Duane, I used foil faced [B]Polyisocyanurate (ISO)[/B] panels, I got them at Home Depot but I cannot find a listing for them on the Home Depot website now. They are foil faced on both sides and are supposedly used in commercial walk in freezers, according to a guy I know who owns one. Here's a description from a building site on the web:

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ISO panels are expensive, costing as much as 70¢ per sq. ft. for a 1-in.-thick panel, and they pay off with (aged) R-values as high as R-6.5 per inch. (R-values start around R-8 and degrade slightly over time.) Because ISO starts as liquid foam and has to be sprayed against a substrate to form a rigid panel, all ISO panels are faced. A few different facings used on ISO affect the performance of the panel in both durability and perm rating. Foil-faced ISO panels are considered impermeable. Because applying these products as sheathing creates an exterior vapor barrier, they never should be used with an interior vapor barrier. More permeable ISO panels are faced with fiberglass and can be used without creating a vapor barrier.
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I lined the whole thing with this, cutting and fitting them one at a time and then put a center divider in to make a spill over type freezer/fridge. I used metallic tape to cover the seams. I got rid of the drain long ago, we are just very careful with what we put in there and have not yet had any stinky issues. We have to defrost about every 3 weeks though. It made a difference for sure. I recall it took a single 4 x 8 sheet to do the job.

I also changed the thermostat, I got one that has way more adjustability than the normal one. We find it runs about 20 mins per hour with the cold side set for just below freezing in the very bottom. This works for us since we can keep enough frozen stuff in the round box for 8 days which is when our holding tank is full anyway.

One thing I did that may be completely obvious, but I'll post it anyway.

Where the two halves of the lid are hinged, I had about a 1/8" gap. I put a piece of closed cell insulation foam tape from Ace hardware in that gap, which seals it off just fine. I don't know if it reduced compressor runtime at all, but it definitely reduced the amount of defrosting needed; I just defrosted it last week after running since April 1st, and it's been VERY humid this summer here.

IIRC, Don Casey's [I]This Old Boat[/I], and Nigel Calder's [I]Cruisers Handbook[/I] have some good ideas.

There might be some information here, too: [url]http://www.kollmann-marine.com/[/url]

Duane,
Randy Sherwood did some reporting a while ago and so did Tom Soko. Tom insulated the outside Randy did the inside.
Just a couple of simple thoughts; I like the idea of a different thermostat control. Gary's comment about the space between the lid hinge is real as well as the seal around the whole lid. I played a bit this year as the two projections under the lids annoyed me with the space they took. I purchased (felt like robbed) last year one of the blankets advertised in the back of boating magazines. It was bubble wrap with foil facing on each side. This year I placed under the lid two layers of this material ($25 per roll 24"X 25') at HD. I then put a plastic angle iron (also HD product) about 1.5" below the lid on each side. I made two more pcs double thickness seperated by a piece cardboard that I could slide and remove and covered them with 1 pc the width and length of the opening, just layed on top of two pcs.

This past 10 days we were out cruzing and the refer maintained 37-41 deg. all the while and I actually shut it off a couple of nights. First time I ever had to remind someone to take food out of the freezer to allow for thawing. At this stage it is somewhat crude but I have the idea of what to make this winter.

Duane - we added styrofoam to the interior of our box. Purchased panels from Home Depot and just cut them to size and taped them in. We also plugged the drain to stop the cold air leaking out there. Recently, we started using a fan in the box to move the cold air around. We have the same pad but use our on the outside on top of the box while I believe you use yours on the inside over the contents. With all this our box draws about 2.3 amps per hour, sometimes less.

Duane, drilling through from the inside probably won't work. You're going to have to drill a long way in, like 3 or more likely 4 inches in, in order to reach the outer surface of the insulation that's already placed there by the Catalina factory. There's a much better way to tackle that part of your job.

You can (well, I think you can - 10 years ago I could, but I've put on some weight since then) access the exterior of your Mk II's fridge by lying down in the hell hole. You can almost wriggle forward to underneath the entire fridge box and reach up around it. The hell hole, of course, is the under-aft-bunk compartment at the base of the fuel tank wall. Some folks call it the Mother-in-Law Suite. You can fit in there, I believe. I've kept its existence secret so it can be my hidey-hole for when Daniela comes after me with a TO-DO list. Alternatively, an access hole cut into the aft wall surrounding the oven might give you additional access to the forward part of the fridge box.

My hope was - and still is - to work first on the exterior of the icebox by blowing in some additional foam. There's certainly room to add additional foam mass there. But what kind of foam to apply??? I tried Great Stuff, but it would not stick to the old foam that was already there. It sure sticks to me, though. (Also, it seems to me I had to hold the can upside down, or there was some nuisance issue like that preventing success in that approach a few years ago.) I *was* concerned about breathing carcinogenic air when using a foam spray can in a confined area, but with some care in establishing a fresh air flow through the boat that should not be a deal breaker, IMHO.

I hope this helps.

Duane this was rather simple and perhaps explains itself a little better 3rd pic I ended up making it 2 pieces as it did not work as well as originally planned. Put the channel for it to sit on below and allowed room for a single piece over the top. There are 5 layers of the foil faced insulator with approximately 3/4" air space between lid and lower (3rd pic) allows me to slide either side.

Gary
Is this the top lid of your fefer? Mine has about 6 in of formed plastic under it that looks like it came from factory that way

Bill,
yes my lid had that on it as well and althogh I believe it is to occupy space to keep the cold air down it also eliminated space to stand a 2 liter bottle up on the top shelf. I found that annoying and it appeared that the plastic that encapsulated the foam was distorting.
Now I can stand items up vs. laying them down,also now that I know this works I intend to redo over the winter for better fit and form.

Cannot the cat be considered additional insulation?

Depends on what it's stuffed with :p Oooo, guess I just made an enemy of all the cat lovers on the forum :rolleyes:

Lol !!! :-)

Ouch! I wonder what the R-value of a live cat is?

My Adler-Barbour refrig is burning about 5-6 amps and is always on, so I'm thinking hard about this thread.  However, I worry about mold and bacteria growing behind whatever insulation I add to the INTERIOR of the refrig.  (Adding insulation to the exterior would not have that problem but it has other problems...like actually getting to the exterior sections as discussed above - see Mother In Law Suite :-))

Thoughts on the mold/bacteria issue?

I'm glad to read this information.
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I am in Southern California. After a thorough reinsulation mainly using pink board from home depot and putting about 4 inches in the bottom of the box with drain hole sealed, my Danfoss BD50 compressor only runs about 10 mins per hour max. The current draw is 5 amps when working. That works out at less than 1amp hour consumption per hour of fridge useage. I also put new seals on the lid and made sure there was no lid gap after hinging the lids together. Very happy. 2 ins on the inboard panels, 1 inch on the outboard curved panel. Everything lined and sealed with thin plastic sheeting from home depot. Foam sealed the pipe entry points.

I'm curious about how Tom insultaed the OUTSIDE of the reefer box. I took a look at mine and can't see any way to access it short of tearing out the bulkhead between the aft acbin and the front.
 

I don't know about Tom, but we keep insulation pads on top of the lids. We just slide one out of the way to get access.