my sonic came with an icebox in the cabin rather than the frige. Is there anything i can do to convert this into a frige, or do i throw it out and replace it with a frige?

i was looking at these items to convert......

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...geName=MERC_VI

here is a pic of the icebox.........

or does anyone know where i can find a fridge ?

I did the same thing on my 31 SS. Took the ice box out and threw it away. I bought a Norcold fridge at BoatUS for around $600 - best money I spent - it worked great and had alot of room. You will most likely need to cut the very top of the stringer behind the fridge to get it to fit and then glass over it. Sonic ws very helpful in walking me thru the install.

Thanks for the info.........

I pulled the icebox out last night and was thinking about the stringer being in the way becuase the fridge will be about 6 inches longer. I guess i will call Sonic and ask exactly how much i will need to trim.

How many batteries were in your 31 ? People have been telling me that these fridges will kill your batteries in about 4 - 5 hours. Any truth in that ?

Mark

I took off approx 1/2" off the top of the stringer.

As far as batteries go - I always ran with just 2 and never had a problem. We did alot of overnights with the fridge runnig all night and rarely ever killed a battery

I just purchased a ice box from a bayliner and a Peltier 12V air conditioner with fans for a total of $120. It will only use 5.4 amps. I will tell you guys if it works.

I just looked at mine again. couple questions........

Was the sink in the way? The back of the icebox looks as though it was rubbing on fitting on the bottom of the sink.....and with the fridge being 5" longer in depth, i would think that would cause a problem.

Instead of hacking a stinger to make it fit, couldn't you just raise the mounting location of the fridge up 1/2 - 1" to clear the stringer and fill in gap at the bottom when your done?

Hotboat, let me know how you make out!!

12v fridge is hard on batteries. About 4 amps when running. Every time you open the door you add 40 minutes to the run time. Every time you add a 12 pack of warm drinks you add 3 hours of run time. They are great, though, and I will just drop to one battery when it's on so I can always start with the remaining good battery. If you forget and leave both batteries on all day long, the fridge will usually kill them.

Peltier coolers are also not friendly from a power consumption standpoint. Their selling point is simplicity and compactness. They work fine too, but generally their BTu output is around 60% of a freon system that has a comparable power requirement.