Rotting meat. That’s what that smell is.

Last week, Kim mentioned our re-insulation of our freezer box. TBH, I knew we were going to have to do it. I tried using denial for the last 4 months, but it didn’t work. I was hoping that, by replacing the mechanicals, it would be enough. Of course not!! First, I noticed that the compressors for the fridge and freezer were running a lot. A lot. And that’s when the air temperature has been in the 60s and 70s and the water temperature in the 50s and 60s. Do the math and extrapolate that to when the temps are 95 and the water is 85 degrees. Not good. But The Denial is strong with this one. So we loaded up the freezer with provisions and set off. Of course we’re back now because our transmission died, but it smelled like something else died in the galley as well-like an animal. We started the hunt. Turns out the smell was from the freezer. Turns out the meat at the bottom wasn’t frozen. Oops. That’s when I knew denial was not working. Time to break out the tools.

A brief history of marine refrigeration: when Meraviglia was built, there was no marine refrigeration equipment. As originally designed, the freezer bottom was filled with dry ice, the fridge bottom with ice, and off people went. That’s why there were drains in the bottom. Of course cold air sinks, so where does a lot of the cold air go? Yeah. I also discovered that there was no insulation at all in the bottom of the fridge or freezer-just a sheet of plywood. This was not going to be pleasant.

Kim thinks I’m messy. She takes precautions.
Yep, it’s moldy. And wet. And smelly.
After hacking out the old foam.
That round thing bottom right? That’s the drain-not helpful.

First, I cut away the panels of the box to expose the old foam. Wet, moldy foam. There are two kinds of foam: open cell and closed cell. The old foam was open cell. The key word is open, as in the cells are open and can hold water. AWESOME! Eight trash bags later, we had removed all the old, nasty foam. Next up, I bought a spray foam kit. You know that gap filler foam stuff? Yeah-like that, but on steroids. It’s closed cell, so it shouldn’t hold water. I filled all the spaces with new foam and I also sprayed 2 inches of foam onto the previously uninsulated bottom of the boxes. I then cut away the excess foam, fit the box panels back into place, and fiberglassed over all the seams. After that, I applied epoxy tub paint and we reinstalled all the cold plates and shelving.

Nope, not propane. SPRAY FOAM!
I may have overdone it.
After shaping.
Box panels back in place.
After fiberglass and paint.
All done!

So, we’ll see how it goes. Is it beautiful? Nope. But hopefully, we have a much more efficient fridge/freezer. And hopefully we won’t have any more dead animal smells. Fingers crossed.

New engine in 24 hours!

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