In addition to a freezer, Oso sports a pair of refrigerators – a larger one with a top-opening door built into the countertop, and a smaller one with a front-opening door built into the mahogany cabinetry. The best part of the front-opening fridge is that it’s very convenient for access – we tend to use it for storing drinks and other staples that we access frequently. The worst part is that neither the insulation nor the door seal are the best.

Disassembling the trim and preparing to remove the refrigerator
Sliding the fridge out
Yuck! Soggy, moldy flooring under the fridge
Cutting the swollen, wet floorboard in half in order to remove it
After allowing the board to dry in the sun for several days we glued it back together. We didn’t have large enough clamps so we got creative with what we have onboard to apply pressure and ‘clamp’ the two pieces together while the glue was drying

That’s not really a problem when we’re in colder climates – the fridge uses a bit more power to keep the contents cool, but that’s something that Oso’s solar can keep up with. But now that we’re in the tropics, the poor insulation and door sealing cause a lot of condensation. That moisture has to go somewhere, and the easiest path is for it to soak into the mahogany trim around the fridge. When we started to see a little discoloration in the varnish around the fridge, we knew we needed to do something before the problem got a lot worse.

After removing the fridge we discovered the headliner was falling down in the fridge compartment
Angie applying adhesive and reattaching the headliner
Applying pressure to the headliner to allow the adhesive to dry overnight

Our approach was two-fold. First, we bought a piece of Corian countertop material roughly the size of the fridge cavity. Once we disassembled the cabinetry around the fridge, we wee able to pull out the soggy floor and rebuild it with waterproof Corian, this time with a drain installed for the inevitable condensation.

The new Corian piece before it is cut to size
After the Corian was cut to size we added a hole to attach a drain hose. Mike’s applying epoxy to the drain hose barb to secure it to the Corian 
Drain hose barb in underside of the Corian

Second, we added as much insulation to the outside of the fridge as possible. We bought sheets of 3/8″ / 9mm closed-cell foam insulation, cut it into pieces that matched the various surfaces of the back and sides of the fridge box, and then built a sort of insulated sleeve that the fridge could slide into. The result is an extra 3/4″ / 18mm to 1.5″ / 36mm of insulation on the sides and back of the fridge.

Cutting pieces of closed cell foam to add as insulation
While the front opening fridge was removed we could access two sides of the top opening fridge box. Mike is adding insulation to the accessible areas of the top loading fridge
Adding insulation directly to the back and sides of the front opening fridge

All of that is pretty easy to say, but it was anything but easy to accomplish on an anchored boat with only the hand tools we have onboard. The entire process took nearly a week – cutting straight lines in the Corian surface with just a jigsaw was a slow process, waiting for various caulks and epoxy to dry took time, and double- and triple-checking the fit to be sure that the cabinetry would go back together in a good way was a test for our patience. And during all of this, the refrigerator box featured prominently on the galley countertop.

Two strips of wood will act as the subfloor for the new Corian floor. Here we are painting them with bilge coat prior to installation
New subfloor in place with two strips of wood, two pieces of closed cell foam and a hole in the flooring where the new drain hose will run to the bilge
New Corian floor with drain hole

But at the end of the week, the result seems pretty good. There’s still some condensation, but what there is now drains to the bilge instead of soaking into the varnished mahogany trim. And the fridge’s compressor runs a bit less to keep the box the same temperature, which means that the insulation is helping.

Test fitting the fridge with the new Corian floor
After we were absolutely certain that everything fit well and the fridge and cabinetry would all go back together correctly it was time to caulk around the Corian floor
Insulated sleeve in place
Inside view of the insulated sleeve

Still to do is to replace the door seal with one that’s not 15 years old, but that will have to wait until we’re somewhere that we can have orders delivered. Until then, we’re happy with our “new” refrigerator.

Fridge slid back into place on top of the new Corian floor and into the insulated sleeve
Fridge with cabinetry in place and new Corian floor visible below
After the fridge was reinstalled we could caulk the last joint. Angie tooling the last of the caulk
Voila!