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Old 21-11-2015, 09:58   #1
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Boat: Prout Snowgoose 37
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Uninsulated Fridge Freezer Suggestions

I am the proud owner of a new (to me) Prout snowgoose 37 catamaran. It has a Technautics coolblue fridge/freezer underneath one of the aft bunks. The problem is the sides/bottom of the compartment are the hull sides with zero insulation (bare painted fiberglass). The top is insulated properly. It works great as a fridge during times in cold water, but we will be taking her to Mexico in a year and would like to be able to use it.

Unfortunately, there just isn't enough space to add traditional foam insulation to the box as I would lose about 50% of my fridge/freezer space.. I am thinking of using some kind of extremely high performance insulating mat encapsulated in fiberglass to insulate the hull from the box.

One product I am considering is Aerogel blanket - one type is shown here:
BuyAerogel.com | Cryogel® Z Blanket

Does anyone have any experience using this (or something similar) in a fridge/freezer? I need an ultra high-performance blanket I can encapsulate in fiberglass that will conform to the curves of the hull.
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Old 21-11-2015, 10:48   #2
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Re: Uninsulated Fridge Freezer Suggestions

I would recommend consulting with Rich Borden over at technautics he may have a solution for you. Is it a possibility to change the location of the refer installation to a more insulatable location?
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Old 21-11-2015, 11:19   #3
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Re: Uninsulated Fridge Freezer Suggestions

I've done several projects with it and it's very effective stuff.
I first did the boat's fridge/freezer, then wrapped the hot water tank innards, tossing the whole original insulation and cover.
Next we built a square bag with a zippered top (sunbrella).
It has about 3" of aerogel all the way around and was made to fit one of these:

Amazon.com : Arctic Ice Tundra Series Reusable Cooler Pack : Sports & Outdoors

We purchased two of them, alternating them to the boat's freezer which averages around 0 degrees f. Once a day, we switch them out. The bag keeps lots of food frozen, thus enabling us to carry a lot more frozen food while on vacation in out of the way places.
The fridge obviously works harder, but the solar array keeps our LiFePo4 battery happy.
The hot water stays hot a lot longer than with the original insulation.
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