Ice Box Liner Removal

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  • September 04, 2011 8:07 AM
    Message # 691898
    Deleted user

    I have the standard hinged two lid ice box on my W32. It needs to be re-insulated as I am spending a fortune for ice every month. Has anyone removed the liner from their ice box intact by removing the top teak trim and galley post ? If so, please share your experience (nightmare) with me before I attempt to do it.

    Thanks,

    Werner

  • September 04, 2011 1:40 PM
    Reply # 692026 on 691898
    Werner Hamp wrote:

    I have the standard hinged two lid ice box on my W32. It needs to be re-insulated as I am spending a fortune for ice every month. Has anyone removed the liner from their ice box intact by removing the top teak trim and galley post ? If so, please share your experience (nightmare) with me before I attempt to do it.

    Thanks,

    Werner


    We recently removed our liner/insulation for the same reason.  The insulation was pretty thin and had quite a few voids.  

    There were quite a few more pieces of trim/support pieces than I initially thought and the trick in ours was that the fiberglass liner goes under the trim/counter all the way to the port side of the hull.  Without really doing some damage, we cut the fiberglass/insulation with a fein tool at the point it went under the counter.  Our intent was to increase storage and install an Engel portable unit.  The section that remains under the port galley lockers we'll either glass in and use for a small ice chest, or do some fancy work with the fein to get it out.

    We're not done yet, but it has not been particularly tough...I'll get some pictures up shortly.

    engel

    icebox

    icebox

    icebox


    Last modified: September 04, 2011 1:55 PM | Anonymous member
  • September 04, 2011 2:33 PM
    Reply # 692039 on 692026
     Braden,

    Have you used your Engel yet? I'm curious how it performs, when compared to a standard boat fridge. Drifter has an Adler Barbour unit that works fairly well off shore power... just not sure yet how it will do for extended cruising.

    One of my restoration projects was to recover all of the counter-tops with new Formica. In retrospect, I wish now that I had removed the counter-top and and checked the insulation. If I can still find Formica to match what I replaced, that project may get added to my to-do list.

    Jack

    PS: Not sure what your plans are for finishing off your installation. I see possibilities for either a false bottom to raise it to counter-level, or leave it at the current height with a slide-out for access and use the top section for dry food, etc. That would probably require a set of hefty double-sectioned drawer slides to make sure it slides easily. But it would help get your weight down lower.
    Last modified: September 04, 2011 2:38 PM | Anonymous member
  • September 04, 2011 2:45 PM
    Reply # 692040 on 692039
    Jack Webb wrote: Braden,

    Have you used your Engel yet? I'm curious how it performs, when compared to a standard boat fridge. Drifter has an Adler Barbour unit that works fairly well off shore power... just not sure yet how it will do for extended cruising.

    One of my restoration projects was to recover all of the counter-tops with new Formica. In retrospect, I wish now that I had removed the counter-top and and checked the insulation. If I can still find Formica to match what I replaced, that project may get added to my to-do list.

    Jack
    We have had the Engel just sitting in the empty spot for a couple months now.  It is plugged into one of the outlets and runs on shore power and wired directly into our dc panel for use on battery.  We'll wire it directly to the ac side of the panel someday - but for now works fine plugged in.

    It switches seamlessly between ac and dc and uses very little power.  On the lower settings it freezes water without a problem, we have not turned it to the higher "freeze" settings, but I am sure it would put quite a deep freeze on whatever was in it.  We read a ton of good reviews and saw them at the miami boat show for several years - just never pulled the trigger.  

    After we decided to purchase we looked into shipping and it turns out that the US distributor for engel is in Jupiter, FL.  Right down the street from our house...so we picked up at the warehouse.

    Recently, engel came out with a "drop-in" type of unit that might be a better bet, provided the dimensions would fit.

    On the topic of formica - ours only covers the back portion of where the ice box was - so we didn't end up touching any of it.  Like you, replacing that ugly yellow stuff is on our list.  Did you end up applying the new stuff on top of the old or completely removing the old?
  • September 04, 2011 2:51 PM
    Reply # 692042 on 692039
    Jack Webb wrote:
    PS: Not sure what your plans are for finishing off your installation. I see possibilities for either a false bottom to raise it to counter-level, or leave it at the current height with a slide-out for access and use the top section for dry food, etc. That would probably require a set of hefty double-sectioned drawer slides to make sure it slides easily. But it would help get your weight down lower.

    Jack - 

    We wrestled with it for awhile but are going with a false bottom to raise to just under counter top height and continuing to use the existing icebox double hinged top.  Will be a slight pain to open that then open the top of the fridge, but will discourage us from opening all the time and will give us that counter space.

    The spot under the fridge is where the work is - think we're going to add access via fold down door on the lower stove side of the old icebox.

    P.S. The ryobi shop vac in the first picture is not on our "recommended" products list.  Terrible, terrible unit.  We purchased so we could use it on batteries - but it is pretty worthless.  On the other hand, there is book in one of the pictures "Sailboat Maintenance" by Don Casey.  Hopefully everyone already knows about him and has his work - but man they are all good.
    Last modified: September 04, 2011 2:54 PM | Anonymous member
  • September 04, 2011 5:42 PM
    Reply # 692111 on 691898
    Anonymous
    Braden, 

    Thanks for the detailed post.  Did you just chop off the galley post?  Did your boat have the cabinet above? 

    Thanks, 
    Tate
  • September 04, 2011 6:48 PM
    Reply # 692145 on 692111
    Tate McDaniel wrote:Braden, 

    Thanks for the detailed post.  Did you just chop off the galley post?  Did your boat have the cabinet above? 

    Thanks, 
    Tate

    Tate - 

    There is a post on the forward part of the ice box that we were worried we'd have to get into - but luckily, the post was not harmed.  And yes, we do have the cabinet above.  

    If you look in the first picture you can the see the post next to my arm and the cabinet up above...

    Braden
  • September 04, 2011 8:22 PM
    Reply # 692183 on 691898
    The Engel MB40 drop in looks like the way to go for me. Dimesions are roughly 19.6"x13.3x24.6" deep. Does anyone know offhand what the width of the icebox lid area is and maybe the icebox depth?
    This is my next project after the seahood/dodger


    Last modified: September 04, 2011 8:24 PM | Anonymous member
  • September 04, 2011 11:07 PM
    Reply # 692228 on 692145
    Anonymous
    Braden Prickett wrote:
    Tate - 

    There is a post on the forward part of the ice box that we were worried we'd have to get into - but luckily, the post was not harmed.  And yes, we do have the cabinet above.  

    If you look in the first picture you can the see the post next to my arm and the cabinet up above...

    Braden


    Don't know how I missed that!  Thanks!
  • September 05, 2011 5:41 AM
    Reply # 692323 on 691898
    Deleted user

    Branden et.al.

    Thanks for the responses. My intent is/was to insulate the existing box and install the Adler-Barbour Cold Machine. After studying your post, excellent pictures and doing some additional research, I may opt for destructive removal of the box and installation of the Engel MB 40 Drop-In Remote. I use only about 50 % of the capacity of the box currently while living aboard full-time so it seems to be a very viable option.

    Thanks again everyone,

    Werner

    P.S. Braden-Can you give me the details on the distributor in Jupiter? I'm only a couple hours "up the road" from there.

    Last modified: September 05, 2011 6:14 AM | Deleted user
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