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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Ice

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PamC
Navigator

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171 Posts

Initially Posted - 09/13/2005 : 13:06:47

As I mentioned in another post we are headed out on our first 2 week excursion to the San Juan islands. Here's my question. Has anyone found a good ice solution? I normally freeze water in gallon containers for use in my coolers and throw in a bag or two of ice. That works fine for a weekend, but on this trip once my gallons thaw I stuck with the ice run. I will be taking a 5-day Coleman for the stuff that really has to stay cold (meat & dairy), my super-insulated soft-sided cooler for the stuff that keeps longer cool (produce), and the built-in icebox with fortified insulation will be used to store/chill beverages.

Has anybody had any good experience with any of the blue ice products? I don't expect anything to work for two weeks, or even one. But the fewer trips to haul ice the better

Pam
S/V "My Prozac"
1980 C25 SR/SK #1718

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 09/13/2005 : 13:23:49

There is no good solution. I use the built-in cooler to store dry foods. Its worthless as a cooler. I have a Igloo 5-day cooler that is marginal. I put 2 10 lb blocks of ice in there plus a 10 lb bag of cubes. Thats a lot of ice! Nearly 1/2 full of ice. The most important thing about keeping ice is to drain the water frequently, the manual for the cooler says "up to 5 times per day". I drained the water into my solar shower and then let the sun heat it. Doing this I was able to keep the ice for about 4 or 5 days. A good thing about this system was to "top it up" with fresh cubes every couple of days. The 10 lb blocks lasted a long time this way.

Thermo electric coolers draw about 5 amps and draw it all the time day and night. Our puny electrical systems can't keep up with this for long.

I'd like to build a small AC refridgerator into my hanging closet (across from the head) and plug it into my inverter, but even then I'd only be able to use it day-sailing or a single overnight and unplug it for long cruises.

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At Ease
Admiral

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672 Posts

Response Posted - 09/13/2005 : 13:45:16

Hate to disagree, but today I was looking at a 50 qt "Max Cold" from Rubermaid to help my smaller "Extreme" cooler from Coleman...both advertise keeping ice five days in 90* heat. I know from experience, the Coleman does just that. Anyway, the directions for both coolers say DO NOT drain the cold water...from the instruction pamphlet: "Recently melted ice water keeps food and drinks cold. Melted ice water preserves ice better than empty air space."

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existentialsailor
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1180 Posts

Response Posted - 09/13/2005 : 14:02:58

I bought one of those Igloo ultratherms and was disappointed. My 25 year old coleman keeps things colder much longer. The igloo is only used to transport cold stuff up to the boat.
One thing I did find useful this summer was the Nalgene 48 oz. collapsable "Cantenes". Fill them, freeze them and then put them in the cooler. Nice clean cold water to drink and they take up less space as you use the water. Got them at Campmor.
http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?memberId=12500226&productId=13800

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Sloop Smitten
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USA
1181 Posts

Response Posted - 09/13/2005 : 14:14:53

The "Extreme Coolers" advertise five days but only if you fill the cooler something like 75% full of ice. Freeze everything you can first. I used some dry ice in our food cooler the last time we used it and it lasted for about 3 days and kept everything real cold for that time period. You probably will be looking to replenish your ice supply at least every three days based on my experience. How cold is the water around the San Juan's? You might be able to take advantage of some cooling by placing drinks in a net bag and immersing them in the drink.

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PamC
Navigator

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171 Posts

Response Posted - 09/13/2005 : 14:28:00

Sounds like ice blocks it is. I agree about the Coleman Extreme. I bought one when they first came out, 30 something qt size. It has no drain and the lid actually clamps shut. I've used it to keep the ice to feed other coolers for 5 days. I subsequently got a 50 something qt coleman extreme a year later (can't have too much of a good thing!). It has a drain, wheels, molded in drink holders - but the lid doesn't clamp shut and it doesn't keep as long. I haven't decided which one gets to go on this trip yet. The larger one may win out because of capacity and the convenience of draining. I tend to settle in the middle of the draining issue. I think the water does keep things cooler to a point. And that point is usually when I get tired of swimming around to find the limes. I figure I can pull the starboard settee cushion and board and wheel that drain spigot right up the the filler hole on my water tank. I notice nobody has anything to say about non-water ice products? I will freeze meats before packing. Oh, and grapes. They make good ice cubes for white wine!

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Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 09/13/2005 : 16:46:29

dry ice in the extreme to keep your stash of ice cold, use ice as needed, or dry ice everywhere.

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stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

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1608 Posts

Response Posted - 09/13/2005 : 22:28:07

We cruised for two weeks in hot conditions at the lake. We used the built-in with dry ice so there were no water drainage issues. We cut a small inexpensive styrofoam cooler to fit inside the built-in ice box, and filled the modified styrofoam cooler with about 5LBS of dry ice.($1 per LB). We left the lid on the styrofoam cooler loose so the effects of the dry ice could get at the built-in ice box at a somewhat controlled rate.
We filled up the dead air space with balled up newspaper. The built-in was then a freezer and everything in it stayed frozen more solid than things do at home in the freezer.
The dry ice lasted 9 days. We used the dry ice to refreeze water bottles and jugs that kept the 6 day Coleman extreme cooler cold.
We used the extreme cooler for the two weeks with a couple of frozen one litre jugs and a bag of cube ice. We replaced the cube ice twice and that was mostly because cocktail hour comes early and often when I'm on holidays.
We used the 'freezer' for long term storage and didn't open it up more than once a day. We used the cooler for frequently accessed stuff. We kept as much melted water in the cooler as was manageable. We used lots of ziplock bags.
We'll definitely use this system again.

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Ben - FL
Admiral

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880 Posts

Response Posted - 09/14/2005 : 03:50:27

When I did my week long trip to Bimini we suffered the same fate of restocking the ice chest. I have since decided that the next long trip will be with nonperishable food items. I have mixed dry milk (w/1% fat) and used it for cooking and eating cereal and it was not bad at all. On conoe camping trips we used to freeze our beer as space was really at a premium!.

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ronrryan
Admiral

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USA
561 Posts

Response Posted - 09/14/2005 : 21:19:54

When we had space for two coolers, one rather large one and one medium , we always used to get 25 lb block ice and almost fill the larger of the two with the blocks, at leasdt two and sometimes part of a third. All the perishable stuff we could freeze we woyld pack around the blocks. This was religously opened rarely, like twice a day or three times, for mealmaking. This was at a time before the new longhold coolers. As the ice diminished we had a blanket cut from one of the "space blankets" that was placed on top of all, followed the ice et al down. The second cooler was for cubes as available, for drinks. Occasionally when this ran out, in unreplenishable, I would chip a little for the rum at dinnertime or sundowner. We always had a pretty decent little chunk of ice to dump out after two weeks of this, and once went 16 days. Fair winds, ron Orion srsk #2343 In SW FL

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lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts

Response Posted - 09/15/2005 : 08:37:11

I took a big Coleman Extreme (100 quart size) to the San Juans and it kept ice for 5 days as advertised. Fortunately the climate is relatively mild up there, daytime highs in the low 70's. There is no viable way to equip a C-25 with refridgeration that I know of, unless you want to bring a small Honda generator to power it and are willing to run the generator many hours each day. Fridge systems draw too much electrical power for a small boat to supply. Maybe a C-25 inboard diesel could do it, but again you would have to run the engine many hours every day, and that little 2-banger Universal in the C-25 is LOUD and vibrates the whole boat like a massage chair.

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