Bending the evaporator plate! - 2011

October 2011- Marina Kona Kai Shelter Island San Diego, CA

With Debbie's measurements we marked the first bend on the evaporator flat plate(EP).  

We decided to wait to paint the freezer. Instead we worked on the evaporator plate (EP) and fitting it into the freezer. We are moving marinas and wanted to take advantage of the help offered by Hinze our dock mate on bending the EP. Hinze our dock mate has already done this to his refer\freezer and was there to help. He maintains kitchen equipment for a living so has a lot of experience at this, we have none. We first assembled the tools, the hatch cover from a salon storage are for a flat piece of wood. A 2” piece of PVC pipe cut to the width of the wood hatch cover and a couple clamps. The Work Mate was also a handy item for a bench to work off. Hinze and I both took measurements and both of us came up with different lengths. 

Debbie went and took an exact measurement and we went with the correct one, hers.

We then clamped the EP up.

Man, my hair is sure getting thin😟

Hinze making the first bend, hay wait for me😀

Looks good, the bend.

 We had the plate clamped down and I thought we were going to use a piece of wood to bend it. Also a square to get the setup correct. Hinze had other plans. He simply bent it up using his hand. The first bend came out great. Hinze said he likes to feel it and that seems to work for him.

 When clamping down the EP it needs to be firm in place so it does not move while bending but not so tight it crushes the chambers in the plate, if so then it is trash. If it kinks it is trash and if the bend is wrong it is most likely trash.

Debbie did good with the measurements on the next bend also and Hinze had it bent up in no time at all.

Next we fitted the EP.

 Looking to the bow.

 Looking to the stern.

 We had thought that we had messed up when we made the freezer and the plate was going to stick up to within an inch of the top because of the way the freezer slants in from the side of the boat. That would have allowed only one inch of insulation on the top hatch of the freezer. As it happened we did not mess up and the EP fit fine. It needs a little tweaking but will sit in the freezer fine. We had made a cardboard template (Debbie made it) and used it regularly to help build the freezer around it. The EP was almost 11” and our template was closer to 10 ½” high though as we thought that was the actual measurement.

Hinze had a long drill bit.

  All is well so now to drill the hole in the back of the freezer for the tubing from the EP that is now coiled up.

 Because we will have a propane locker in this area also we wanted to make sure we missed it with the hole into the lazarett. To do this Debbie crawled into the lazerett (she is no stranger to this now) and measured the distance we needed to drill. We did this several times with me in the boat and measuring the freezer side to try to match up the location. 

Drill bit sticking in hole.

Drill bit on lazarett side.

 After several careful measurements I drilled the hole - a few inches off. It still will be OK as there was a 5” tolerance for mistakes. It was off on the lazarett side. I slanted the drill bit as it went through but my guest-a-mate was off by the three inches toward the inside of the boat.  

 Now we are ready to drill the big hole!

 We did not have a 1 ¼ inch hole saw so we used a 1 5/8, close.

Debbie inside lazarett taking measurements and drill big hole from that side with the hole saw and drill.

 This hole will be filled with a piece of PVC pipe run through it and the PVC pipe will get epoxied in. 

Freezer side (this hole should have been lower). 

Lazarette side.

Debbie cleaning her way out. 

 We drilled through the three layers of fiberglass we added - three inches of Dow Blew board insulation we added to the back wall, the three inches of insulation that came with the boat and then through the 3/4 inch plywood to get to the lazarett. Well Debbie drilled through he 3/4 plywood and 3" of original boat insulation and I drilled the rest through the freezer.

 Then we will run the tubing through the PVC pipe. This will also allow for replacement if something should go wrong with the evaporator flat plate(EP). You know, like an ice pick run into it or something bad. If we just cut the hole and run the tubing through it and back filled it with spray foam it could be real hard to get out. We will back fill the PVC pipe with Dow Blew board insulation. 

 Now for the spill over holes!

 Also we need to figure out the wiring for the LED light, the fan and the thermostats, where is it going to exit the freezer?