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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

insulate the ice box

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John Ace
Deckhand

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USA
24 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/07/2004 : 19:18:44

My '82 doesn't keep ice for crap. Has anyone insulated their box?

Edited by - on

Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1893 Posts

Response Posted - 07/07/2004 : 20:19:36

John,<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Has anyone insulated their box?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Yes. I added about 2" to 4" of blue foam inside the stock box, and then built a new (much smaller) fiberglass liner. I built stepped insulation under the lid, and sealed it with fiberglass. I had to move the drain a bit, and added a slant to the floor of the box to help it drain. This keeps ice a couple of days.

I also converted most of the aft dinette seat storage locker to a second icebox with 3-1/2" insulation for longer trips. This keeps ice most of a week, and holds twice as much as the modified icebox in the galley.

A $20 indoor/outdoor thermometer w/clock keeps track of temperature in the cabin and one of the iceboxes.

-- Leon Sisson

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John Ace
Deckhand

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USA
24 Posts

Response Posted - 07/07/2004 : 22:24:28

Thanks Admiral,
I really don't want to lose so much space in the box, what about spraying foam around the outside? 2 sides are accessable and maybe up along the hull.
John

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dbehling
1st Mate

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USA
68 Posts

Response Posted - 07/08/2004 : 03:06:49

Leon,

I really like the idea of the icebox in the dinnette seat. Do you have any pictures of that. Our icebox also is horrible. And the drain doesn't work properly, right now we just use as storage for water bottles etc.

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RichardG
Admiral

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USA
990 Posts

Response Posted - 07/08/2004 : 11:52:43

I understand the original set-up doesn't insulate well. The previous owner did this project. He said that prior to doing it, "that icebox ate blocks of ice for breakfast -- literally!"

The bottom, starboard and forward sides (outside, so no loss of space inside) were covered with approx. 2" styrofoam, taped along all edges including those against the hull, bulkhead and counter. Then he spray foamed (non-expanding kind) the aft and portsides, as well as foam-filled all cracks and edges. Finally, he glued a piece of 1" to the inside of the lid.

He did a pretty good job...one block now lasts at least 3 days. Additional performance can be achieved by covering everything inside with a cheap, folded-up space blanket, pre-freezing the kids' juice boxes, my water bottles, etc.

Edited by - RichardG on 07/08/2004 11:56:52

Brooke Willson
Admiral

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USA
983 Posts

Response Posted - 07/08/2004 : 12:39:23

It's much easier and cheaper to put a good cooler in the quarterberth or elsewhere on the boat, stopper the icebox and use it for dry storage. I think that's what most of us do.

Brooke

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 07/08/2004 : 12:40:27

My new 100 quart 5-day cooler sits on the starboard salon seat, tied to the decorative rail. Holds tons of stuff. I freeze 2 gallons of water in old juice bottles. Those bottles went into the cooler Monday morning and they are still mostly frozen (Thursday).

I use the built-in cooler to hold water bottles, cooking oil, wine bottles, and dry food. Its much better for storage than for cooling.

The new 5-day cooler also serves as a good counter top when preparing food, and gets shoved into the cockpit when the salon is in use (or V Berth). I really like the fact that it has a hatch on top to open and get at some stuff without opening the whole lid.

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nate
Navigator

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240 Posts

Response Posted - 07/08/2004 : 15:57:15

I used 2" sheet foam and filled in the gaps with spray foam. Didn't get great results but that might have been more to do with location (Las Vegas) than the icebox. Anyway, now I use the icebox as a nice deep storage area and I bought a big "keeps ice for 5-days" cooler that works great.

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John Ace
Deckhand

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USA
24 Posts

Response Posted - 07/09/2004 : 08:06:28

Thanks again for all the input.

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John Ace
Deckhand

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USA
24 Posts

Response Posted - 07/09/2004 : 08:06:29

Thanks again for all the input.

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johnwprice
Deckhand

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9 Posts

Response Posted - 07/16/2004 : 23:07:14

I just shopped around and found a cheap styrofoam cooler which fits very closely. I easily take it in and out to clean it and carry drinks, etc., back and forth to the boat. This also overcomes the problem of the drain hole sitting higher than the aft end of the space and always leaving a quart of dingy water to sponge out or go sour. It's also a lot less work than trying to build in insulation.

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Dick Johnson
1st Mate

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USA
40 Posts

Response Posted - 07/17/2004 : 19:01:28

Try dry ice. But be carefull with it... use gloves. The dry ice will keep it cooler for a longer period of time. There will be no water just CO2 as a residue. Meats may get freezer burn if placed nest to it.

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lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts

Response Posted - 07/18/2004 : 21:32:48

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Dick Johnson
 Try dry ice. But be carefull with it... use gloves. The dry ice will keep it cooler for a longer period of time. There will be no water just CO2 as a residue. Meats may get freezer burn if placed nest to it.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Dry ice in a cooler will freeze SOLID anything else in the cooler. It's temp is about -150ºF. It's great for meat, chicken, ice cream...any perishable food item that needs to be kept hard frozen. Only trouble with dry ice is that it is quite expensive, about a dollar a pound, and in the average ice chest, a 20 pound block will evaporate in 3 or 4 days, after which you either have to buy more dry ice somewhere or switch to regular ice to keep your food from spoiling. I disagree with the post quoted above where it says that dry ice "keeps cooler for a longer time". From personal experience I can state that a given weight of dry ice in the average cooler will last only about 1/2 to 2/3 of the time that water ice will.
As for the boat's built in ice box, I agree with the other posts in this thread that it's not worth bothering with. It's too hard to keep clean, and that space is more valuable for dry storage. Cold food storage is easier done with portable coolers that you can remove from the boat for cleaning and when you are not using them. If you were talking about a Catalina 30 or larger boat, I'd suggest that the work of insulating the built in ice boxes would be more worthwhile, if you were going to install a refrigeration system, and were going to be using the boat a lot (like after retirement, when you can spend all summer on the boat if you want). I don't think any of the older Catalina's under 30' have enough volume in the galley ice boxes to be worth converting them to refrigeration. Maybe the newer boats are different. I have heard that the new Catalina 28 is quite roomy inside, but I haven't seen one myself. Does anyone know if galley refrigeration is an option that's available the new 28? My impression is that reefer/freezer food storage is pretty much standard on 36' and up sailboats, but not very common on boats under 32'. Not that I'm likely to ever own anything larger than my 25. "Own small, charter big" is the advice of several of my sailing friends, even those who are considerably better off financially than I am.

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oldsalt
Admiral

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USA
578 Posts

Response Posted - 07/18/2004 : 22:56:32

The temperature of dry ice is about -110 degrees F and must be handled and stored safely since it can burn you do to its low temperature, suffocate you since it sublimates directly into gaseous CO2 which being heavier than air will accumulate in your cabin, or can even explode when sublimates if kept in an air tight container. A good source of information can be found on the site dryiceinfo.com. I wouldn't bother with dry ice. Why bring something that presents a hazard onto your boat if it isn't absolutely necessary?

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Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 07/18/2004 : 23:10:40

Tupperware bottle of water in the freezer keeps the content cold for hours when not on shore power. The refer will freeze the entire contents if I choose. The V berth still sleeps one (which is all it ever really slept).

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Keith Dennis
Deckhand

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13 Posts

Response Posted - 07/21/2004 : 11:04:19

I agree with OLD SALT. I used dry ice to make fog for a halloween party. We stored the dry ice in a walk in type freezer. Someone forgot to close the lid on the dry ice storage container. I walked in to the freezer a little later to retrieve some dry ice and halfway across the freezer I could not breathe. No Oxygen. The C25 interior is a heck of lot smaller then a walkin freezer. Hope this tidbit helps.

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dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 07/21/2004 : 12:41:47

On our annual Nascar "Boys Only" weekend, me and 9 friends loaded our jointly owned converted school bus with a slew of coolers and headed to the infield of Michigan International Speedway for 5 days. This was our first "5 day'r" and to keep ice that long we used a master cooler, a very LARGE 6" thick styrofoam box, to keep just the ice. It was loaded with regular bag ice and a large block of dry ice. From this cooler, we replenished the ice in the other 8-10 coolers as needed.

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