SHORE LEAVE: After sailing 26,000 nautical miles over seven years, we're taking a brief break from cruising to better organize our land lives (do we really need to keep paying storage fees for our old NY furniture?). We'll be streamlining our affairs, and taking another roadtrip or two. We will return to Dream Time in January.

 

Money well spent!


Quick Fix: 26° 24' N / 81° 53' W
Shore leave: Florida
September 24th 2014 (day 2,673)

Buy! Buy!! BUY!!!
There's an awareness we have when returning to 'civilization' not to get sucked back into the fast-spinning vortex of consumerism. It seems everywhere we turn businesses are trying to sell us something: upgrades and services - stuff that promises to make our lives better, more convenient, even happier. And the scary thing is, after a while you begin believing in it! Our lifestyle for the last seven years on Dream Time has been blissfully simple and has given us a very clear view of what really matters to us, and it's freedom. Freedom to appreciate the moment and pursue passions without unnecessary distractions, clutter or complications. So even though we're buying more stuff than we can carry right now, it's all boat gear, and that means it's money well spent.


   
 
Day 2,663 - New Zealand (36° 37S 174° 47E)
09:25hrs - September 14th 2014
A Cool Winter Project - Part Two

We're on shore leave, but the good folks at Brin Wilson Boat Builders are in the midst of installing our new fridge/freezer unit. As outlined in Part One of this project, we decided to build a custom unit, rather than simply installing a new off-the-shelf evaporator plate, as we wanted to maximize the space and durability within the fridge/freezer compartments and, more importantly, replace the thirty-three year old insulation.

Our new unit has been fabricated from stainless s steel with coolant pipes wrapped around its exterior walls. The unit has been built to ensure that both the freezer and fridge compartments maintain the correct temperature balance (a swanky new digital thermostat will make it easier to control/regulate, too), and we designed the most versatile (slidable / adjustable - to any height / removable) shelves that will give us the greatest storage options - which is important, as you never quite now what provisions will be available when you're world cruising.

How to best insulate a fridge on a sailboat is a topic that some debate passionately. We're keeping it simple: we chose a closed-cell foam (to eliminate issues of water penetration), and an insulation that would be durable, impact resistant, would expand to fit every void within the cabinet, and that would have an R-value (thermal resistance) high enough to keep the heat out and the cold in.

We're using Norski polyurethane pour-in foam, which will give us an R-value around the fridge of approximately 25-30, and 35-40 around the freezer - plenty for the tropical climes we love to cruise in.

We've had a 12-volt, air cooled compressor on Dream Time for 14 years, which in 2010 we upgraded to a BD50. The compressor is housed in the sail locker (under the port-side cockpit seat, with a duct rigged to draw cooler air in from the cabin rather than the locker (which gets hot when the engine is running). The system is simple, flexible and it works well for us.

Phase three of this project will be the fabrication of a new counter top, lids, seals and a custom extension to give us a little more surface area.

 

 


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