Fridge
Decided last summer to get a small fridge. Carting an esky full of ice and food by dinghy out to Windchaser and lifting it up and into the cockpit seemed too risky for my back. Especially when the river was choppy and the dinghy moving about. With a tropical summer, my esky at 55 litres had to hold about 25 kg of ice and would last maybe five days if I was careful. While I have to be careful with lifting the fridge up, it is still much easier to handle. Also, inside the cabin, I have more space since the esky used a good portion of one of the berths. The biggest benefit is that it makes meals so easy because, not only can I carry more perishables, but I can cook a large meal, such as a packet of macaroni cheese with extra cheese, vegetables and sausages in it, eat half and chill the rest for an easy meal the next day or so. A carton of long life milk sits in the fridge no problems so makes my breakfast cereal much nicer than just using powdered milk.
The Waeco 23 litre fridge is very thin and by trimming back the edges of the hanging cupboard, I can just slip it in. My Top Hat layout has the cupboard to hang stuff in instead of the slightly bigger cupboard which the other model has with a toilet. A removable lip in front stops it sliding out. It would not stop the fridge falling out in a roll over but I could put in more restraints higher up if I do some trips out past the coastal fringes.
Originally, I planned to put in a slide to make access easier and make better use of the space but have not got that far yet. The temp readout is actually at the back of the unit so that is a bit awkward. At the back left side of the cupboard, I have cut a hole right where the fan draws in air so it can suck in fresh air easily. Hole is under the top of the v-berth so not visible in v-berth.
Wiring comes up from the battery under the cockpit section and along the PORT side of the boat, then underneath the v-berth just in front of v-berth entrance and back to the fridge. Wiring needs to be thick enough to carry the current with little loss. I initially had some intermittent problems with my fridge, it was sometimes kicking in but not running for long before the compressor was stopping. Eventually realised that it was a problem with the voltage dropping too much. While my wiring from fridge to switchbox was fine, I found some of the old system was just up to running a fridge but would cause a problem when fridge was running and I turned on the water pump or whatever. One wire I found in the switch box was way too thin, the other was the wires from the battery to the switch box needed upgrading.
Fridge uses about 13 amp hours a day (tropical winter) to 20 amp hours (warmer weather).
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GPS mount
Windchaser came with a depth sounder and wind speed/direction device, neither of them I found out later worked despite being told they worked and being shown lights coming on when switched on. In fact, the uhf radio was the same, looked like it worked but when out at sea I found it didn't. Aerial wire was just poked into the socket at the back, not properly connected to the socket. Just goes to show when checking a boat before buying, it can pay to test the equipment not just take for granted the unit switching on means it is working.
You can see the old system, a swinging board with cutouts. At that time, I used a C-clamp to hold the board in the forward position so I could see it in the cockpit. Don't know what the previous owner used. The top hole held the sounder which I removed. The bracket zipp tied over the top is for the Garmin gps/sounder I bought so I could find my way from the Gold Coast to Rockhampton. Haha, see the radio on? That was before I found the aerial was only shoved in the back, sometimes I got a signal through so at the time of the picture, I still thought it was working and was relying on it for safety. I did wonder why there was not much talk on it.
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The bracket I ended up deciding to make slides into the top of the washboard slots. Took out the old board on hinge completely.
- gps mount 1.jpg (312.46 KiB) Viewed 1695 times
With the previous system, board on a hinge, I found it tricky going into and out of the cabin as it took up a fair bit of room. The board I now use does hang down a little but I have not found it difficult to get past.
- gps mount 2.jpg (305.44 KiB) Viewed 1695 times
If Windchaser was knocked down at sea, it is possible the board could jump out, which would be an extra disaster to add to being knocked down. I think it would be better with a latch or pin to secure it. I could easily put in something so I could quickly lash it down on both sides with a few wraps of thin cord.
When anchored, I often leave the board in as I can pull the tarp right over the GPS to protect it from sun. When moored, I take the GPS home and leave the board in the boat. Sometimes at anchor, I take the GPS into the cabin and run it as I am working out passage for the next day or checking on position and depth during the night and don't want to keep going up into the cold cockpit from my warm cabin.
These two projects are ones I have derived much benefit from so thought it worthwhile to mention.
troppo