Fridge

[Ru88ell]

As I spend a lot of time aboard I was looking at the best way to keep perishables and drink in the manner you'd want them. I've had any number of cool boxes/bags in the past and been disappointed - so wanted something better.

I've spent many hours pondering how I could convert one of the lower cupboards into a fridge, with a chiller unit under the forepeak berth, but gave up due to a) cost, and b) power requirement.

I have found my solution: the Waeco Ice-Box 13 litre. I chilled it with a bottle of ice over Friday night, and on Saturday added 2kg of ice (£1 from leading supermarkets), wine, cider and perishables. Drove to Chichester Harbour and spent a weekend on the boat, back home Sunday night, kept milk in it all day Monday and overnight. The ice is now all water, but still very cold water - it's at least below our fridge temperature still, and I'm sure I'd get all day at fridge temperatures if I wanted to. That would be four days, so I'm more than happy.

It also doubled up as a seat, and a picnic table in the cockpit.

[Ru88ell]

In Morbihan we found it impossible to buy bags of ice, but easy to buy 2lit bottles of frozen water. These worked really well - better in the respect that they keep the inside dry, but they do make packing it a bit more of a challenge. If they were just a quarter of an inch shorter they would lie down instead of being on a diagonal.

We took 2 x 500g of lean minced beef, and 2 chicken breasts - all frozen. The ice we put in on the Saturday morning kept the box cold enough to keep the meat until the Tuesday.

[Ru88ell]

More improvements in technique over Whit weekend.

Chilled inside overnight, then inserted 2 x cycle drink bottles of ice along with the usual milk, butter, drinks, meat. This was at 05:30 on Saturday. Unloaded the car this morning and it's still colder than our fridge in the house, ie, < 5 degrees C

Cycle drink bottles are easier to arrange around what you have in the box.