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<\/a><\/div>\nI also purchased a new refrigeration system to augment the one that came with Pandora from the factory. \u00a0While the original unit was great for keeping food cool, it wasn’t really set up for sub-zero freezing. \u00a0 This required the addition of a freezer box within the fridge compartment and a really powerful DC driven cold plate. \u00a0 The system that came with the boat had three evaporator plates secured in an aluminum box (like you would expect to see in an old style small refrigerator). \u00a0In order to make the system work better for my new arrangement, I separated the plates from the box and secured them to the sides of the box. \u00a0This set up is a much more efficient use of space and will actually allow me to put more items in the fridge. \u00a0This means that we have one system for the fridge and another for the freezer compartment. Learn more about woodworking and how to get the perfect finish as the info is Continued<\/a> here.<\/p>\n All and all, this is a much better arrangement. \u00a0You can see that the panels don’t take up much room at all. \u00a0Notice that they are secured in the top of the compartment so that they won’t come in contact with food which would cause freezer damage to delicate produce. \u00a0There’s a full foot of space below what you can see. \u00a0The good news is that SAGA put in 4 inches of insulation so I won’t be cooling the entire world when I crank this baby up. \u00a0However, this setup is still the biggest energy hog on the boat, by far. You can look at this site<\/a> for more information on the procedure for insulation.<\/p>\n This shot shows the new freezer compartment, made of one inch of foam insulation sandwiched between two sheets of white plexiglass. \u00a0It’s just outboard from the fridge shown above.<\/p>\n You my be asking yourself how much power this will consume but fortunately, my solar panels put out loads of power so I expect to be able to turn things on when Pandora goes into the water and keep everything frozen all summer. \u00a0This is particularly notable given the fact that she’s always on a mooring or on the hook. \u00a0No shore power for Pandora, that’s for sure.<\/p>\n You can see here that the solar panels are indeed big. \u00a0At peak output I have seen 35amps. \u00a0Each panel is rated for 135 watts. \u00a0That’s 540 watts and no, I don’t understand the conversion from watts to AH into the batteries. \u00a0 BTW, I have over 700AH of gel batteries so I have loads of capacity. \u00a0With the panels, I generally get over 100AH per day in northern climes which is plenty to run all the equipment on board.<\/p>\n We also purchased a hard bottom inflatable dink which will be somewhat heavier than our current tender so we had to have a more substantial davit system. \u00a0With this in mind, I have ordered a new radar arch\/davit setup which will look like the one on Firecracker, sistership to Pandora. \u00a0You can see here that this is a much better system and one that I can operate from my electric cockpit winch when I want to put the tender into the water or pull it up.<\/p>\n You can see Pandora on the right and the other system on Firecracker. \u00a0The davit setup is very different and \u00a0I am very excited about this upgrade.<\/p>\n As they say “but wait, there’s more” as I am also making new holding tanks to replace the crummy aluminum ones that came with the boat. \u00a0I have never done fiberglass layup on a “large”, for me, project before but with good guidance I am very excited about this. \u00a0The tanks will be formed inside of melamine coated molds from 5 layers of 5oz fiberglass mat with vinylester resin coated, inside and out with two coats of gelcoat. \u00a0I am a bit anxious about the project and intend to tackle it this weekend. \u00a0Here’s one of the custom molds that I made.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n