Cold beer please!

Stede · #1 (**permalink**) 10-22-2002

I''m looking to install refrigeration on a 26 ft.sailboat.The boat presently doesn''t have an icebox,so I thought that would be a good place to start :^) My budget is tight, so I thought I would do the project in stages.Does anyone know of a vendor in the states that sells iceboxes that have separate compartments for refrigeration/freezer? I would like to purchase one with around 6 cubit ft.(holds lots of beer!)capacity. My plan is to frame it in my boat with teak plywood,use it as a ice supplied cooler this year, and then install cold plates in it next year.I''m also debating on how to supply power to the beast. Wind or solar? I''ve seen one 6 cubit ft. cold plate system advertised as running on 30 AH per day. This would seem to put it within reach of just using a couple of large flexible solar panels placed on top of my bimini, and a couple of high AH batteries.I trailer my boat so I try to keep in mind what systems are the easiest to install/remove.Any input from someone who''s had some experience with this stuff would be appreciated.Thanks!

joub · #2 (**permalink**) 10-25-2002

Refrigeration for boats is a complicated subject. Suggest you get a copy of Nigel Calder''s "Refrigeration for Pleasure boats". After digesting the material in the book(it will take a couple of reads) you will have a good understanding of what you need for your boat.

Have a cold one for me!

Jim

pirateofcapeann · #3 (**permalink**) 10-29-2002

I strongly recommend you start drinking beer the right way: cellar (bilge) temperature! Trust me! Later, you''ll wish you did!

dhartdallas · #4 (**permalink**) 10-29-2002

Ahoy, pirateofcapeann. I spent 15 years overseas working in the oil patch. I learned to drink beer at ambient from the Scots and and the English. It was common there then (sixties and seventies). It is possible to sail (and live) with out refrigeration and without ice. You get use to it. Heck, back then most flats didn''t even have hot water! In Scotland, I kept a case of Tennants Lager on the back porch. It got plenty cold.

pirateofcapeann · #5 (**permalink**) 10-30-2002

Hi dhartdallas. I found from working on other''s boats that refrigeration was nothing more then a big pain in the #$&%! It''s for those who want to give the perception that they live aboard their boats, when they actually live in houses that float along side of the docks! Microwave ovens fall in that category too. I never wanted (nor could I fit) any items that wouldn''t operate at sea. I suppose we don''t all live in New England where refrigeration simply means putting it in a laundry bag and lowering it over the side a couple of fathom.
And I truly did live aboard my C22. After that, I moved aboard my new boat, a 28 foot Herreshoff "Solitaire", the Jesse Boyce, and lived 9 years aboard her! Both boats year round here in Gloucester Mass! And to top it all off, my average weight is about 300#! (Charlie Brown indeed!) Both my boats were going interests and my Jesse Boyce and I are still cruising New England and winning races!
If it were not for the passing of my daughter''s mother, I''d still be living aboard. She''s 15 now and when she''s off on her own, I''m going to get back aboard and get the heck out of here, perhaps to someplace where I may indeed need to worry about refrigeration!

Stede · #6 (**permalink**) 10-31-2002

Well, it''s good to see some varied opinions on the ole "ice box" dilemma. One thing I''ve learned since beginning boating is that the two subjects that get sailors "back hair up" faster than drinking their last beer is: heads, and refrigeration,...and in that order! The refrigeration thing probably goes back as far as to the first time some aborigine couldn''t understand why his coconut didn''t stay as cool in his dug out canoe,as it did back in the cave.Regardless, this aborigine is determined that there is "two ways to skin a cat!". I''m tired of jamming my stubby little toes on the frigging ice cooler in the middle of my boat sole,and I''m weary of being the " bearer of the ice bag" dinghy dude. I''ve read, study, listened to, and deciphered all I can about refrigeration and have come up with the following scheme. I''m going to remove one of my settee cushions, frame it for a fiberglass ice box - with a drain.This contraption will have no less than 4 inches of insulation, and an installed cold plate system.(I''m convinced this is the best system.)I will then use the ice box with ice on short duration trips, or the holdover plate on longer trips.Ahhh,,you say, "he''s completely mad!" Ha!ha!ha!...ummm..ummm Yes, that may be true mates, but that #@!!*^!($%$!**&^&!! cooler is coming off that floor!

toophat · #7 (**permalink**) 11-05-2002

I have exactly the same problem at the moment. 26ft hunter, sailing in Thailand (hot), need some sort of fridge if I want to be away from marinas more than a few days. See my post at

http://www.sailboatowners.com/forums/pview.tpl?SKU=2002309021642.44&forumabr=ref&fno=8

and some of the replies with it. I am very interested to know of any suggestions / solutions, and improving my knowledge on this subject overall. Anyone have experience using a small, portable (1k ?) generator on board to charge up the batteries every day or two?
Thanks,
Pat