Engel in Cabin???

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Has anyone put an Engel or equivalent refrigerator/freezer in the cabin and been happy with the setup? The dimensions are 25x20x14 or so...

I am buying a 45qt Engel, and would like to move some weight out of the cockpit. I know that the 3d battery (group 27 lead acid) should stay outside, but I am thinking about bringing the Engel in and putting it under the table, maybe the generator when not in use. It will fit, either fore and aft or across the beam. I'm probably going to use some footman loops and a strap to hold it in place, wherever it ends up.

The freezer should be here on 9/2, so I will have some time to experiment. Our plan is to use it strictly as a freezer, taking out anything that needs to thaw, plus freezing water or blue ice to help keep the ice chest cold. We will rotate the frozen water or blue ice between the freezer and the chest.

Any thoughts/opinions????

[Sunbeam]

I have a Dometic 50. I did nose about in the cabin with a measuring tape, and I think some folks have done it (tho maybe those were Venture 23's or 25's.... can't remember if there were any 22's).

That said, after having lived with it in the RV for awhile, I think I'm going to try to leave it out in the cockpit. Reason is that I like the "pure silence" (except for waves, etc.) in the cabin and don't feel like listening to the compressor or the vibrations (may still be able to notice it in the cockpit, but at least it will be further away).

I do have some concern about rain water, as it's not supposed to get wet on the outside.

I could see getting the weight forward as a plus to having it inside.

I think the 45 opens with the hinge on the short end.... right? The 50 I have opens the other way - like a typical cooler lid.

[jkidd]

My 45t engel sit under mt table seems to work fine there. Only one person on the boat.

[anchorout]

My Engel is probably a smaller unit than the one you bought. It fits under the stove on a roll out shelf. I louvered the doors to let cool air in. The back top of the space is already vented to let hot air out. I have had this unit for a year now and with the solar panels to run it, it suits my needs. The only drawback for me is that it puts more weight to stbd. You can check it out on EZ DUZIT in the photo section.

As for using it to freeze ice to feed your ice chest, while my unit is very power efficient in keeping things froze, to freeze water it runs constantly and really draws on the battery. As you have a generator, this might not be a problem for you.

[Wandering Sagebrush]

[thataway]

We had the Norcold in the Tom Cat under the forward seat--plenty of room, for the slide out 300 lb rollers etc. Never any noticeable noise. The Dometics are very quiet--I doubt that one would notice the noise, but then old ears don't hear a lot of things.

[Casey]

We have just finished a four and a half month / 2400sm trip up the ICW and the Erie Canal. We used our Dometic (50Liter?) in freeze mode the whole way with generally excellent results.

We keep the Dometic in the cockpit with the insulated jacket on it all the time. At one point, after an EXREMELY heavy rain the unit seemed to lose much of its freezing capability (it would maintain 26degrees but not 16degrees where we normally keep it). We managed to have some good drying-out days, and with shorepower for a couple of days the unit seemed to correct itself, and we had no more problems the rest of the trip. Looking back on it the biggest help was probably totally defrosting the unit. We keep the bimini up all th time which gives some rain protection. If the camper canvas was used the freezer would remain completely dry (but it was too hot for camper canvas). My 'fix was to rig our golf umbrella to cover the compressor end of tthe freezer to protect it from very heavy rain. It looked kind of goofy - but it worked. And we try to defrost it every three or four weeks.

Previously we've frozen and rotated Blue Ice cubes for a cooler. Although that worked fairly well it was kind of a hassle and reduced the freezer capacity significantly. Now, Mary seems to prefer just using the Dometic as a freezer and not even taking a cooler. She may have some more thoughts on that....

We find that having the Dometic in the cockpit works well for us, an it's a convenient footrest or place for guests to sit. Installing a convenient 12V socket for the Dometic was also handy. We've never considered moving it inside the cabin. Even if it would fit, wouldn't having it beneath the dinette preclude access to the storage beneath the dinette? ...we refer to that area as our "basement" and use it as our food pantry.

Best,
C&M

[Pat Anderson]

We have an ARB 50 quart freezer under the galley on a slide-out tray on Daydream. We just love it, it has a very low current draw compared to the other 12 volt freezers and it is very quiet. I think the current draw is actually higher than the advertised 1.35 amps per hours but still very low by comparison to the others. The low current draw was the reason we selected the ARB over the other makes. We got ours from for about $100 less (Patty says is was $837 with no tax and free shipping) than the ARB advertised priced from a 4x4 offroad store in Nevada.

I need to cut a vent down low by the compresssor but there is a vent up high that used to be for the Wallas (now gone). The solar panels keep our house battery bank up nicely, we are typically down to the mid-80% range by morning according to our Victron and fully charged again by 11 or noon on sunny days. It holds lots of frozen food and has a nice dairy section that does not freeze. We don't try to make ice in it but it is large enough to hold a bag of party ice for sundowners! Hard to imagine cruising without it now!

[lloyds]

I have the marinized version of the engel, I think the 48m. It won't fit under the table, it is too long by just a little bit. It might if I took the handles off. I took one side of the v berth cushion and cut it in half and when I go when it might get stormy I leave out the head end of the cushion and sit it up there. The engel has the plug in at the bottom corner of the unit so if much water accumulated in the cockpit and the engel was out there where I usually have it the plug will get wet. Have already had a bunch of saltwater get at the plug one time. I think "marinized" means only that the case is plastic instead of metal. The travel cover wouldn't improve the situation.

[Sunbeam]

Good point on "different people; different ears." I'm sitting about 6 feet from my Dometic (Waeco) 50 right now, and when it runs, I can definitely hear it. Sounds like a refrigerator (heh). I don't mind this so much in the RV, as I guess I just expect a bit of noise when I'm in it. But when on the boat I just like to hear "nothing" or the waves lapping on the hull, etc. I'm used to that from previous boats that had manual pumps, kero lights, etc. so I guess it just seems right to me on a boat.

So, not to say the Dometic is "loud" in an absolute way, but just.... it's a compressor and fan running so it has to make some noise. Sometimes a little hearing loss is obviously a good thing in this department. Or no expectation of not hearing anything electrical/mechanical would also "fix" the problem.

Casey, I appreciate your input. I've always used the cockpit cooler as a handy seat/step/etc. I'll have to see how I do at rigging up some rain protection (and also this lid is not super rugged, but maybe a cushion on top to provide a little insulation and minor load spreading factor).

As usual, I get lots of good ideas reading the thread.

[Larry Patrick]

Thinking of getting a Dometic,will install the 12v outlet in cockpit . Where is most rain free area to install outlet? Always have the rain top on.

[Sea Wolf]

[Casey]

We have our Dometic right in the back of the cockpit siting on two pieces of Dry Dek, up against the splashwell

Best,
C&M

[Larry Patrick]

Thanks will install outlet for a future cooler.

[jkidd]