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New DIY Cooler

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britinusa
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5404 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/15/2006 : 19:46:49

We're taking off next week for 10 days, so needed to upgrade the cooler.
No room to expand the galley cooler, and sick of the floating cooler in the quarter berth, I needed a better solution...

Purchased an 8'x4'x2" sheet of 2" polystyrene insulation foam (with plastic sheet adhered to each side) from Lowes Hardware store ($20)
1 Reel of white Duck Tape (yep, it has the name 'Duck Tape' on the package)

Cut the pieces out using my battery powered sawsall, pushed them in place and secured them with the tape and made the edges neat with more tape.

It now occupies the entire stbd side cabin bench locker, I figure it's about 100quarts capacity. And 2" is probably a higher U factor than the coolers from the store.

Tomorrow I'll buy a sheet of heavy duty polythene to provide a waterproof barrier, neatly folding the ends hospital bed style.

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</center>

Paul.

Joint Decision. (Sold)
PO C250WB 2005 Sail # 841.

Moved up to C34 Eximius

Updated August 2015

Edited by - on

Tom Potter
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1913 Posts

Response Posted - 07/15/2006 : 21:12:07

Paul, That's a interesting idea. Are you planning to use regular ice or dry ice? Have you looked at a way to seal the seat? Maybe some type of foam weather stripping that would compress with the weight of the seat.

Edited by - Tom Potter on 07/15/2006 21:16:50

528
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Response Posted - 07/15/2006 : 23:36:58

Pretty "cool". Are you going to drain straight to the bilge? I built an air duct plenum like that and found the tape can pull the plastic barrier from the foam if strained. Enjoy your trip.

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britinusa
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Response Posted - 07/16/2006 : 06:42:33

Tom, good idea on sealing the 'lid', that foam should do the trick.

Dave, I fretted about the drain. Searched the forum and read bunch of articles about 'blocked cooler drains'.
So I decided against one. If (when!) it gets wet, I'll scoop out and towel it dry. We're in the process of freezing the water bottles (we'll be taking 72 frozen bottles and 24 cold ones) They'll be used to keep both coolers cool.
Also we're planning on pre-cooling before the trip with other frozen bottles.

Haven't decided on partitioning it yet, could be a a good idea.
Any other ideas?

Paul

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atgep
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1009 Posts

Response Posted - 07/16/2006 : 10:03:15

I would try it for the trip but not consider it a long term solution. You may wind up with mold between the outer foam and the structure. A way to make it permanent would be use your pieces of foam and layup a thin 1/8" or so of Fiberglass. When you install them, epoxy them to the hull using weight or something inflatable. This would get rid of any air or condensation places. The inner skin of the panels could then be tabbed together with a minimum of effort. It would be a lot of work, but you seem to fixing your boat up for the long haul. I agree on the no drain. A small wet/dry vac is a better solution. Nice idea. BTW.

Tom.

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Tom Potter
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Response Posted - 07/16/2006 : 10:17:26

Too follow up on Tom's idea, you could make it a little smaller so it could be "dropped" in and "removed" when not needed. You could make it with a lip that would fit in the recessed area that the hatch fits in to hold it in place. I agree, no drain. Your so close to the sink, you could get you a little hand pump and pump your melted ice water into the sink to drain. Hey, while your at it make one for the other side.

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britinusa
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Response Posted - 07/16/2006 : 10:31:27

Thanks Tom. You have pretty much the same thoughts as me. I only used less than 1/2 the 8x4 sheet of foam and figured that it would be worth the experiment and could be easily ripped out.

If you look at the pics, you'll see they are named cooler_V1 for version 1

Regarding the condensation thing...
I can see glassing the foam to the inboard side of the locker, and to the aft bulkhead. The fwd panel of foam is only attached to the outer and inner panels.
(It's jammed in there, I cut it oversize for that purpose)
But the outboard panel is against the curved side of the hull, the lower edge is ontop of the bottom panel. Is that the one you are suggesting to glass in?

Finally the base panel is jammed in because of the side panels. There is a V shaped groove at the outboard side of the waterballast tank.

I could see glassing that panel just in case (one day) the area gets wet.

I had considered making a glass base tray for the inside but I'm not sure how to go about that, so for now I'm putting in the poly sheet.

Paul

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atgep
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1009 Posts

Response Posted - 07/16/2006 : 11:39:18

One way to fit the foam to a curved surface is to cut it into squares like the space shuttle tiles. It would be a big messy job. Done right, it has great promise. You are doing the correct thing with a test cruise. It may be simpler to pull the bag out and let it dry out between uses. Let us know how it works.

Tom.

Edited by - on

Al
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Response Posted - 07/16/2006 : 12:59:00

<i>"Any other ideas?"</i>

A small, cheap fleece blanket laid over the contents and stuffed into voids would minimize "losing your cool" every time you open the lid. The fleece is a good insulator and won't absorb much water if it gets wet.

I like the whole setup. Plus, on shorter trips, you can still use it for regular storage.

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britinusa
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Response Posted - 07/16/2006 : 14:02:07

Tom,
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">cut it into squares like the space shuttle tiles<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
That might be quite easy to do as the foam has the polysheet stuck to it on both sides. Cutting through the foam by about 1&3/4" would allow the curve. Would that eliminate the condensation risk?

paul

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atgep
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Response Posted - 07/16/2006 : 19:30:25

Paul,
I am by no means an expert. When you have cold next to hot, it sweats. The sweat is produced by the air. If you do not have any air, you will should not have condensation. Done right, idealy, it would be sealed and have a fiberglass liner. It would also be very permenant. My parents had an icebox like this in the cockpit of an old boat.

Tom.

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