting the counter, pulling the box, the insulation and the ends of the space. (if that makes sense)

[LostBiker]

WoW! Makes perfect sense. We had dual sinks and sacrificed one for a bigger freezer box. We (actually my wife did all the hard work, I just did the grunt work) basically did what your doing and built from the floor up.



Looks like you have the bad part all done. Would love to see the stages as you rebuild.



John

[evm1024]

Originally Posted by LostBiker

WoW! Makes perfect sense. We had dual sinks and sacrificed one for a bigger freezer box. We (actually my wife did all the hard work, I just did the grunt work) basically did what your doing and built from the floor up.



Looks like you have the bad part all done. Would love to see the stages as you rebuild.



John

Thanks - As long as we are gutting the "ice box" I plan on redoing all the galley counters and a set of lockers over the counter. The counter is L shaped with dual sinks near mid-ship. I'll expand the lockers depth a few inches and make them a bit more useable as well as get the counter top that my wife likes.

The next steps are to pull the lockers out and finish up the cleanup. There is a bit pf plywood that has some water damage and the like.

Then on to make a mock-up of the outer box for fitment. From there I will have a good idea of what support is needed and the internal volume with good insulation.

I'm thinking that the box will be mostly supported hanging from the counter top (2 layers of 3/4" ply) with some support beds between the box and the hull and "floor" as available. Some of that support may just end up being blueboard encapsulated in fiberglass/epoxy.

I will be also happy to install a cable raceway behind the box.

I'll post photos at various steps along the way. I am expecting to take 6 months to get the work done due to my work schedule. Perhaps more.

[LostBiker]

Sorry about the "floor" reference - we have an RV trailer that we rebuilt and floor/wall is a universal instead of hull. RV's are very much like boats. We used 1" marine plywood for the top and laminate epoxied to the top and edges. Liz made a mock up from cardboard and built the box around it. She used layered foam board for the insulation.



John

[evm1024]

Originally Posted by LostBiker

Sorry about the "floor" reference - we have an RV trailer that we rebuilt and floor/wall is a universal instead of hull. RV's are very much like boats. We used 1" marine plywood for the top and laminate epoxied to the top and edges. Liz made a mock up from cardboard and built the box around it. She used layered foam board for the insulation.



John

Not to worry I understood what you meant. And you are more correct that not.

The cabin sole rests on the floors and this icebox also rests on a set of floors to so we are building from the floors up.

[Coolerking]

Vapor Barrier the entire compartment.
I do 2 or 3 of these type projects nearly every year, I seal EVERY hole, make sure the hull, bulkheads epoxy coated, and I even cover it all in foil and spray glue after I seal it.
Then I install the box with the foam already on it, then I secure it really well and fill the voids with 2 part foam, the expensive closed cell type.

[evm1024]

Still moving along even though there were some distractions.

Right now I'm doing the mockup for the insulation pieces. I've not done as good of a job at vapor sealing the outside as perhaps I should - just a single layer of house wrap.

The base insulation is 6" pf XPS on 4 of the faces. Back, bottom and 2 sides.

For the front and top I am thinking of using 4" panels - 1" XPS, 2" Cryogel, 1"XPS. This gets me R-30 like the 6" of XPS.

As for the internal box I was thinking about a layer of glass cloth all around and then a layer of G-10 epoxy. A bit spendy but...

I am looking for other boards other than G-10 to keep the costs down.

[Singularity]

Originally Posted by evm1024

As for the internal box I was thinking about a layer of glass cloth all around and then a layer of G-10 epoxy. A bit spendy but...
I am looking for other boards other than G-10 to keep the costs down.

Not sure I follow on why G10 after the inner glass layer; for that matter how will you apply the inner glass layer?

Thinking out loud...not sure if this helps: On any flat horizontal surface you could layup a "minimally oversized" single ply (or more for DIY G10) 9+oz glass with epoxy sandwiched between two ~thick plastic dropcloths. When cured, toss the plastic dropcloths, trim your "thin" G10 panels with Fein (vs other tool) to size, epoxy to inside of box, tape seems with glass/resin overlayed plastic to have ~smooth interior box. For more tooth on the backside of the sheets of course could layup on dacron/peelply.

Perhaps you know all this, but it's an easier way to layup vertically when strength isn't an issue, can be done cleanly wherever, and have a smooth surface (owed to the plastic during cure).