Refrigerator problems

[rbrb]

hello...i have a gulfstar 60 that i bought about three years ago...i bit of a project but not too bad. my immediate problem is the refrigerator and the fact that i am getting a lot of water soaking into the wood underneath it...the refrigerator works fine and keeps things quite cold. it has two doors and is vertical just like a house refrigerator. i have replaced the door gaskets so am pretty confident that the water is not due to internal condensation. so that leaved external condensation. the walls of the unit are about 4 inches but i can't tell the condition the insulation inside, or even if there is any. any ideas about how to determine whether or not there is insulation and if so its condition would be greatly appreciated...and final question, assuming that insulation is the problem, how do i remedy it without taking out the whole unit, which would be a massive job. lastly, the walls of the unit are metal with a couple of holes for the bolts for the hinges and the latches. i shut down both the nearby in the counter top loading freezer and the refrigerator and emptied both to see if the water underneath started to dry out and it did, so pretty sure that the problem is condensation and not another source like a leaking deck fixture. it is driving me nuts so any wisdom would be greatly appreciated. pictures to come this weekend...thanks greatly, Rb

[ColdEH]

You are not going to like what I am going to say but if you have an original fridge/ice box . If its 25 or 30 years old , you can guarantee that the insulation is doing absolutely nothing !! There is no short cut , you will have to cut out the liner , pull all that old water saturated and moldy foam out and replace it , then build a new liner out of something you are comfortable working with and put it all back together . I just did that to my fridge that had a stainless liner and am now doing it to the freezer. Its a big job but well worth doing . Now my fridge only uses 22 amp hours a day and it is 8 cubic feet .

[ColdEH]

And this is what it looked like as I was pulling out the stainless liner and insulation .



I am now in the process of building the condensing unit and new liner which I build out of fibreglass.


The insulation crumbled in my hand and the bottom was saturated with black mould , yours will likely be the same .

Regards


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[SV THIRD DAY]

Your insulation is collecting moisture and possibly even freezing it...and then defrosting and dripping out. There are only two ways to fix it:
1. Sell the boat
2. Rip it out and re-insulate

Sure wish I has some better news for you, but from the sounds of it, you have a wet soppy mess behind your liner.

[rbrb]

thanks a lot...kind of what i expected and will see whast i can do this winter...not going to see the boat so will have to bite the bullet and fix it...thanks again, rb.