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Insulation in icebox ?

Sven

Seglare
We're still going through our "new" E39-B, creating the project list which we'll be working off over the next year or two.

One project is conversion of the ice-box to a fridge/freezer, or at least a fridge. The current standup norcold 12V fridge will be fine while near dock-side but it would be pretty useless under way.

When I checked the insulation thickness I found that the walls of the ice-box would only allow 2" of insulation (assuming thin lining and 3/4" frame). Given the age of the boat I suspect that is not 2" of silica foam insulation :)

I have not yet tested the insulation but will do so before doing any damage. I was going to just put a large block of ice and see how much was left a day or two later. Is there a better method ?

Assuming the insulation is as poor as I'd guess, what is the best way of getting at the current insulation and replacing it, doing minimal harm ? 2" of silica foam will do the job (6" polyurethane equivalent I think) and the only problem is the curvature next to the hull. IOW, if we use silica foam (at $$$) we could keep the original lining and frame if we can just disassemble the original ice-box with minimal damage.

My guess would be that pulling out the stove and trying to extract the ice-box from that side would be the easiest approach but I'd certainly appreciate any words of wisdom.


-Sven
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
There was nice article many years ago, in WoodenBoat as I sort of remember, about a guy that built and then "tested" his new ice box. He did the test by weighing a block of ice and putting it inside, and then re-weighing that block every 24 hours and noting the reduction. He also charted the ambient temp. each day. He had about six inches of good foam insulation, corners of foam slabs all overlapped and sealed...
As I recall, he got almost two weeks out of a 20# block! Summer temps, but I do not recall if it was over 80 or not.

Anyhow, his method of measuring the loss of solid water did let him calculate the heat loss.

Loren
 
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