Fruits Of My Labor (A-113)

[Tony G]

I was down at the shop today clearing up a 'furniture malfunction'. It didn't take long before I had lost all focus on that job and climbed aboard 113 to think. I have been trying to position the engel refer so it will fit the proposed galley lay out and still be able open it all the way without interfering with, or, being interfered with by something else.

It has been so long since I purchased the engel but I believe it is a 35. I climbed out of the boat and turned my attention to the refer itself. I started tossing around different ideas. It dawned on me that if the top was hinged on the long edge like a typical cooler that would help it fit my plan a little better. I unscrewed the hinges and played around for a while with the idea of moving them to the side noting ranges and measurments. I made a cardboard two dimensional model to try a few ideas on board. This configuration work much better but not quite there yet.

down on the shop floor, at the refer, I began working backwards from what I wanted to what I had. The opening top is roughly 14" x 19". If I had an opening in the neighborhood of 14 inches square that would be just about ideal. So I though,"Why not build a new top?" After closer examination I noted the top hatch on this engel is 2" thick, but due to the shape of the moulded plastic liner on the inside there is only 1.25" of thickness. If you account for the thickness of the metal outer skin and the plastic inner skin they would be hard pressed to get anything more than an inch of insulation in the hatch!

However, if I went with a smaller 14" square top I would have to deal with the inconvenience of reaching under 5.25" of lid to fully stock the refer. From what I've seen elsewhere most ice boxes have at least that much of an overhang around the loading top. I think I could fab a 2 inch thick, hinged, gasketed top for the engel. Now I know what this does to the warranty and I certainly don't intend to drill any new holes in the existing chassis. Instead I thought about using high strength adhesives to attach the necessary hardware. A sliding tray built into the galley top will go over the top of the refer and keep it sealed (mostly) in the event of an inversion.

So what do you all think? Is this a crazy idea?

Also, for those of you that have an engel. I noticed toay that the unit has a sticker on it that saskeep 2" of clearance around it while in operation. Does that pertain to the compressor end that has the venting? I am assuming that is what they are concerned with. I had intended all along to place the unit in a cocoon of additional insulation minus the vented end, of course. Do the units have warm spots elsewhere?