Elegua
Generalissimo
I’m thinking of making a running light that uses the mast-step like that. Are those windsurf masts?
Chasing Elegua
- Thread starter Ajax
- Start date
Jud - s/v Sputnik
Super Anarchist
That’s cool! After my teenage daughter and I did Stage 1 in our beater Cal 20 a few years ago, I made a bet with myself to do 7048, and picked up a baidarka frame from a guy in Bellingham off Craigslist. (You should have seen the look on the Canadian border folks guards’ faces when I showed up with this 17’ long kayak skeleton strapped to the roof of my car…)
I skinned it, in consultation with Corey/Cory?, who runs the baidarka building school in Anacortes, I think it is. Cool restoration project, which involved learning how to build a simple steam bender and bend and lash in a few new ribs to deal with some poorly done replacement ones for several that were broken (which the so-called boatbuilder who sold me the skeleton for cheap had replaced with screwed in, bent-to-fit plastic pieces instead - sacrilege on a beautiful lashed-together skin-on-frame baidarka!!)
Anyway, I built a Greenland paddle and went out kayaking a few times…but I haven’t really fallen in love with kayaking. 7048 is still on the list
Maybe rowing instead - I could totally get into that with the right small craft, like Leo’s Time to sell the kayak, still in the rafters of my ramshackle shop as we speak (I’m drilling out aluminum angle for mounting solar panels on the boat), an attempt to lighten the load of life and downsize/get rid of stuff anyway, to go offshore cruising. To chase Elegua - that’s the connection of the post to the thread
Last edited:
These are kind of expensive but do the job:
Breaks down and stores under the seat when not needed. Maybe the same sort of thing could be rigged to a mast step. Maybe a boat-hook type pole? Seems like more of these mounting system gadgets are getting a little bit standardized.
Elegua
Generalissimo
I already have a mast step. Much easier to buy the light and if cheep, get a pvc pipe or a used mast base.These are kind of expensive but do the job:
Breaks down and stores under the seat when not needed. Maybe the same sort of thing could be rigged to a mast step. Maybe a boat-hook type pole? Seems like more of these mounting system gadgets are getting a little bit standardized.
If I were clever, I’d use the existing rig and some Velcro, but that’s a big if.I used to have a piece of PVC pipe on board for something like that but not often used. I kept finding it and thinking, "what the heck is this on the boat for?" and throwing it away. D'Oh!
(Now I try to remember to label my cave-man style tools. Not Garbage!)
(Now I try to remember to label my cave-man style tools. Not Garbage!)
ecsimonson
Member
- 87
- 11
obviously can be cut somehow or how do they sell sizes.The panels can't be cut, but you can order them in any size you want. Anything other than rectangular costs extra.
RPARTS.COM - Vacuum Insulation Panels - RPARTS.COM
www.rparts.com
Also worth paying extra attention the other main sources of thermal loss: the lid and the drain. I built our freezer to drain via a trap, and put a cork in it for every day use... but then decided that sponging out the freezer box was not as big a hassle as having half-melted ice cream and running out of food. Some freezers are difficult to reach the bottom though.
Steam Flyer
Sophisticated Yet Humble
My understanding is that they make them in those sizes, in a vacuum chamber. If you cut a panel, obviously it is not sealed any more.
ecsimonson
Member
- 87
- 11
its foam, cut that shit with a razor knife...vaccum chamber rofl
Steam Flyer
Sophisticated Yet Humble
OK, try it and see.
estarzinger
Super Anarchist
- 7,956
- 1,369
I will comment that I installed vacuum panels on Hawk and 2 of them lost vacuum over the first two years greatly reducing their r-value.
Also, it is typically hard to know how good a fridge box is until you go to the tropics, using a fridge cruising above 35N is a whole different equation than using one 0-15N.
Also, it is typically hard to know how good a fridge box is until you go to the tropics, using a fridge cruising above 35N is a whole different equation than using one 0-15N.
Jud - s/v Sputnik
Super Anarchist
How did you discover/determine that some vacuum panels had lost their vacuum, Evans?
Conventional polyiso foam is a fairly simple and bulletproof solution if you are building from scratch and have a reasonable amount of room to work with. We ended up with an average of more than 4" (100mm) of foam on every surface, including the lids, with much more outboard to fill the irregular space between the box and the curved side of the hull.
This was adequate to hold over with the plates frozen for more than 24 hours in the tropics. It helps to have a freezer packed full of solidly-frozen food.
We probably put more time and money into the construction of the reefer/freezer than any other single system in the boat, and it paid off. That included glassing over, fairing out, and painting all interior surfaces to make it easy to clean.
We used stacking milkcrate-style plastic mesh containers to store food in both the freezer and reefer. If you look, you can find these in a variety of shapes and sizes to suit the interior space.
Cleave Horton (Seafrost) designed and built the components specifically for the final interior dimensions of the boxes, and drove from New Hampshire down to Newport RI to commission the system.
That's what I call service!
Be aware that this foam is a serious skin irritant for some folks (including me), so PPE is generally a good idea when you are working with it.
estarzinger
Super Anarchist
- 7,956
- 1,369
From the outside those panels were obviously leaking cold - more than they had been and more than the other still intact panels. You could feel it with your hand.
Steam Flyer
Sophisticated Yet Humble
If you can see a big enough area of the surface, you can visually see that the cover is not "sucked in" against the inner structure. When I bought mine, the company gave a disclaimer that about 10% (IIRC) of their panels failed. Also to be -very- careful to not risk puncturing the surface film.
If you've got the cubic to put 4" of foam all around, that is good.
Elegua
Generalissimo
This is helpful info. Thank you. I’m about to buy a new fridge from Seafrost.
I know there is a good chance my insulation is permeated. I have about an inch to two inches of OE foam and then another 2” of expanding foam (I was talked into it) with a very old (1983 Alder-Barbour) refrigeration unit with a small freezer basket. It burns about 120-130Ah in a 24hr period - it runs about 7A when on. I’m hoping that will improve a bit with a new system.
The counter is new and wood, so I’m not sure how to remove. Maybe the best I could do is add a layer of foam in parts of the fridge.
My friends aren’t helping. They are trying to convince me to spend a lot of cash on a dagger board catamaran.
Currently in Grenada helping a friend haul out. Then headed for Trinidad next week to start our work. It’s a long-ish list.
I know there is a good chance my insulation is permeated. I have about an inch to two inches of OE foam and then another 2” of expanding foam (I was talked into it) with a very old (1983 Alder-Barbour) refrigeration unit with a small freezer basket. It burns about 120-130Ah in a 24hr period - it runs about 7A when on. I’m hoping that will improve a bit with a new system.
The counter is new and wood, so I’m not sure how to remove. Maybe the best I could do is add a layer of foam in parts of the fridge.
My friends aren’t helping. They are trying to convince me to spend a lot of cash on a dagger board catamaran.
Currently in Grenada helping a friend haul out. Then headed for Trinidad next week to start our work. It’s a long-ish list.
Last edited:
Trinidad was a good place to do work when we were there, but that was 25 years ago. We even hauled out there for bottom painting. The yard workers were very competent, and the local trades were as well. Fellow cruisers are likely to know who is best today.
estarzinger
Super Anarchist
- 7,956
- 1,369
2018 Gunboat 57 For Sale – HAMMER
View all pre-owned Sail Yachts yachts available for sale. Contact our Sail Yachts yacht specialist for assistance with buying or selling a Sail Yachts yacht.
collectionyachts.com
get something like this, and you don't have to worry about the little details ever again (because you leave the fussing to the crew
)------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is really quite hard to settle on what level of sophistication and complexity and creature comfort is best (for each of us and our families). It is 'easier' to just go to one extreme or the other - full-on super lux, or full-on super simplistic. Picking the most orgasmic g-spot in the middle is really difficult.
Last edited:
🤣
That's a different way to describe it!
We keep missing you, we're currently in Martinique.
When in Trinidad talk to some of the carpenters there. They may be able to open up your cabinetry and replace the foam insulation. There are some very good craftspeople there possibly Narace in Powerboat's?
Cats definitely win the party, not sure about any other attributes, YMMV.
Jim in Halifax
Super Anarchist
A lot of live-aboards seem to give up on the built-in + evap/condernsor/compressor, etc. and just find some place to stuff an Engel. Seems like a turnkey solution with pretty good R-value and efficiency.
