The Hanging Locker turned Icebox

I like a hanging locker but on a small, storage challenged Triton, I needed the space for other things. For my first cruise I installed a temporary storage bin. It worked really well actually.

I also needed a place to put in an icebox. Do I need an icebox? The jury is still out. After cruising with friends with iceboxes full of cold icecubes for drinks, and having enjoyed their expanded dinner menus that only cold storage provides, I was tempted to try and fit an icebox in my Triton. I am trying to see how it goes. If I don't like it I will take it out and use the area for more much needed storage space.

The Triton came with an icebox; more of an ice melt accelerator really. Front loading to spill the cold air, and with an absolute minimum of insulation; it wasn't terribly functional. I removed it quite early in the project. Some Triton owners build an icebox over one of the settees. I have been pretty fanatical about not compromising my settee lengths so that idea was out. Some Triton owners build an icebox next to the engine. This works pretty well if the engine is a diesel. The Atomic Four however needs access to the sides for maintenance and making room for the engine reduced the available area for an icebox by more than I could tolerate. It was my idea to try something new and put an icebox in the former hanging locker area.

Based on my original calculations I could achieve an icebox with a volume of nearly 2 and a half square feet. These calculations were to prove faulty later and I think the finished box is something more like one and a half square feet. It is a bit small and I am not sure if it should stay. On the other hand, I went to the trouble of building it, I want to see how efficient it will be, and I want to try life with ice onboard. So for now it stays. The basic limits of the outside shape were determined by the area available between the main and saloon bulkhead and the depth from the limits of my reach. I will have to update this description when I get some real numbers.

First, the hull was insulated just like everywhere else. 1 inch Armacell foam glued to the hull, Reflectix foil insulation, and an inner 1/4 inch plywood liner. In the photo below the Reflectix and inner plywood liner have yet to be installed.

In the above photo again, you can kind of see the outlines of the outer shell by the black magic marker lines on the bulkheads. I didn't take the icebox all the way to the bottom because I didn't think I could reach that far down. Below the icebox there remains some limited storage space. I kept my seaboots and foulies there on my last cruise.

To actually construct the icebox, I screwed and glued fiddles (narrow strips that panels can attach to) on the bulkheads and then screwed and glued the outside bottom panel, the panel closest to the hull and the panel that makes the 'front' or inside face of the icebox (fir beadboard) to the fiddles. These panels and the bulkheads that define the outside dimensions were then sealed and painted.

A layer of aluminum foil followed by 6 mil plastic was folded into the contained area to provide a reflective surface for radiant heat and a moisture barrier. Then, using interlocking peices of common 2 inch foam insulation, (pink extruded polystyrene) I lined the area with 4 inches total of insulation. Because I couldn't reach that far back towards the hull I added an additional two inches of insulation against the hull to fill the unusable space and make the box that much more efficient. My dark hull will absorb a lot of heat so I figured it wouldn't hurt to have a little extra. After fitting in the foam, I sprayed in some expanding foam to fill any gaps resulting from my poor fitting.

I then lined the inside of the box with another layer of plastic and aluminum foil. To protect the inside from a dropped block of ice or what have you, I cut and fit panels of 1/4 inch plywood and lined the inside of the box. The plywood was tabbed together at the joints and then the entire inside was sealed with a layer of fiberglass cloth and epoxy followed by a heavy 'painting' of epoxy mixed with fairing filler.

At this point, the pressure to advance other projects got in the way and that's where the icebox project stands at the moment. After making some changes in the saloon I had the opportunity to raise the icebox height by 3 inches which will help the too-tiny box volume a bit.

More coming...