Built in Ice box

[SV Papillon]

Going to build a ice box / freezer on my boat. My plan so far is vaccum panels framed in and the interior done in panels over the insulation. Any thoughts on using starboard for the interior panels? I had planned on doing them out of ply, precoating and filling with epoxy then taping the seems and epoxy and paint on the interior. Starboard is readily availible in Seattle and not too pricey. I would have to caulk all the seams if I used it and the fastner holes would be another issue.

Any thoughts??

Jake

[bthomas]

I have no experience w "starboard".

I have over the years repaired/replaced fiberglass over plywood ice boxes in two boats. I have seen metal lined boxes in boats much older than mine were still going strong.

Therefore on the second one I rebuilt I made a top load ice box around a stainless watertight deep commercial "sink" that I scrounged.

..the lid was teak frame about 3 inches deep. There was a section in the center framed by tapered sides of teak that had foam panel insulation with formica glued on (3 layers rigid insulation blue or pink board from home depot sandwiched between glued formica facing inside and plywood top covered by solid wood top strips 3/8" thick set in epoxy on outside) The tapered teak sides of lid dropped into /was fitted to a tapered teak frame of the . The top of overall box was made same way as decribed in lid

...I can not say for certain how that held up over time ( I sold boat and moved out of area) but felt very good about it when I completed it and was happy for the 3 seasons I used.

My current ice box is factory built...made in Sweden....there is a stainless ice box with straight sided thick lid that has a deep stainless (persumably filled with rigid foam) and a straight plywood "lipped lid". Overall i judge it is not as heavy a lid or as nice as the tapered sided teak lid I constructed on previous boat but it has held up (boat is 1984 vintage).

Overall i would not put effort into building a taped seam or epoxy or fiberglass covered wood box because a watertight metal liner makes a lasting solution

[Breakaway]

I've used Starboard for several projects. It moves a lot with changes in temp. The Rex is for through fasteners instead if screws and these through oversized holes. 3m makes a pricey two part glue that adheres to it.

Kevin

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[boattruck]

SV, You likely won't like the box you can build out of starboard for this use, it is great for what it does, but it moves ( read; it could, or will move enough to cause leaks...) , is soft ( read; not easy to keep clean), you might be better to think about a fiberglass or stainless box, have heard and seen good results with those vacuum panels for insulation, G-Luck, Hutch/BT

[MiddleAgesMan]

I used a fiberglass or plastic laundry sink for the one I built into my Gazelle. One piece sinks are cheap and perfectly suited as icebox liners IMO.

[JimConlin]

Glacier Bay is the brand of vacuum panels that's been used for boat ice boxes and fridges. They are quite effective and shockingly expensive. It seems that Glacier bay has decided to withdraw from the market. Dunno why.

So, that leaves foam for the purpose. I recollect the right stuff for this purpose is polyisocyanurate foam. Its R value is about 8 per inch. A foam thickness of at least 3-4 inches is recommended.

I'd agree with the above comments about Starboard or other polyethylene boards as liners. It's soft, thermally active and hard to glue. Instead, I'd suggest epoxy and glass or smooth FRP board.

I recollect that there's a good section on ice boxes in the Nigel Calder book.

[Tom Lathrop]

For my ice box, I used 6mm ply faced with white Formica on the inside for the interior box. At the seams edges, the Formica was cut back about 1/8" and the gap filed with a white tinted epoxy filet. The filet was locked in place by the shape of the gap. Still working as good as new after 11 years.

Before I made the plywood box I made a one with high density rigid foam that had a smooth surface. The ply/Formica box seemed like much the best so I used it.

[SV Papillon]

Jim I found a company in New Mexico that will make small custom orders below is the data sheet, R36 on 1 1/2" panels. I'm waiting for the quote back so I'll see how spendy they are, min $1000 order, I'll update once I hear back from them. Think I will stick with my original plan of ply and epoxy, I've changed my mind on location type etc. for this about 100 times. The spot I will use is going to have to be a build in place so a metal box won't work. Thanks All for the feedback.

Jake

NanoPoreTM Vacuum Insulation Panel (VIP)Technical Data Sheet for Silica-Based VIP

USMetric
Length1, 36” (914 mm) max 1” – 36” 25.4 mm – 914 mm
Width1, 24” (610 mm) max 1” – 24” 25.4 mm – 610 mm
Thickness2 1/4” – 1.5” 6 mm – 38.1 mm
Thermal Conductivity3/Resistivity4 R36 +/- 4 0.004 +/- .0004 W/m*K
Working Temperature5 -460 to 149 ⁰F -273 to 65 ⁰C
Thermal Shrinkage <1% @ 248 ⁰F <1% @ 120 ⁰C
Density6 10.3 – 10.9 lb/ft3 165 - 175 kg/m3
Compressive Strength (@ 5% strain) 17 psi 120 kPa
Compressive Modulus (@ 5% strain) 214 psi 1500 kPa
Resistance to chemicals Excellent
Recyclability Excellent
Lifetime7


1 Standard Tolerance for length and width is +/- 3mm or +/-0.75% of overall length, whichever is greater.
2 Standard Tolerance for thickness is +/- 1.5mm
3Center-of-Panel measurement at mean temperature 10°C in accordance with ASTM C518
4 R-Value/inch = (BTU in/ft2hr⁰F)-1
5 Upper limit is fixed by the barrier material used, not the insert thermal stability.
6 Compressed core density excluding barrier film
7 Lifetime is application dependant. To obtain an estimate or understanding on the product lifetime, please consult NanoPore Insulation.

[JimConlin]

Good find. Let is know what you find.
Glacier Bay had some very well made lids, too.

[Capt Zatarra]

When I catch up to where you are now, with my build, I am planning to build a male mold for the ice box, and then fiberglass over it, so that it will be single piece tub. I can then insulate, put in a drain and install very easily. Using this method insures that there are no seams to leak and the unit will be able to drop in for easy installation. This drop in, take out capability makes it easier to replace or upgrade the insulation later. However you do it, you should check out Rpart's lids they are really COOL. I have a friend who used this on his boat and it really works to keep the cold in. They are pricey but worth it I think.
http://www.rparts.com/index.php?cPat...4gmpb493vgf165
stay cool. Capt. Z.
P.S. Rparts also carries Pultruded fiberglass sheets, again this stuff is expensive, but for building the ice box it is the bomb.

[Tom Lathrop]

You can build the box with epoxy/glass or epoxy/ply if you wish but if experience is worth anything, you will epoxy Formica on the ply instead. That is far easier to build, neater, easier to keep clean and just as strong and rugged as any other method.

[SV Papillon]

Well...... anybody else want to build a Ice box????? Ha Ha

These guys vacum panels are a great price. The $1000.00 per order min is a bummer but still!! I'm going to go through the boat and come up with enough panel/ application to fill up my order. Below is the quote for the ice box pieces only.


Date: 28-Nov-11 Quote #: Jake Scott-112811 Seattle VIPS
Customer: Jake Scott



P/N Qty Ordered x y z Part cost Total
Panel 1 2 36.00 24.00 1" $64.68 $129.36
Panel 2 1 36.00 14.00 1" $37.73 $37.73
Panel 3 1 14.00 12.00 1" $13.07 $13.07
Panel 4 1 24.00 14.00 1" $25.15 $25.15
Panel 5 1 23.00 9.00 1" $16.10 $16.10
Panel 6 1 9.00 7.00 1" $4.90 $4.90

[Soundman67]

i love the laundry tub idea. thats a great size for an onboard freezer. maybe i can make 2 freezer drawers?

[JimConlin]

Those vacuum panels are lots less spendy than the Glacier Bay panels, even with the minimum order business.
Can you find a friend that needs some?
Would you consider being a distributor?
Is there a warranty? Is it credible?

[SV Papillon]

Those vacuum panels are lots less spendy than the Glacier Bay panels, even with the minimum order business.
Can you find a friend that needs some?
Would you consider being a distributor?
Is there a warranty? Is it credible?

Jim, I'm going to bite the bullet and give them a shot R36 1 1/2" vacum panels are well... R36 1 1/2" vacum panels, worth the risk for me. I have to insulate around my diesel stove and will probably go a little heavier on the ice box as well as some other stuff, the Glacier bay cost for the same thing was about $3500. Hard to figure how you can go from that to $280. The sales rep was very quick getting back to me with technical data and based on their website they seem to be a quite reputable co. My wife works at Fisheries supply so if it works out well for us I will ask her to have one of their buyers look into the company for a possible distributor here on the west coast. If all goes well I would suggest one of you east coast guys who has a contact at Jamestown Dist or Defender to try and connect for a east coast dist.

Big * here!!!! until I have the product in hand and have tried it I am NOT endorsing it. I will upate as the project moves Forward.

Jake