On days like this
PASSEPARTOUT
Christopher & Nirit Slaney
Mon 16 Apr 2012 23:01
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Nanny Cay, BVI
On days like this I have to wonder, who would do
something so stupid as buying a yacht? Or perhaps that should be, but a 'boat'
as I've seen a t-shirt spelling out B.O.A.T. as standing for, "Break Out Another
Thousand." What has put me in this frame of mind? Our fridge-freezer is kaput.
The fridge as fitted by the first owner of Passepartout was a 230 volt unit
which ran either off the generator, or shore power, or from the 12 volt battery
bank via an inverter. (OK, I'll try to keep the technical stuff to a minimum.)
The whole system was electronically controlled by the inverter, a
12/230 volt relay in the inverter which probably costs €10 died,
the system manufacturer has long gone out of business, I wasted hundreds of
dollars trying to get it fixed locally before finally admitting we have to
install a complete new unit.
A friend recommended a US company called Sea-Frost which
runs efficiently off 12 volts and does not require too much new plumbing.
Now, when was the last time you bought a fridge-freezer for your kitchen?
I've bought a couple in recent years and the standard size seem to
cost around $600-$1000 from a 'big box' retailer. So how much do you think
a new compressor, cold plates, thermostat and piping costs for a unit
on a yacht? $2,200 and this is assuming you already have the actual fridge
and freezer compartments built in to the galley. This cost does not include
shipping (more on this soon) or installation, two items which can add
another $1,300 to the bill.
The people at Sea-Frost were extremely helpful and
patient. We emailed each other back and forth with photos of the existing set
up, diagrams and measurements before we were all certain about
which exact components were needed. The package left Portsmouth NH and I anxiously tracked
it on the Fedex website as it sat in Memphis TN and then Carolina PR until
a plane finally delivered it to St Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. This was
last Friday and I imagined we would sail to St Thomas, hop the bus to the
airport and leave with our package. But all we left with was a sheaf of
documents which I had to take around to the Excise Dept. and US Customs when
they reopened forty eight hours later and hope I wouldn't have to part with a
few hundred dollars more. This morning, Monday, I was in the queue at the
Customs office bright and early. Getting the package released didn't cost me a
cent, they just wanted to verify that the contents had all originated in the
United States. So far, so good by I really needed those forty eight hours in
order to crack on with the installation. My friend Miles Poor has offered
to help me with tools and expertise so in a few hours we begin. Moshe Ben Dor
has also been an invaluable source of information on the innards of
refrigeration systems and will no doubt be needed on a video conference before
the job is over.
Tomorrow, I'll let you know how it
develops.
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