We're cruising from Wisconsin to the Bahamas and bought the Capri 35 at the boat show for a 20% discount. Rob from Frigoboat lives just a few blocks from our marina and delivered it to us.
The replacement job wasn't as bad as I anticipated. Tearing out the non-functioning Cold Machine and installing a Frigoboat Capri 35 took about six hours. The new refrigerant capturing connectors take a 1 1/2" hole and I was worried they wouldn't fit where I couldn't see behind the closet and icebox. But when PSC built the boat they nicely installed a 1 1/2" PVC trace before spraying the interior fiberglass.
The original tubing was over ten feet and Frigoboat only supplies nine feet although you can buy 3, 6 or 10 foot extensions at an increased cost of over $200. We bought the larger size bin to have a larger freezer section which added another six inches of tubing distance.
The evaporator bin had the tubing coming out the opposite direction of what we needed but I was able to carefully bend it back to direction. Ideally you'd like to make a sweeping 180° turn but I was determined to try and make the nine foot tubing work and successfully bent a sharp reverse turn.
It was slow going but pretty easy to pull the tubing through with a fish tape and stretched it as tight as we could but still needed about six inches to reach the compressor shelf. I examined the compressor and noticed we could also bend the connections the opposite direction. We were able to sit it on the battery shelf for connection and it just fit when moving it to the refrigerator shelf.
Connecting the electrical supply was more tedious than necessary. The supply is 8ga but the Frigoboat spade connectors are 16ga. (It always confounds me that manufacturers expect you to use an 8 or 10 gauge supply but provide you with a 16 gauge connecting point!)
The PSC has an exhaust grill in the top of the combing box. This never worked well for the Cold Machine as the air would re-circulate and the lazerette locker would reach temperatures well over a hundred. The Frigoboat fan has a ducted shroud and you can adjust it for intake or exhaust. I set it for intake so I can run a short duct to the stern locker which will allow it bring in cooler supply air and force the exhaust out the combing box outlet.
I bought the digital thermostat but haven't connected it yet as my old Adler Barbour mechanical thermostat works fine and the wires were re-useable.
The photo shows how the tubing fit with nothing extra to spare. The Capri 35 is significantly smaller and lighter.
First impressions are good. We filled up the icebox and within four hours the temp went from 70° to 45° and was at 38° the next morning (twelve hours) and only used about 14 amp hours. I bought the AEO (Adaptive Energy Optimization) which adjusts speed automatically to achieve a 30 minute compressor run time. The current was maximum of about 4.2 amps but generally around 3 amps in the first few hours.
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