Refer seals for lids?

[SanDiegoChip]

We are currently building our refer. It was an old ice box that is built into the boat. We have been adding insulation. The top loading refer never had seals for the lids. We will be adding seals.
The edges where the teak is are not very wide and we are thinking that while we are insulating the top we should make the top edges wider because we can do that with the insulation. We have not done that but the insulation is still not glued in or finished.
I have searched the archives but have not found any info on this.
It is a spill over system and the freezer is next to the box shown.

My question is does anyone know of a place that sells seals that will work on a top loading refer?



From galley - see how narow the teak is for a seal. We could make the insullation wider so the seal could fit.

[mitiempo]

You can try a place like this http://www.exactaline.com/Gasket-Diagrams.asp?n=t
There are several on the net.

It looks like it will be tough to fiberglass the inside of that box.

[GaryHLucas]

I wouldn't get crazy about a seal. The reason you build a top load freezer is because cold air is heavier than warm air, so it doesn't try to leave the box much at all. That said, I'd use just a 3/8" wide x 3/16" thick hollow silicone self-adhesive bulb seal you can get at Home Depot for less than $10 for enough to do the lid four times. It has a smooth surface so it'll be easy to keep clean.

Gary H. Lucas

[deniseO30]

Gary is right about the cold although the humidity outside will infiltrate regardless. Moisture always moves towards cold and condenses on the windows or in refrigeration, on the coil/evaporator. That may or may not be a concern on a boat if it's not needed 24/7 365. But if your on 12 volts, anything you can do to save energy will be a plus. Do make it as air tight as you can with home center gasket or weather stripping. Refrigeration suppliers do stock the type with the magnet inside also. but gravity is on your side there.

[olson34]

Originally Posted by deniseO30

Gary is right about the cold although the humidity outside will infiltrate regardless. Moisture always moves towards cold and condenses on the windows or in refrigeration, on the coil/evaporator. That may or may not be a concern on a boat if it's not needed 24/7 365. But if your on 12 volts, anything you can do to save energy will be a plus. Do make it as air tight as you can with home center gasket or weather stripping. Refrigeration suppliers do stock the type with the magnet inside also. but gravity is on your side there.

Denise is right (and not the first time, either!)
While it seems intuitive that the heavier cold air will stay inside and not exchange with the outside air.... I found out otherwise.
After several seasons with my new refrigeration system I found that I was having to shut down every other month or so to melt off the accumulated ice from the evaporator plate.
Mind you, the top lid was closing snugly, and in general was a tribute to the cabinet shop at Ericson Yachts....
Having read about moist outside air infiltrating these boxes, I bought some 1/8" foam adhesive-backed weatherstripping tape and applied it to the underside of the lid flange.
After that, no significant icing for at least 6 months.

So, do seal that lid flange. And if you have any other small openings or, Heaven forfend, the old drain is still open to the bilge, seal all this stuff up.

Cheers and cold beers,
L

[SanDiegoChip]

Originally Posted by mitiempo

It looks like it will be tough to fiberglass the inside of that box.

Well, we are hoping the fiber glassing will not be that hard. We have chamfered all the angles now and the ones we cannot we will use epoxy to make them radiuses. That will make it easier to glass. We will be using fiber glass tape which ours is about two inch strips of fiber glass to do all the edges and radiuses. Then we will be using fiber glass matting to do the flat areas. For the top we will get some fiber glass sheeting and cut and glue it to the top. Then use fiber glass tape for the edges.

We added two inches of foam all places but for the opening two sides (R5 an inch) Dow Blue board closed cell.
Four inches on the bottom. The refer has three inches on the ouside and can not be added to because of the space or lack of.

Sounds easy hugh?

We are getting some experiance as we are curently building a propna locker using this method.

We are addin width by the teak parts that supports lids by using foam. So we can have wider or more than one seal there.

We still have a couple of pieces to go with the foam. Then glue the rest of it in and then start epoxying to make radiuses. This is the refer on the spill over side. We have not started the freezer yet.

Also we still need to fill the small gaps with foam that was recomended at WM.

As for the seals:
One dock mate said he used door and window seals from Home Depot.
Another said he had his made from RHS Refrigeration Hardware Supply Corp but said he would not have the same ones made again. These are the magnetic kind used on home refers.

Soooooo…

It may be the HD ones as they come in different widths etc. Also Hinze our dock mate said when they get tired just rip them up and apply new ones as they are self-sticking.



Form more details and pics you can see it on the blog inch by inch as we go.
I guess I am over complicating this as usual.
Thanks
Chip
s/v Elegant'sea IF36-B #29
Elegant'sea

[GaryHLucas]

I would definitely not use fiberglass tape. Because it is stitched along the edges it will never lay flat, it'll buckle up on you. It is very difficult to use in this instance. The easiest would be chopped mat, but chopped mat isn't available for epoxy resin as far as I know. So what I would do is forget trying to do large pieces of cloth and just chop the cloth up into small pieces, say 12" x 12" maximum, and down to say 3" squares, circles, rectangles whatever. With loose edges the fibers will take the shape of whatever you press them down over. Strength and moisture tightness comes from building multiple layers, not from one or two layers. 8 oz cloth takes a lot of layers just to build up an 1/8" thickness. So cut yourself a pile of pieces and start slapping them in, overlapping each other all the time. I think you are going to want a cheap throwaway rain jacket for this project and a rubber band around your wrist to seal the gloves to the jacket. It would also be a good idea to thicken the epoxy somewhat so it it is easier to keep it from running out of the cloth on the vertical surfaces too.

I just completed major reinforcement repairs on my boats keel trunk using woven roving and had to use a similar technique. I had to build up 3/8 to 1/2" thick everywhere and it took about 3 gallons of resin and 12 to 15 layers of glass.

Gary H. Lucas

[mitiempo]

You can get mat that is compatible with epoxy but it has to state this. I wouldn't use mat though, probably as tough to do as with the tape.

I would cut 1/8" plywood to fit each section perfectly, trying them as you cut as they will and should overlap by their thickness in the corners. Then I would glass each on the bench right to the edge, and second coat them for smoothness. Then I would place them in one at a time against the foam after covering it with thickened epoxy and wedging them until it sets. You could probably put several in at once working your way around. Clean any oozed epoxy before it hardens. When finished all you would have to do is fillet the edges smoothly and that is easy. You want a smooth finish so it is easy to keep clean.

The other solution would have been to build the inner box and glass it totally outside of the boat and liquid foam it in place. Tim Lackey at Northern Yacht Restoration shows how it is done here Northern Yacht Restoration | 1966 Pearson Triton Circe
It starts halfway down the page and continues on the following pages.