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space somewhere that can be hijacked to hold
a small reefer, one that’ll fi t in a drawer.SLIDING ICE
Dometic (dometic.com), Isotherm (indel
webastomarine.com), and Vitrifrigo (vitfrigo
.com) build drawer-style refrigerators that
off er roughly 1 cubic foot of volume. Th ey’re
made to slide into the space under a settee
or seat—the fi berglass riser under many
helm and/or companion seats is ideal for
a drawer-style reefer. Like many marine
refrigerators, the best drawer fridges use an
energy-effi cient compressor (Danfoss is the
name to look for); run off 12-volt, 24-volt, or
(with an adapter) 120-volt power; and draw
around four amps at 12 volts. With 1.3 cubic
feet (9.6 gallons) of volume, the Isotherm
Cruise 36, a typical drawer-style refrigera-
tor, will fi t in a cutout that’s 18 inches wide
by 10 inches high, and requires a depth of 28
3/16 inches. However, the depth requirement
can be reduced by 6 inches by moving theInstalling a drawer reefer beaneath a wet bar in a
cockpit is both common and super-convenient.compressor from the back to the side of the
box, or mounting it remotely within a few
feet of the box. Th ese drawer refrigerators
aren’t huge, but they’ll hold enough bottles
of water, 12-ounce cans, and sandwiches to
get you through an arduous aft ernoon of
total relaxation.
Th e trickiest part of installing a drawer
refrigerator is securing it in place; if it’s
going into an existing locker, for instance,
the cutout will never be the right size—too
small is easy, too large means fabricating a
fi ller of some kind. Otherwise, the unit is
self-contained and requires only wiring, at
least in theory. But if the compressor has to
be moved, that makes the install job more
complex. If the drawer space has no ventila-
tion, a hole, or maybe two, will need to be
cut, and fi nished with a louver or clamshell;
and the wiring should be done to ABYC
standards. So bottom line, I recommend
hiring the yard, or a qualifi ed marine electri-
cian, to do the installation. And these things