Tuesday, January 24, 2012

CHORES, CHORES

Coconut Grove, Miami, FL 25º43.533N | 80º84.321W


The marine refrigerator, just like everything else on a boat, offer its own unique challenges. First, imagine turning your fridge on its back and raising the door. It's quite a puzzle to figure out how to organize -- and how to get the stuff that falls into the back corners. Second, it is a power eating monster.

Everything onboard runs off a bank of house batteries that we have to monitor constantly. A healthy portion of our amp hours is dedicated to keeping stupid dairy products cold. The price is high, but we keep churning out solar power to keep up, and, on cloudy days, employing the Honda generator.

So, any improvement in performance of the fridge is brilliant. Since our boat is only 12 years old, our fridge has pretty efficient insulation, but I decided to add some internal in hopes of cutting down the beast's appetite. I chose to do this chore here in Miami because of another onboard challenge: not having a car. There is an amazing, old school lumberyard called Shell Lumber in biking distance. (How amazing? You can help yourself to free popcorn while shopping, buy hot dogs for $2, and every January, see Shakespeare in the "park" perform. Love this place.)

So, insulation in place, we will now entertain ourselves by watching the battery monitor.


P.S. -- In case you're wondering, Freakin' Heavy Duty Interior/Exterior Double Stick tape does NOT work in a cold, damp refrigerator. This, I find annoying.

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