Rebuilding a Boat Icebox

The "ice box" on a boat is usually a temperature-regulated, built-in, stainless- or aluminum-lined, plywood-walled box that's surrounded by a heat-exchange system of some sort. A modular unit, it's not a structural component of the vessel. Its panels are usually held in place by a lightweight frame and backed by wood for stiffness against the vessel's motion in the water and efficiency in heat exchange.

Things You'll Need

  • Alternate cold storage
  • Fastener removal tools
  • Measuring tape
  • Marine plywood
  • Circular saw
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Instructions

    • 1

      Remove the contents of the ice box to a suitable alternate, cold-storage space.

    • 2

      Remove the fasteners that secure the trim strips between the interior metal panels of the ice box's overhead. Remove the metal strips from the box. Retain these fasteners and any others removed in the course of rebuilding the ice box.

    • 3

      Remove the fasteners that hold one of the metal interior panels of the overhead to the support frame surrounding the ice box. Remove the panel from the ice box.

    • 4

      Measure the length and width of the back of the metal panel, using a measuring tape, from inside the lip on one side to the inside of the lip on the opposing side -- the edges of the panel are bent to form a lip all the way around around the existing wooden overhead panel.

    • 5

      Transfer these dimensions to a piece of new marine plywood of the same thickness as the piece of plywood you are replacing and to a new sheet of insulation.

    • 6

      Cut the marine plywood to size using a circular saw.

    • 7

      Remove the fasteners from the metal panel that secured the panel to the old insulation and plywood and use them to secure the new insulation -- backed by the plywood panel -- into place inside the lip of the metal panel.

    • 8

      Replace the metal panel and its revamped backing into the ice box enclosure in the position from which the original panel was removed. Secure the panel to the frame surrounding that position with the screws used to originally secure the panel.

    • 9

      Remove another overhead panel and repeat the process until all of the overhead panels have new insulation, backed by new plywood. Remove and replace the back wall panels of the icebox, one at a time, from the top-left to the bottom-right. Remove and replace the side panels in the same manner.

    • 10

      Replace the strips over the edges of the panels and secure with the original fasteners.