Refrigeration A25

[kerrye]

Can’t address the other issues but ours weighs 62lbs empty and my wife and I didn’t have any trouble getting it into the boat. If I were you I’d hook that Engel to a battery at your house and measure it’s energy consumption. I was astonished at how little power ours used

[DesertAlbin736]

I think we're just going to go with regular ice coolers. I've upgraded/replaced my old West Marine branded (by Igloo) 50 qt Ultra Cold that I've had for years with a new 54 qt Igloo Marine Elite cooler. The old cooler was OK if getting a bit funky. I had replaced broken plastic hinges and front latch with pieces of thick leather, added weather stripping around the top edge, but the lid had gotten warped over the years & even with weather stripping added would not completely seal on one end.

(see WM video below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ2n2NBTgR8

As a secondary cooler I picked up a 26 qt Ozark Trail High Performance/ Yeti clone from Wal*Mart, advertised as being a "4.5 day" cooler. The idea being fill the Ozark all the with extra ice, preferably block ice when available & it leave closed except when taking some ice from that cooler to add to the larger Igloo cooler. The Ozark cooler may also end up doubling as a step for climbing down into the cockpit, since with the stock style canvas enclosure we have to enter via the aft cabin top.

That and minimizing the amount of food needing refrigeration down to shopping for fresh meats & fish every few days & ice for beer & drinks. Otherwise going all "Lin & Larry Pardey"/back packer minimalist. For example, Ova Easy dried eggs, freeze dried hash browns & pre-cooked shelf stored bacon for breakfasts, heat & eat rice/quinoa packets and rice/millet ramen (not the cheap Top Ramen stuff), baked beans, instant mashed potatoes for sides, stocking canned chili, tuna, salmon, soups for lunches, etc. Instead of fresh milk on cereal we'll use quart size cartons of Almond milk that can be stored at room temperature until opened. Also, with the cold water environment of the Pacific NW we can store some beer & pop under the floor panel of the port side seat locker right up against the bottom of the boat to slightly pre-chill.

ozark cooler.jpeg

igloo.jpeg

[Jay Knoll]

Good luck on finding block ice, maybe it is more available out west but on a recent trip on the east coast of fl/ga we NEVER found block ice anywhere

[DesertAlbin736]

We have on occasion found block ice in BC & Pacific NW. Of course we have to take what we can get. We keep a 6 point ice chipper on the boat to chip bits off ice blocks for drinks.

icechipper.jpg

[kerrye]

I can report that in upstate NY summer weather a 100 watt panel and two golf cart batteries are adequate to power the 60l Unique frig/freezer with no additional source of charging