Eskies and ice

[Andrew]

Happy festive season, and time for a few coldies

Just wondering what types of day cooler or serious ice box best suits/fits an I563? (and stowage for it)

I've used 2 blue cooler type esky's (willow 25) for short trips or a larger sized Esky (40?L) for more food/water. Both have thin 12mm walls and ice lasts about 2 days max. They fit on the forecabin floor ok.

Thinking about upgrading to a proper icebox esky with thick refrigeration foam walls and gasket top. Ice in these lasts far longer, 5 or 6 days. The internal height inside esky for me need to be at least 31cm, so that 30cm plastic water-ice bottles can stand upright.

Measuring of the forecabin space (floor is 520mm wide, bunk top about 405mm high, about 400mm aft of loo to bulkhead)
The height in the cockpit storage lockers isnt that much either ~38cm, just small or low eskys would fit in there.

Anyone used the "ice buckets" set into the bunk tops? they do sit in huge foam floatation tanks, but the lids are not insulated and are unsealed.

[Andrew]

Found an ice box, and it fits aboard ok in the forepeak. But has leg room to walk past it when needed. Small enough to slide out into cabin when forepeak access needed

Its a Dometic "Cool Ice" 33 litre. Very solid and xmas special $119 at Tent world.

It has 35mm refrigeration foam sandwich between rotomoulded plastic. Should keep ice going 3 days, maybe 4 with luck.

[Ozzie]

Looks the bee’s knees Andrew. My friend had one on his Court 750 and loved it. The sandwich foam/plastic is very efficient. My Esky is nearly 40 years old I must get a new one.

Anybody ever tried the techni ice ice packs ??

https://www.dicksmith.com.au/da/buy/tec ... group+%231

[Andrew]

Have started googling ice packs. This subject is as daunting as the ice-box/esky one. Already have a couple of Willow cooler blue bricks (about 1/3 litre?) (and some very small lunch box ones). These "ice" packs don't contain pure water, but probably salty-secret chemical concoctions that improve the performance over water ice to varying degrees. Will be watching this space..

The reviews on the Dometic cool ice 33L are very positive. A 5kg bad of crushed ice lasted a family all weekend with worst-case useage (eg opening closing it allot to get drinks out etc). best case management methods, it should get 4 or more days ice-span. Here's heaps of 5-star reviews https://www.snowys.com.au/cool-ice-icebox-wci-33

Just started my own "Static ice test" this morning. Just middle-way ice management like usual (frozen water ice containers from freezer), no cold food added. It's just DIY block ice (in 2L and 1L plastic drink bottles), plus 2 small blue bricks and a medical gel pack. The containers stand upright in there, plenty of internal height. Also realised that iceboxes have to fit through the hatch easily, this one is just right size to get inside the Investigator's cabin main hatch with room to spare. (i was looking at a "Cool ice 55L" with 45mm thick foam in sides and a 6 day ice span,, but it might be hard to get through companionway, or not fit through at all, even though it could just fit in the forepeak floor)

Experimenting with making 2L block ice in old ice cream containers now in chest freezer (if this works a couple might sit at the bottom of ice box). Apparently block ice lasts way better than crushed bag ice.

Utubed couple of 4WD comparisons of Icebox/esky vs "12V fridge box". The esky is far better if you don't go far from civilization for less than a week (and can buy/make more ice somewhere) that would cover 99.9% of Investigator 563 outings. The 12v fridge outlay is 5-10x more and should have a separate deep cyle battery system, so that the other battery is reserved for important functions (like VHF radio, starting car in 4WD) there's not much change out of $2,000 to go 12V fridge (on a boat would need large solar PV capacity or petrol gen set too). Even on coastal cruising expeditions there would be ice at docksides/tackle shops all along the way. Icebox/esky are easily portable, the 12V fridges are heavy and so is the battery, power cable needed (ie not portable suits fixed installation)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba1WbcALWXo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d-5q7QOQaM

[Ozzie]

Agree totally Andrew, our experience with the motorhome now and our Kombi in the 90s is that an esky is best for short times away from services. I see setups with electric refrigeration systems that require lots of big heavy batteries and bulky and not really light solar panels. We had/have 3way fridges that run on lpg, which is already installed in the vehicle for cooking anyway in both vehicles and they were great for longer periods off the grid. In fact the gas operation of the Kombi fridge, and we are talking 1976 technology here, was better than the 240v operation (colder)

Our current fridge is supposed to run for 2 weeks at a moderate setting on one 9kg bottle if nothing else is using the supply. Off grid we cook outside with a butane explodo stove and only use the gas for our fridge and nighttime heating of hot water to shower. We’ve used it up to a week at a time and still has plenty of gas leftover .

We take our old esky full of ice and drinks to start the week and after it melts and the fridge is getting empty move the leftovers into the fridge. Could not justify the cost of big solar gear and an extra HD battery at that rate. Also nowhere to carry big panels, unless you bolt ‘em on the roof ….which means you have to park in the sun. No contest for our level of use.

Obviously gas fridges are rare on boats but efficient esky style coolers are the go.

Salt added to your ice block is a performance enhancer, see this thread.

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showth ... making-ice

But. If you freeze plain water In bottles (allowing air for expansion) you can drink it afterwards. Handy on boats and off grid camping. Salt water, not so.

Sheez, gotta get to sleep Santa will be here in 20 minutes

[Andrew]

Merry Xmas day,

Seems like the salt water can form a very cold slurry , which is well below zero deg C , ideal for fish catch purposes.

Perhaps salty block ice at bottom level? It would melt below zero deg C, bringing box temp down lower. But it could shorten cold hours?

Probably add salty block ice to bottom of esky, frozen fresh bottles, then cube ice, a thermal mat, then food stuff. Keeping food dry seems to be a challenge, perhaps sealed containers above the ice layers. Cut a foam hike mat for an internal lid.

[Ozzie]

Just re-reading this thread. Has anybody attempted to insulate their internal compartments in the Investigator to use as a built in icebox? I’ve always thought the very front one would be a candidate. I have my tools battery and water container there so in not able to experiment. The v berth compartments might also work. Drainage would be problematic I guess. Done in larger yachts .

Just noticed your portable light bulb in the above photo Andrew. Works a treat

[Andrew]

Can't answer the first question ozzie, (however Teria has some tubs built in under the bunks, perhaps leaving frozen containers in these would mean cold drinking water for a couple days? as the tubs are surrounded by foam filled bunk bouyancy tanks)

The the bulb light is very handy, even on a dark gloomy rain day. It cost $2 at kmart, bit cheaper than wiring up a dedicated forecabin light. (Main 12v deecycle battery is out of boat in storage trickle charging (with 24hr timer, 10 hrs day)