Refrigerator or Ice Maker?

[The Black Widow]

Has anyone added an ice maker or refrigerator to their boat setup? We are trying to come up with a solution to keep our drinks cold without having to buy ice every day for our longer trips.

We are obviously concerned about the battery draw as well as if they would even stay cold in the 100-110 degree temps we are usually in.

[Duncan]

thermoelectric coolers will drain your battery in just a few hours.

A compressor cooler is a little more battery friendly. Here is a nice article on portable compressor coolers
http://www.adventureparents.com/blog...ruck-or-camper

We thought about a compressor cooler but ice is so much cheaper and easier. And we are never so remote as to be away from a gas station selling ice.

[Ruger761]

They are not cheap but are one of best ice chests out there.

http://www.yeticoolers.com/categories/Tundra-Series/

[Bruizza]

If you have access to a deep freeze like on a houseboating trip these are the absolute best things we have found and they are like $2 a piece at the grocery store. We take them to lake powell and it makes the ice last WAY LONGER!! We throw them in teh deep freeze then line the bottom of the boat coolers with them and put the ice and drinks in the boat cooler. The next day swap out the ones in the deep freeze for the ones in the boat cooler. If you don't have a way to refreeze them though they are probably not the answer to your predicament.

http://www.amazon.com/Lifoam-4943-Gl...=freezer+packs

[Joeprunc]

What cooler are you keeping your drinks in? The boat cooler or an external cooler?

A boat cooler is not insulated very well at all and will always result in melting 100% of your ice quickly.

If its an external cooler I would recommend doing one block of ice with a 10 or 20 lbs bag. The block of ice should last your whole trip, and save you from replacing 100% of the other ice each day. If its a long trip and you have access to a freezer over night, fill a Tupperware with water and freeze (it will probably take 24 hours to freeze).

[The Black Widow]

What we usually do is freeze a lot of the large water bottles before the trip. We line the bottom of the food cooler with those and then a layer on top. We are usually set for about 4 days on that and our food stays cold for the whole trip.

Our drinks we put in a external cooler but we go through them so fast that we end up melting the ice when we put in the new drinks. Most of the time we make at least 1 trip a day to the gas station but it would be great to have a better solution in case we are far up river and don't want to go all the way back.

I found an ice maker that makes 26lbs a day and only draws about 130w but no idea how well that will work or if its even worth the trouble.

[Ruger761]

Friend of mine has one of the 30# portable ice makers for his 5th wheel. Says it works really good. Course its 120volt not 12v.