Marine Fridge Part One: Building the Box

1:16 AM in Boat Plans

From what I've read on marine fridge units the most important thing when building is to use enough insulation and to create a vapor barrier between anything that will be cold and the outside air.  You want plenty of insulation for a more efficient fridge.  Everything has an R value which tells you how well it insulates.  Most marine fridges used in the tropics shoot for a total R value of 30.  That materials we are using to build our fridge are three-quarter inch plywood (R1), DOW Industry Scoreboard (R7), and reflectix (R4), and Great Stuff Expanding Foam to seal the seams. 

Here are two quarter bulkheads in place.  

After a friend came over today and had a look at the fridge, he has convinced me that I need one more layer of Dow in the insulation.  Currently, the total R value is only 17.  If we add one more blue Dow board we will be up to 24.   Our friend says it's important to add more insulation because of the volume of air I will be trying to cool.

It's a struggle for me, I want this fridge as large as possible because dough trays are 26l x 18w.  Currently the interior space is 36 inches wide which leaves room for dough and other prep containers. On the other hand, I must build it in such a way that it will maintain a temperature of thirty-four degrees for safe food handling and cold fermentation.  Looks like I will be buying another couple sheets of insulation!