Ice Box Interior Panels

Ice box insulation completed on four out of five sides.

Final insulation tally…

• Top: 4” of insulation.
• Forward and mid-ship: 4.5” of insulation - 4 layers of 1” foam board and 2 layers of ¼” Reflectix.
• Floor: 5.25” to 6.25” of insulation – Above the waterline the M382 hull is cored.  The hull thickness increases by nearly 1” where the coring is present.  Below the waterline the ice box is insulated by 6 layers or foam board and on layer of Reflectix.  Above the waterline the insulation is reduced by one layer of foam.  Hopefully the foam core material will offer some additional insulation.  Note:  3.25” of insulation exists atop the conduit under the ice box.
• Aft wall: to be determined.  Once the interior work on the ice box is complete then the insulation in the aft wall will be installed.  It will receive a minimum of 4.5” of insulation.

Since the area of the fore and aft walls of the ice box have reduced in size, we are able to reuse the original material.  Despite more than doubling the insulation thickness, the interior width of the ice box increased by over an inch.  This slight of hand is due to the new insulation along the aft wall extending into the cockpit locker.  New FRP will be used for the floor and mid-ship vertical wall panels.

Test fitting the forward and mid-ship ice box panels.

The Alder-Barbour evaporator box will likely be mounted on the mid-ship, vertical wall.  To provide a more robust mounting surface we decided to laminate ¼” plywood on the back side of the FRP.

Sections of 1/4" plywood and FRP prepped for epoxy.

Cement blocks and a bit of heat to aid in the curing process.

The original fore and aft walls were littered with old screw holes the required filling.

Drilling out screw holes in original panels.  Note newly laminated mid-ship panel on left.

First the holes were drilled out.  Next the area around the holes was abraded to provide an appropriate surface for applying fairing. Prior to filling the holes the back side was sealed with duct tape.

Sealing the backside of all the holes with duct tape.

Using a syringe to avoid bubbles, the holes in the panels were filled with thickened epoxy.  Once the epoxy in the hole began to kick fairing filler was applied on the surface.

Top: 1/4" plywood backing on mid-ship panel coated with epoxy to seal the wood.
Bottom: Fairing added atop hole repairs in original fore and aft panels.

After 24 hours of curing, the repairs were sanded down using a orbital sander and 80 grit paper.

All holes in original panels filled and faired.  After installation is complete these panels will be repainted.

During this process, I also laminated ½” plywood to the backside of the aft panel.  The plywood stiffens 1/8" fiberglass panel.  I believe laminating the aft wall will make the final assembly easier.

More images and notes from this on-going project as available in the Ice Box Rebuild Photo Album.