Building a Reefer Box with Aerogel

[Celestialsailor]

Some of you may not be hip to Aerogel yet and I would encourage you to explore it on Youtube and google it also. 10mm.(.400") has an R factor of 10.4. On this project I used 3 layer meaning R-31.2. Yet the total thickness gain is less than 1.5" on the outside of the box. The cost is about $6 @ sq. ft. So the insulation ended up around $250.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhcgI_DsSa4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCVw9PSDQRw

In photo 1, I constructed a male mold of Masonite (white on one side) epoxy tacked it, faired with bondo, primed, mold release and then Gel-coated it.

Photo 2 is a lay up with mat, cloth, then roving.

In the 3rd photo, you can see the flange for mounting it under the sink where the old front loader came out of my boat.

In photo 4 the Areogel is going on. Although they do not tell me it's safety issues, I would always wear a mask with this stuff. It powders terribly and has almost a static type ability to stick to absolutely everything.

Photo 5, I have wrapped it in clear wrap just because I did not know how it would react to polyester resin.

Finally in Photo 6 is a single layer of mat to encapsulate the Aerogel between the inner and outer box. Feel free to ask any questions. I am the Guinea pig on this one.

The salesman told me that he had sold to a fishing vessel that used it. They told him they had shut the refrigeration down for a day and discovered the box had dropped another degree in 24 hours. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.