Cape Cutter 19 Association Forum

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.

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.

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.