Catalina 350 International Association

My project this winter was to add a lower shelf to the refridgerator. Since we fixed some of the air leaks around the top of the freezer, I have been quite happy with the fridge in general, and have said, it has some of the coldest beer on any boat I have ever owned. The problem was that if a can of soda happened to get in the bottom of the fridge, it would occaisionally freeze, burst, and make a mess. We tried using several methods of stacking drinks and items in the bottom of the fridge and they all had problems. The fact that the bottom of the fridge is not flat and nothing will stand up on the freezer side of the fridge also creates problems as the boat pitches and rolls.

I decided to build a new shelf near the bottom of the fridge to provide more useful storage, yet still leave easy access to the COLD beer in the bottom. I bought an 8-foot piece of solid PVC 1x10 board from Loews for $30. Originally I wanted to make it L-shaped and drill holes in it to store wine bottles along the starboard side, but I found that although they fit the space, there was no way to get them in and out when the upper shelf was in place.

I'll add some photos and descriptions below of the progress.

Here's the way the fridge usually looks as soon as we leave the dock.

Here are the new shelf components:

I also took the time to drill some additional 1/4" holes behind the new supports and filled with as much DAP low expansion foam as I could while I was at it. I don't know whether it will help with cooling, but I figured it couldn't hurt.

The new lower shelf with dividers

Brilliant. I'm putting this on my to-do list along with the overall fridge insulation improvements you posted earlier. My freezer works great, but the fridge barely keeps things cool.

Thanks for sharing all this.

Jon Jones
S/V Wind Orchid
Annapolis
Hull #273

I installed a divider in the freezer compartment for drinks (read beer). It is to the stern of the boat. It is the width of a beer can, has many large holes in it for air circulation, holds about 18 cans, keeps them at 34 degrees. I keep the cans off of the circulation fan that is in this can sleeve compartment. The fans draws the freezer air across the cans before blowing into the refrigerator compartment.

Bill on TRIUMPH

Great idea!