About Yacht Refrigeration

Over the years I have built and lived aboard several sailing boats, and also done much cruising. In the course of my professional career I have also installed many others.

I also spent several years serving on some of the most automated and advanced refrigerated cargo ships afloat as Electrical Officer/Engineer, and we carried bananas and grapefruit from Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras and Costa Rica to the USA and Europe, and apples and grapes from Chile to Europe, lamb from Australia to the Middle East, and frozen chicken and beef from Brasil to the Middle East, courgettes and tomatoes from Morocco to Europe and more (and yes! I know all the words of the Banana Boat Song!) So yes I have a lot of experience with marine refrigeration systems.

YACHT-REFRIGERATION - KEEPING THE FOOD COOL

It is very hard to beat a cold beer or your favorite beverage, and its hard to beat having cold butter and other perishables. Most cold food or perishables are required to be held at are maintained at about 4 degrees C or lower. If they are much above that then as you know meats and dairy products will deteriorate very fast indeed as bacteria and other organisms grow.

When planning your boats yacht-refrigeration, carefully consider this as your health and the crew health depend on it.

A boat and it's crew runs on it's stomach, and good yacht-refrigeration is a major part of keeping a smile on the face and morale high.

Your refrigeration system must be properly specified, correctly installed, and well maintained. For Boat Refrigeration Basics read this information.

On the Fahrenheit Scale, freezing point is 32ºF, and boiling point is 212ºF. On the Celsius Scale freezing point is zero 0ºC Centigrade and boiling point 100ºC. Conversion is ºC = 5/9 x ºF, or ºF = 9/5 x ºC.

CHOOSING YACHT-REFRIGERATION

Buying yacht refrigeration is not quite as simple as buying a domestic refrigerator. The principal criteria when planning a yacht refrigeration system are as follows:

1. How big is the yacht ice box? You need to calculate the interior dimensions either in cubic feet or cubic meters.

2. What type, quantity and quality of Insulation material is on the ice box? Is it adequate and do you need more?

3. How much refrigeration capacity or cooling will you require? Do you plan to keep frozen food frozen long or short term, will you be making ice cubes or just maintaining normal food perishables at 4 degrees C.

4. How large a freezer required? This of course depends on your sailing range and how many people you are catering for.

5. Where will you be using your boat? are you going tropical cruising, long ocean voyages or staying around cooler temperature areas?

6. What are your boat power resources? Your main propulsion engine, an AC generator, or DC battery systems only?

7. If it is like many boats a DC battery system, what is the battery bank capacity, and what is the available capacity when you account for all other consumption, what is the alternator output rating, and how long every day to plan on recharging.

8. When it stops working will you know how to perform REFRIGERATION TROUBLESHOOTING

YACHT REFRIGERATION - MECHANICAL or DC ELECTRICAL?

There are several choices to consider when selecting a yacht refrigeration system.

1. Hermetic sealed 110 or 220 volt AC systems with air or water cooling

2. Hermetic sealed 12-volt brushless compressor systems with air-cooling

3. Hermetic sealed 12-volt brushless compressor systems with water-cooling

4. Auxiliary engine belt-driven system with eutectic holding plates.

5. DC 12 volt motor belt-driven or direct coupled.

6. Hermetic sealed 12-volt DC system with brush electric motor.

Get the Marine Electrical and Electronics Bible for all you need to know about sailing boat and yacht refrigeration and air conditioning systems

About Yacht Refrigeration