Cockpit Fridge Front Discoloration

Michael T

Have you ever noticed the "white" front of many cockpit fridges has started to turn pink. I have been told that was due to UVA/UVB exposure changing the plastic's color. The change can really be noticeable in boats that have the fridge and ice-maker side-by-side as the ice maker front seems to remain white making the fridge front discoloration even more obvious. I helped a guy re-paint his fridge front last summer. Simple enough - plastic drop sheets, tape and a can of UVA/UVB stabilized spray paint made for plastics. I noticed last year that from noon on the sunlight hits my cockpit fridge and ice-maker dead on. So I got a couple of cans of Coke and a white towel (white reflects heat) and covered them. I draped the towel down from the refreshment counter and put the cans of coke on the edge of the towel to hold it in place. I put the towel up in the afternoon and when we are away. I soon noticed that the fridge cycled less often as I guess the shade kept it cooler. I left enough room between the bottom of the towel to let air flow around the fridge and ice-maker and to not block the air intake of the ice maker. The Admiral noticed my experiments and sewed two white canvas bags to hold some shot-filled soft dive weights we use for scuba (see below if interested). It works really well and now looks cool too. Yes, I DO have way too much time on my hands. BUT to put my ocdness in perspective, a guy at a marina showed me a 12v very low amp fan that he had installed in the cabinet behind his fridge and ice-maker. It was wired to the switch for the fridge and ran whenever the fridge was turned on. Now that's true ocd!

Dream_Inn

Waaaaayyyy too much time MT.  Cool experiment.  I thought you were going somewhere with using aerospace protectant or something on your fridge door.  I really like using my black (leather type) canvas in place of isinglass in the summer.  It keeps all the UV out (yeah, it's black, but stays a lot cleaner than white & doesn't matter when I'm not there.

MarkB

Perhaps another example where wrap could be used to renew a surface.

Michael T

@DI and @ MB....great ideas guys!

Cableguy Greg

I wouldn't mind changing the panel to stainless or something that looks like stainless. Dometic clearly makes different inserts, but they are nowhere to be found on their site.

Dream_Inn

Greg, just find an old SS dishwasher that someone is junking and cut to size.

Handymans342

My old fridge front was made of some wood or cardboard material. So I got a piece of scrap formica from the local cabinet shop free and used black automotive trim spray paint. Still looks like new.