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Hi. I have had the unit installed 6 years now, and no - I have not experienced any leakage of the couplings. It cools as well now as the day I installed it.

That is correct. The lines are pre-charged with freon, and when you connect them, it opens up so the freon can flow through. I do not know if they can be disconnected and reconnected without losing the charge, I hope to have no reason to disconnect them for many years. This is not the cheapest upgrade ($800 - $1000), but it is just a delight to have all that box space for food, and not having to shuffle around mostly ice bags which is constantly melting. It makes a huge difference to provisioning management on a multi-day trip.

No. To defrost, you turn it off for a few hours, let the condenser frost melt off, and then pump/sponge out the water at the bottom. (like your grandparents old fridge from the '50's). LOL.

@@omyoday9593 oh wow 🤦🏽

very nice. great info on the reefing situation.

Hi. See my other video "My O'Day 322" comments section where I review the boat with an extensive narrative.

Yes. Still very happy with the unit and its functionality.

I have owned this O'day 322 for 10 years now. It is just about the perfect boat for me. I have no desire to trade it in on anything else (and I do a lot of new boat deliveries in the 35 to 55 foot range). You would have to spend $130,000 for anything comparable new. I usually single-hand river and bay sailing. Lines come back to the cockpit. Winches are at the helm. Sugar scoop stern makes swimming and boarding from a dingy safer. But it also fits two people great for a two week summer cruise, each with their own cabin. A couple and a child would also be fine. Two couples would be tight for more than a 3 day weekend. It performs very well for its class - a 32 foot cruising boat, if you watch my video on sailing upper Chesapeake Bay you will see it does 6 kts upwind quite easily and more on a reach. Several couples have cruised the Bahamas on O'Day 322's for an entire season at a time. I am 6'1" and I can stand up, it has 6'2" headroom. The forward v-berth starboard side has 7' of length which makes a very comfortable cabin for one. The aft cabin also is luxurious for one. I can't speak to sleeping two in either cabin, but it would be desirable if the second person was shorter than I. The head is quite large for 32' feet and has a usable shower with an overboard floor drain pump. It holds two group 31 batteries under the starboard settee. It has 60 gallons of fresh water tanks. It has a very usable galley with propane stove and oven. I have added refrigeration to the icebox which made it very much more functional for a trip. I added air conditioning (12,000 BTU) which cools the entire boat nicely, even in 95 degree heat with no canvas cover. The dinette seats four for dinner easily. I added a stack-pack to the main recently which really makes handling the main much easier. The wing keel does a remarkable job of preventing leeward drift. The large wing is canted down about 3 degrees, which creates a downward lifting force, which when heeled 15-20 degrees and the keel is off to the side of the boat - it is actually is trying to lift the boat to windward. While it does not suck the boat to windward, it definitely does prevent the boat from drifting to leeward significantly. Many cruising boats do not do as good a job of holding leeward drift to a minimum upwind. For the tiny lateral area of the keel, it does a remarkable job upwind. The boat is also not as tender as you might imagine; once reaching 25 degrees of heel it kind of lock in, and prevents too much more heel. It has 37% ballast ratio, a lot of weight down in that horizontal wing. Also a 4'2" draft which is nice and shallow for Chesapeake Bay or Bahamas or Florida. You will read in forums of the concerns of a weak keel connection, and I will agree it is not the boats strong suit. The small chord keel is held on with only four keel bolts. I have however test drilled the keel sump floor and found it to be 7/8 " thickness with no voids or plywood. Also there has been no leaking of the hull keel joint in 30 years. So I feel confident for coastal cruising. I would not take this boat to Hawaii. The shrouds tie to the hull pan-grid rather too high up the sides of the hull for my taste, and so are not as strong or tight as a true seagoing cruising boat with a bar-tight rig. If you look at 1980's Ericson's their shroud tie-rods come down lower on the sides of the hull deeper into the hull pan-grid. But the 322 shrouds are as good and strong as many coastal cruisers, I don't keep the shrouds too tight as I don't want to pull the sides of the hull inward. The shrouds slack slightly upwind. I see videos of many other brands of boats who's leeward shrouds are slack upwind also. The reality is very few of us are sailing around the world, and this boat is just fine for coastal and bay sailing or jumping to the Bahamas with an eye on the weather. I would personally stick to a 1987 or 1988 boat. Pearson took over production in 1989 after O'Day went bankrupt and there are rumors quality control may have suffered. The entire run was 1987 to 1990, with about 228 boats produced. For $25,000 for a 32' modern design concept (what they used to call Euro design) cruising boat, you could not ask for anything more. I love mine and would not trade it.

Thanks for the feedback. I will be rebuilding the battery box and adding 2 t105 trojans for 220AH. That and the solar I have aboard, i should be fine. How do you think this unit would work as a spill over system? I have the impression you are freezing things next to the evaporator? Thanks again

Hi. Not sure about use for a spill-over fox. The specs say the capacity on this model are 4.4 cubic feet for refer, and 1.1 for freezer. That does not sound like enough capacity for a spillover box. There are bigger capacity units (with greater amperage draw). I can say that it did keep one flat package of chicken and hamburger frozen next to the condenser for several days. @@smaarch1

How did you have air conditioning? I am contemplating installing A/C on O’Day 322, but haven’t found a good spot for the unit yet. And I would only be able to use mine on shore power. The fridge install looks great. My boat came with refrigeration, and I sure like it. My compressor is in the lazzarette. Greg

I just installed the new Blue Seas mini-digital volt meter and amp meter, so I can confirm that it draws 2.5 amps when running at regular speed (not high speed). I won't be able to tell you how frequently it kicks on, until I live with it on a trip.

thanks. if you get around to a follow-up i'd much appreciate it

I calculate mine at 25% so 6hrs in a 24 hour period. Since you are running 2.5amps at 6hrs you are pulling 15amps in a 24hr period... very nicely done. I would also say this can be on the high side as you have a top load box and that is more efficient as well.

Well, on preliminary testing I can tell you it is VERY quiet. Whether I would hear it when laying in the aft berth - maybe - barely. It certainly would not wake someone if they were asleep.