Carver Owners Forum

We are looking to replace the 12 v fridge with a 110v. Has anyone done this? What did you purchase? Trying to avoid major retrofit if possible so looking for something that is close or the same as the current fridge. Has a Norcold N7fxr.
Boat is 1989 - 3297
Also hoping to replace the stove oven combo with a convection microwave and maybe flat top range top or maybe just replace with counter and convection microwave. If you have any experience you care to share on that I'd love to hear it.

Welcome aboard!
We replaced the fridge in our 3697 with a Vertrifrigo. Took some minimal trimming of the teak trim and little trimming of some wood on the backside.
Figure out what your available dimensions are and go shopping.
Or maybe somebody here has replaced theirs and can chime in.

I will also 2nd a vitrifrigo fridge. But I'm finding the model you listed as an absorption fridge used mostly in rv applications. Could you have misread the model# ? it's not in the normal Norcold models I've seen listed on boats. Are you just trying to save money and install a small residential type fridge instead?

Bis2sweet wrote:Source of the post We are looking to replace the 12 v fridge with a 110v

Welcome to the forum.....
Something to consider......If you are going to replace your marine appliance with a residential type my advice would be to get the model you choose checked by a marine electrician to be sure it is grounded/wired properly for use on a boat.

g36,
We just purchased this boat so there is a possibility that the fridge has been replaced before. I will look back at the records and see it I can find anything on that. We live in North Dakota so marine products are hard to come by. I would suspect that an RV fridge may have been the only option they could find.
Not exactly looking to save money but we wanted something that doesn't run strictly off the battery? This was the recommendation of the person who have done the maintenance for the last couple of decades.
We are learning so I do appreciate the recommendations.

If thats whats on there then its pretty certain thats its been replaced. The absorption type fridges which also run on lp gas are usually on campers that's what the model was indicating. I have one in my rv just different model than what you have shared. For my boat heres the fridge I have and it does great, nice hard ice cream in the middle of Tennessee summer too. Marine fridges will be more costly. It is a 12vdc /120vac fridge if you don't want dc only. May can shop around for pricing or if wrong deminsions but manufacturer has a very good warranty. Youll find other options also ac/dc. https://defender.com/en_us/vitrifrigo-s ... 00ibd4-f-2.
I know its something that works but not not trying to sell you on it,you could do 120v fridge and a inverter and good battery bank depends how how long you out and charging capabilities but this is another whole subject. I have houseboat friends that do this since they have residential fridges on their boats. Works for them.

Depends on how you want to use the fridge. I had a couple 12vdc/120vac fridges over the years and they worked fine.

At one point the 12vdc/120vac fridge failed and I was hesitant replacing it with another at nearly $2k, so I put a smaller $50 apartment fridge in that was only 120vac. It was about the same size at the old boat fridge.

We never did stuff the old fridge with food, mostly just drinks and some weekend food. I kept the freezer full of the
"ice packs" and when we left the dock for extended periods of time (but not an overnighter) that kept the fridge portion plenty cold for hours and hours. Essentially used it as a cooler that you could "recharge" when back on shore power. Intended that to be a short-term thing, but worked so well for us I think I had that for three years.

Don't do an adsorption-type RV fridge, but you could use an AC/DC RV fridge without issue.

km1125,
Thanks for the helpful information. Since this type of boat experience is new to us I don't know what to expect as far as time we will be out. We are hoping to do at least a few over nights out of the marina but there is still a generator or toss things in a cooler.
I guess the previous owner purchased a mini fridge to replace the current one and never got around to it but I think there is a bit of retrofitting needed to make it work so if it isn't a permanent solution I'm not sure I want to go to the extra work only to buy a different one later. It's good to know it can be done though since I am quickly learning there is no end to the ways to spend money on a boat!

If you are planning on multi-day stays away from the dock you probably should consider the benefits of a 12VDC unit, and preferably a combo 110VAC/12VDC model. Running the generator to keep a 110VAC (only) unit operating will get old (noise) and costly (diesel/gas, wear and tear, more filter/oil replacements, etc.) For us, the noise of a generator running is enough of a reason for a 12VDC capable model. Of course that brings to question your house battery capacity, but that's a whole other discussion!

Whether it's a refrigerator or any other upgrade/replacement, don't rush anything...make sure you think about how you plan use the boat and proceed accordingly. An inexpensive 110VAC only model may save some money in the short term, but may prove to be a lot more expensive in the long run, and not just from a financial standpoint.

Good luck and keep us posted!
Kyle