Reinsulating 28 fish boxes

[backman]

10 years of blood and guts; continual wear and tear from pulling out the fish boxes - its time to ditch the torn and filthy old insulation around the fishboxes.

Any words of wisdom on new miracle insulating fabrics before I go to the silver insulating blanket material?

[Hey Doc]

Albe website

I hate to say it, but check out the same website for albemarle owners and there are several good forums on reinsulating the fishbox that I have seen over there.

[PurpleCedarPlug]

Blackman,

Funny you say that. We just did ours last week. Used R-Foil and R-Foil tape we picked up at Lowes and attached it using Duro Spray Adhesive. (3M also make a good adhesive).

Did things a little different. Made the cuts and taped on the sides of the fishboxes as opposed to the corners were they it looks like they originally were cut. With the cuts and tape on the corners it always seem to catch there when pulling the boxes out.

Pain in the butt, but everything came out nice and I'm tkinking the corners will not catch now.

Good Luck. Good Winter project. Do it in a warn environment so the adhesive grabs better.

[TwinFin]

Adding to Larry's post...

The deck lips that my fish boxes rest on are getting a bit chipped up and I want to have them fixed. Has anyone here had theirs repaired? How was it done and what did it cost?

[backman]

OK - they are out

stripped and in my garage. I'm on my way to Home Depot in a couple hr's to buy Reflexitix

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc%2fsearchResults.jsp&[email protected]@@@[email protected]@@@&BV_EngineID=cceeaddkdilegekcgelceffdfgidgkk.0&MID=9876

and the tape.

Will multiple layers on the bottom help at all? There's more space at the bottom due to the slightly angled shape and I'm thinking a double layer at the bottom section and the engine room end can't hurt.

I'm also toying with someone's (Chris's??) very old suggestion to grind down the drainhole corner to allow better gutter drainage.

[CClassic28]

Larry,

I do believe any additional insulation will help, even if it is only the bottom. Also, your gutters will drain more effectively if you belt sand about 6-8" from the corner of the box, tapered from about 1/2 to 0. Also, a little Frost King EPDM insulation on the underside of the hinged hatch will eliminate cold air escaping and water from the deck infiltrating, also adding to the insulation value.

If you do install that weatherstrip just be careful that when you drain the box with the pump to open the lid, as it creates a strong vacuum if closed, which can't be good for those mascerators.

Chris

[backman]

Did one/need help on the gasket Chris

Here's how one looks finished up w/ 16" X 25' of Reflectix insulation:
.

I started in the middle of one long side and did one full wrap with some overlap which you can see on the left which I taped down. The 16" wide roll is just a hair short of completely covering the deeper inboard side of the fishbox.

I then ran a piece down the bottom and cut thin strips to overlap the various gaps:


I had previously followed Chri's advice and beveled the corner by the drain:
.

I need advice Chris as to where in the gutter i should lay the weatherstripping to keep water out of the bilge:


across the full width of the gutter or on either the inside or outside edge.

[Petty Cash]

It might be a good idea to use that silver tape that they use on ductwork to wrap around the top,right below the lip, because when I pull my boxes out they always catch up top and pull some of the insulation off. Looks nice maybe I'll redo mine. I used that 3-m spray when I repaired them this summer and it worked well.

[CClassic28]

Larry,

On my 01, I had 1/2" +/- wide flange on the top edge of the gutter that I installed the EPDM flat tape weatherstrip to. When the box was set in place, the underside of the box flange would bottom out on the weatherstrip & lower channel of the gutter flange on the deck.

BTW, it took a few weeks for everything to "settle in" for the hatches to close perfectly. When the weatherstrip was first installed the latch side of the deck hatch was slightly raised above the deck (less than 1/8") which went away in less than 2 weeks after the weatherstrip took some compression.

Your insulation job looks nice, good luck with the rest.

Chris

[backman]

Thanks guys - followed the advice

very laborious 6" by 6" insertion of the silver foil tape along the top of the materal and along the fish box gutter. If I used any longer pieces of foil tape it either turned into a knot or caught on the sides of the fishbox foam on the way down. I couldn't do it with workgloves because the tape stuck and the underside of the fish box rim is sharp!

But its done. Maybe the 2nd one will take less than 4 hr's !

Chris - any chance of a picture of what you did? I think i visualize it but want to make sure I get it right; otherwise I am concerned the weatherstrip will jam the gutter and cause the gutter to drain into the fishbox.

I assume in the attached picture of my (shame, shame) filthy shrink wrapped boat you mean the inner flange and you put the weather strip down the side of it?

[CClassic28]

Larry,

Sorry no pics, but I am talking about the top edge of the inner flange. Also, just a note, your box looks like mine, the deck, flange & gutter look like mine did all except for the drain. I had a 1/2" nylon thru hull flush mounted into the bottom of the gutter rather than what looks like a hole drilled in the rear vertical face of yours. If in fact that is the only diiference and all measurements & dimensions are the same the weatherstrip will work well.


Chris

[CClassic28]

Gasketing complete??

Larry,

Have you had a chance to move foward on your insulation/gasketing? Just curious if it all worked out as planned.

Chris

[backman]

Insulation done/gasketing is waiting

The fish boxes are insulated and taped in my semi warm garage; its 11.3 by my thermometer right now and I'm no going near the gasketing till we see a 40 degree weekend. I have the EPDM tape; understand what has to be done; just a matter of being patient. I'm really considering ripping out the reinforced hose and going with something thinner and more flexible as part of the retrofit.

The other low end solution I have been considering is to remove the darned macerator pumps and hoses; glass up the drain hole in the box and in the hull and rig one of the macerators as a drop pump to manually vacuum out water when needed. It sounds dumb till you think about the P.I.A. the hose/pump combination causes versus the few times you really need to pump more than a gallon of water out of either of the boxes. No wires and switches to corrode; no hose ripping against the fuel filter; no risk of water inflitrating the exhaust holes; no frozen or jammed macerators to rebuild.

[CClassic28]

I had changed the hoses to the white waste hose which does bend & flex a bit more, made that box removal/movement easier and the hose is strong enough that it does not kink. The only tough part is that it does not come off of the barbed fittings easily (without heat) so removing/ repairing is more difficult.

Chris

[CClassic28]

Too Cold!

Nice weather!! Is Buzzards Bay frozen? If this keeps up I'll be picking my boat up in June!!

Chris