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| Original plate |
The more I read the purchase survey, the more troubled I become. In it the surveyor states "Refrigeration is 12 volt sealed unit built in under the Dinette seat Frd of the galley and is in G/C". In fact the compressor and control unit were sitting in the locker (not screwed down or secured), disconnected (no caps on the refrigerant lines) and no power connected. On removing the unit I found it had corrosion on the compressor and no oil in the unit - not a good sign. It means the oil had absorbed moisture and the interior of the unit was also likely to have corrosion. Not what I would call good condition!
Where to from here? I could have re-oiled, refitted and re-gassed the old unit and hoped it would work which was unlikely and would cost around $500 or I could take this opportunity to reconfigure the icebox and buy a new unit. I chose the latter. The icebox was a single unit of about 5 cubic feet (140 litres) which could either be used as a fridge or freezer. As I wanted both I decided to:
- install a divider to form both fridge and freezer compartments
- install a freezer unit in the outboard compartment, and
- install a small thermatically controlled fan in the divider to draw air from the freezer to cool the refrigeration compartment.
The thing to note when modifying a boat (and not just a Westsail) - nothing is quite square and if there is a taper it won't be even on both sides. As the divider was going inside the icebox it did not need to have thick insulation so I bought a 2" (50mm) core with alloy on both sides from a refrigerated van repair shop ($10 from their scrap bin) and shaped it to fit. If your going to replicate this on your Westsail note that:
- the icebox tapers from top (325mm) to bottom (260mm)
- you will need a drain hole from the freezer into the fridge
- leave a gap at the top (1/4" max) to allow for a cap over the foam insulation and a seal between the two compartments
- A hole at the top to fit the fan between the two compartments. I used a small 12V computer fan inside a 2" plastic pipe joiner
I purchased a Weaco ColdMachine comprising a CU-94 cooling unit (Danfoss BD50F) and a VD-16 circulating air evaporator. Brendan from FreezeTec was a great help, describing all the different systems and options and taking the time to explain the effect each system would have on the electrical system. I chose the circulating air evaporator because it cools quickly and although it draws more power when operating does so for a far shorter time. In addition I added a switching power supply so that it will run off shore power when connected and automatically revert to batteries when disconnected. I used the existing thermostat to control the fan in the divider. The unit came pre-gassed and was
relatively easy to install as I used the holes from the previous installation.
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| Fridge |
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| Freezer |
Total cost was about $1,500.
The head, a must have on all cruising boats but for boats built before the requirement of a holding tank it can be a challenge. Crosswind has a manual head (no macerator) and a small holding tank - 380mm X 300mm X 450mm (15" X 12" X18'') and if used daily would require pumping out at least once a week, which is a 30 minute trip each way down the river. At heart I am a closet environmentalist and will not pollute our waterways, marine parks or oceans. So what are the options?
The first step was to remove the head - easy as it had not been connected for over 12 months. The next was to remove the holding tank and associated plumbing - not too hard but time consuming removing the plumbing. For now I have left the waste spigot in the deck and will decide what to do when its time to re-caulk the deck. Looking at the head I decided it could do with a freshen up similar to the forward cabin repaint. Looks like the head won't be in before Christmas.
