Boat fridge built

[ranmar850]

Any of you that followed my new boat outfitting thread here http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php/206957-New-boat-coming-Caribbean-Reef-Runner-6-4 or here fishwrecked.com/forum/another-caribbean-reef-runner (http://fishwrecked.com/forum/another-caribbean-reef-runner) , may have saw that I fitted a stainless seat base frame, with an eye to putting a fridge under it--well, the original idea was an icebox, but it just grew into a fridge, as they do. Ran out of time to do anything before the big trip, but got into it later, and used it on the Shark Bay 4 day cruise a few weeks ago. Worked a treat--in fact you need to run it at the warmest setting in cool weather. Leave the milk hard against the plate overnight, and it will get slightly slushy, but the alcohol was fine, very cold and frosty http://fishwrecked.com/sites/all/libraries/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/msn/wink_smile.gif. it ended up just over 50 litres capacity. It can be slid out a bit as a third seat, is not in the way when slid right in, and the lid is split so you don't need to slide it out at all for quick access.
Why didn't I just buy one? Well, it would have been cheaper, BUT--


Everything will rust on a car fridge used at deck level on a boat. Nothing can rust on this
Electrics are all at deck level on a car fridge, I raised all mine up into the box section that sits forward, under that ali checker plate, you can hose around it
No fridge slide needed, and you can access it without sliding out , due to split lid
Better insulated than any car fridge, seems to come on about once an hour for a few minutes, so stuff all draw on the battery, and Andersen plug connection.
I made it with a bung, so it's a hose out to clean.
All components are replaceable. You will get to the stage on a hard-used car fridge where you have to bin it, not this one.


https://photos.smugmug.com/Boat-build/i-bGzSmzB/0/20b42108/XL/20181015_134531-XL.jpg



https://photos.smugmug.com/Boat-build/i-z8tfjzc/0/6f24aaab/XL/20181015_134548-XL.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/Boat-build/i-cdFtzQq/0/18bf6ddf/XL/20181015_134613-XL.jpg



The fibreglassing isn't the prettiest job I've done, as I elected to use an old icebox that had been partly cut up for another project, and grafted a marine ply box on the end for the fridge gear--new materials all around would have been tidier, but it does the job.

[scottar]

Looks good Ranmar. A slotted downward facing stainless grill might increase the water shedding qualities of the vent to your electronics area

[brett62]

I am doing something similar at the helm, turning a built in ice cooler into a bigger better functioning ice box. What unit did you install ?

[Dignity]

Any of you that followed my new boat outfitting thread here http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php/206957-New-boat-coming-Caribbean-Reef-Runner-6-4 or here fishwrecked.com/forum/another-caribbean-reef-runner (http://fishwrecked.com/forum/another-caribbean-reef-runner) , may have saw that I fitted a stainless seat base frame, with an eye to putting a fridge under it--well, the original idea was an icebox, but it just grew into a fridge, as they do. Ran out of time to do anything before the big trip, but got into it later, and used it on the Shark Bay 4 day cruise a few weeks ago. Worked a treat--in fact you need to run it at the warmest setting in cool weather. Leave the milk hard against the plate overnight, and it will get slightly slushy, but the alcohol was fine, very cold and frosty http://fishwrecked.com/sites/all/libraries/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/msn/wink_smile.gif. it ended up just over 50 litres capacity. It can be slid out a bit as a third seat, is not in the way when slid right in, and the lid is split so you don't need to slide it out at all for quick access.
Why didn't I just buy one? Well, it would have been cheaper, BUT--


Everything will rust on a car fridge used at deck level on a boat. Nothing can rust on this
Electrics are all at deck level on a car fridge, I raised all mine up into the box section that sits forward, under that ali checker plate, you can hose around it
No fridge slide needed, and you can access it without sliding out , due to split lid
Better insulated than any car fridge, seems to come on about once an hour for a few minutes, so stuff all draw on the battery, and Andersen plug connection.
I made it with a bung, so it's a hose out to clean.
All components are replaceable. You will get to the stage on a hard-used car fridge where you have to bin it, not this one.


https://photos.smugmug.com/Boat-build/i-bGzSmzB/0/20b42108/XL/20181015_134531-XL.jpg



https://photos.smugmug.com/Boat-build/i-z8tfjzc/0/6f24aaab/XL/20181015_134548-XL.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/Boat-build/i-cdFtzQq/0/18bf6ddf/XL/20181015_134613-XL.jpg



The fibreglassing isn't the prettiest job I've done, as I elected to use an old icebox that had been partly cut up for another project, and grafted a marine ply box on the end for the fridge gear--new materials all around would have been tidier, but it does the job.
So when are you going into production of this unit, I think I need one.

[Alchemy]

Nice work Ranmar. I had a 110 litre evakool converted into a fridge on my last boat and it was great. Same split lid idea as yours. My current boat has 2x100 litre custom boxes built in and glassed with 100mm inso. These are cooled by the danfoss BD50 compressor/isotherm units from BLA. There aren’t many off the shelf units that would compete with your set up.

[ranmar850]

I am doing something similar at the helm, turning a built in ice cooler into a bigger better functioning ice box. What unit did you install ?

I'd have to check with the fridgie--it was a Dometic-sourced Danfoss, built to freeze 50 litres. Came complete with plate (1 metre long, or thereabouts) which he bent to fit.
I'll ask him tomorrow.

[gazza2006au]

That is really cool man how long does it take to get down to operating temps before u can store food and drinks in it? a fridge on a boat would be perfect but u need a boat with enough space than u need a engine which runs a alternator rather than a stator to charge batteries so u can be chugging a long at trolling and be putting a healthy amount of amps back into the batteries where as the small engines u need to get them moving before they produce the amps

[ranmar850]

It gets from am ambient of 20-odd degrees down to a plate temp of minus 2 in about 20 minutes, IIRC. The thermostat sender is attached, along with the external readout, to the exit pipe on the plate, which should be its warmest place inside the box. You can just plug it in, go and get your cool food, put it in, and go. We were doing very few revs for most of our recent trip--to put it in perspective, we'd only burnt 17 litres by evening on day 2. And, running on cool, not freeze, it only comes on around once an hour, or maybe 45 minutes, for a few minutes at a time, so the overall useage is pretty low, any modern outboard pushing a boat big enough to have a fridge on it shouldn't be at all bothered. It is rated as 6amp run current, but it pulls down so quick it really isn't using much at all.

[BM]

Hey guys,

I have a very cool (pun intended) system in my Berty 25. It was not built by me although when I bought the boat I had to reconfigure the system as the previous owner (not the installer of the refrigeration system) had an engine changed and the workshop didn't bother to reconfigure the fridges.

The system is a full commercial cooling system that runs a compressor from the port engine. We had to fabricate a funky bracket to mount the compressor and run a sort of serpentine belt. The original installation looked to have had the compressor hard mounted to the engine compartment bulkhead. Must have made a heck of a vibration!

So the compressor driven system utilises a heat exchanger that is supplied by the port engines seawater intake to remove the heat buildup. The original seatboxes have been replaced with 2-inch thick fully insulated boxes with a large element in each box.

The system is super effective and running the engines for an hour sees very cold food/drink for many hours if not all day. Apparently it was worth about 8K when built, according to the commercial fridgy that re-gassed and re-commissioned the system.

117927117928117923117922117926117924117925

[ranmar850]

Now THAT is next level. My first home-grown refrigeration effort was a camping freezer, adapted from an old icebox. I think it is a BD50, with a fan blower unit inside the box. Dometic asessed what I was proposing and said it would freeze to 200l, IIRC, and chill to 250. As it is only 130 litres, it freezes really well. It was actually a real lash-up, due to being very short in time before a big trip, but has remained untouched in the 6 years since it was built, because it just runs so well ::)

https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Random-camping/i-SqX9hxz/0/02422e20/XL/camper%20electrics%20014-XL.jpg

[BM]

Nice compact unit!

[ranmar850]

Thanks. The bit of security mesh is removable, sits in some channel. The stuff that needs freezing sits under the blower unit, the frozen sits behind the mesh. there is a removble piece of 3mm ali sheet folded to sit on the bottom and run up the back , furthest away from the blower, for heat transfer so the frozen stuff on that side stays frozen. I was always going to do a "proper" box for the end of it, instead of the hurriedly put-together pieces of old aluminium sign rivetted onto light ali angle. But all I've done is replaced the self tappers holding it to the box, with Riv-nuts.

[BM]

If it ain't broke......

[ranmar850]

^^^ i often need to remind myself of that ::)

[Cobbo1]

Nice work mate, if you’re worried about how it looks, get a trimmer to make a custom insulating bag for it, can match it to your boat the ,and they really help out in the sun.