Dry Ice, How Much?

[Cruisingdad]

Travelling with dry ice on a boat or camping is safe in my opinion. You are talking about very small amounts of C02. The differences between a boat and a mine which has no ventillation, and a lake releasing 100 million cubic meters of gas are too far off base to even discuss.

Captains - if you do not feel safe carrying dry ice, fine. It is your boat. Do what you want and what makes you feel comfortable. But I have done it, I have done it with my kids, my parents have done it, and all kinds of other people have done it. I feel it is safe and pay no more attention to it than I would someone relasing methane in the head (hopefully).

- CD

[hellosailor]

W.Star, every boat is different, every icebox is different. Bear in mind that it can take 24 hours for the box to cool down, so you want to load it up with ice (whichever kind) a day or two in advance. If possible, stock it up at least 24 hours in advance and then add more ice before casting off.

I've never heard someone complain "we had too much ice" but I have thrown out spoiled food from not having enough.

Dry ice is great stuff, if you have a small igloo cooler or even a white styrofoam cooler you can always take some out if the box has gotten too cold. Or wrap it in towels or insulation to tone it down. And as has been mentioned--make sure it doesn't ventilate into the cabin, if the cabin is not well vented to being with. Unlike CO2, CO won't just up and kill you in your sleep, it will give you enough discomforts to get you up and out of there--but you still don't need that bother if you can avoid it. And of course, again unlike CO, once you get to fresh air you're out of trouble, there is no CO2 buildup in the blood to block oxygen getting back in.

[Cruisingdad]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

W.Star, every boat is different, every icebox is different. Bear in mind that it can take 24 hours for the box to cool down, so you want to load it up with ice (whichever kind) a day or two in advance. If possible, stock it up at least 24 hours in advance and then add more ice before casting off.

I've never heard someone complain "we had too much ice" but I have thrown out spoiled food from not having enough.

Dry ice is great stuff, if you have a small igloo cooler or even a white styrofoam cooler you can always take some out if the box has gotten too cold. Or wrap it in towels or insulation to tone it down. And as has been mentioned--make sure it doesn't ventilate into the cabin, if the cabin is not well vented to being with. Unlike CO2, CO won't just up and kill you in your sleep, it will give you enough discomforts to get you up and out of there--but you still don't need that bother if you can avoid it. And of course, again unlike CO, once you get to fresh air you're out of trouble, there is no CO2 buildup in the blood to block oxygen getting back in.

Uhh.... Hello... he has already made the trip and reported back - inspite of the Dry Ice!!!!

- CD

[WanderingStar]

Laughing...great reply CD.
HelloSailor, I do appreciate your input. My experience was that I fit three small peices of dry ice under fourteen blocks of wet ice. The three packs of frozen meat went aft near the dry ice. The two and half gallons of milk, four packs of fresh meat, five pounds of cold cuts, six dozen eggs, butter, sour cream, cheese and vegetables were happy at the other end. I added cubes twice because I could.Soda and leftovers too. Four more blocks went in on day 13. Parts of three origal blocks were in the bottom fifteen days after I sailed. I had precooled the 5.5 cu.ft box with cubes.

[TuckerR]

Yea, I don't think the small amount of dry ice will kill anyone. According to this dry ice website, all of your open beverages will become carbonated... be aware of that. The other thing I would recommend is that you do not put anything right next to the dry ice. The dry ice is -109°F. It will freeze anything next to it.