Freezer capacity - Mr Vs Mrs

[KimB]

I built a ~45l freezer and now that I have it, I can't imagine life without it.
It uses less power than our 'off the shelf' fridge, because it has far better insulation.

For the crossing, we loaded up with pre-cooked meals. Cottage pie, lasagne, curry, etc. It was brilliant to be able to produce a delicious home cooked dinner with just a few minutes spent down below. Absolute life saver.

Now that we're in the Caribbean, the freezer is also hugely useful because of the price differences between the islands. We load up with meat, cheese, and frozen veg in the French islands, because the same stuff can be either unavailable or 3x the cost elsewhere.

We almost never eat out (less than once a month) and SWMBO is a devout carnivore, so access to good ingredients is a high priority for us.

Thank you for your full reply, hadn't even considered the difference in food costs between islands! Hubby is intrigued to hear about your home built freezer, would you mind sharing some idea of your power consumption and what type of compressor you used? (frozen curry would be a must have for us too )

 

[Grith]

We have a portable 40 litre waeco/dometic fridge and on our last 9 week cruise also had a 12litre brass monkey unit which we had set to freezer temperatures.
I found this too small to be useable though we did freeze some meat in it and some bait extending our meals selection.
Our next planned big cruise entails 3 months without the ability to resupply and I have decided to use our 40 litre portable fridge in freezer mode and convert our 80 litre built in ice box to a compressor fridge with a retro fit kit. Swapping out frozen ice blocks from the Brass Monkey to the ice box proved non viable.
Despite our chosen craft being a 28 foot trailer sailer we have 840w of hard ( some able to tilt ) solar panels and a further 400w of foldout flexible panels on both our upturned inflatable on the foredeck and on our dodger.
I agree lots of extreme adventures have in the past been carried out without any refrigeration or other modern conveniences at all but I have found some of these more modern inventions have gone a long way towards getting the fairer sex to happily participate in our desired journeys.
Despite our diminutive size we also cook via induction and use a variety of other 240v appliances on our small yacht.

 

[KimB]

We have a portable 40 litre waeco/dometic fridge and on our last 9 week cruise also had a 12litre brass monkey unit which we had set to freezer temperatures.
I found this too small to be useable though we did freeze some meat in it and some bait extending our meals selection.
Our next planned big cruise entails 3 months without the ability to resupply and I have decided to use our 40 litre portable fridge in freezer mode and convert our 80 litre built in ice box to a compressor fridge with a retro fit kit. Swapping out frozen ice blocks from the Brass Monkey to the ice box proved non viable.
Despite our chosen craft being a 28 foot trailer sailer we have 840w of hard ( some able to tilt ) solar panels and a further 400w of foldout flexible panels on both our upturned inflatable on the foredeck and on our dodger.
I agree lots of extreme adventures have in the past been carried out without any refrigeration or other modern conveniences at all but I have found some of these more modern inventions have gone a long way towards getting the fairer sex to happily participate in our desired journeys.
Despite our diminutive size we also cook via induction and use a variety of other 240v appliances on our small yacht. View attachment 172906

We have a portable 40 litre waeco/dometic fridge and on our last 9 week cruise also had a 12litre brass monkey unit which we had set to freezer temperatures.
I found this too small to be useable though we did freeze some meat in it and some bait extending our meals selection.
Our next planned big cruise entails 3 months without the ability to resupply and I have decided to use our 40 litre portable fridge in freezer mode and convert our 80 litre built in ice box to a compressor fridge with a retro fit kit. Swapping out frozen ice blocks from the Brass Monkey to the ice box proved non viable.
Despite our chosen craft being a 28 foot trailer sailer we have 840w of hard ( some able to tilt ) solar panels and a further 400w of foldout flexible panels on both our upturned inflatable on the foredeck and on our dodger.
I agree lots of extreme adventures have in the past been carried out without any refrigeration or other modern conveniences at all but I have found some of these more modern inventions have gone a long way towards getting the fairer sex to happily participate in our desired journeys.
Despite our diminutive size we also cook via induction and use a variety of other 240v appliances on our small yacht. View attachment 172906

Thanks Grith, mighty impressive power you have ! (so to say) Yep, as a member of the fairer sex I agree that a few home comforts go a long way to get us on board. Hope all your planning and doing in preparation for your next big trip goes well.

 

[Sea Change]

Thank you for your full reply, hadn't even considered the difference in food costs between islands! Hubby is intrigued to hear about your home built freezer, would you mind sharing some idea of your power consumption and what type of compressor you used? (frozen curry would be a must have for us too )

The freezer kit is a pretty standard project, I bought mine from Penguin Refrigeration. The kit contains the compressor, the plate, thermostat, and the insulated copper piping which has quick release bayonet fittings. Everything you need except the actual box. I chose an air cooled system, with the compressor blowing the warm air through to the heads, which is well ventilated. You can also spend a bit more and get a water cooled type which is more efficient and doesn't heat up the cabin at all, but installation is a bit more involved and would have required a haul out for us. If we'd been hauling out anyway, I would have considered it.

I converted a locker by building up slabs of 25mm Kingspan/Celotex (any closed cell polyurethane insulation will do). You can use polystyrene but it's only got half the insulation value.
To line the inside, I cut sheets of perspex and used sealant in the corners. I had a go at heating and bending the perspex to reduce joins, but it wasn't really worth it and I had a few failures that way.
The better way would be to use glass/epoxy and gelcoat to create a seamless liner which cannot leak. That's a bigger job though.
The hardest bit for me has been getting the lid to seal. I've got a big slab of Kingspan that just fits in to the top, and then another layer of foam goes over that. It's definitely not completely airtight and it's something I need to upgrade when I get a chance.

The freezer draws about 2.5A and it cycles on about 50% of the time.

Building your own fridge or freezer allows you to make it whatever shape and size you want, and to pack in as much insulation as possible. I've got a minimum of 3" everywhere, and in some places much more than that.

 

[geem]

The freezer kit is a pretty standard project, I bought mine from Penguin Refrigeration. The kit contains the compressor, the plate, thermostat, and the insulated copper piping which has quick release bayonet fittings. Everything you need except the actual box. I chose an air cooled system, with the compressor blowing the warm air through to the heads, which is well ventilated. You can also spend a bit more and get a water cooled type which is more efficient and doesn't heat up the cabin at all, but installation is a bit more involved and would have required a haul out for us. If we'd been hauling out anyway, I would have considered it.

I converted a locker by building up slabs of 25mm Kingspan/Celotex (any closed cell polyurethane insulation will do). You can use polystyrene but it's only got half the insulation value.
To line the inside, I cut sheets of perspex and used sealant in the corners. I had a go at heating and bending the perspex to reduce joins, but it wasn't really worth it and I had a few failures that way.
The better way would be to use glass/epoxy and gelcoat to create a seamless liner which cannot leak. That's a bigger job though.
The hardest bit for me has been getting the lid to seal. I've got a big slab of Kingspan that just fits in to the top, and then another layer of foam goes over that. It's definitely not completely airtight and it's something I need to upgrade when I get a chance.

The freezer draws about 2.5A and it cycles on about 50% of the time.

Building your own fridge or freezer allows you to make it whatever shape and size you want, and to pack in as much insulation as possible. I've got a minimum of 3" everywhere, and in some places much more than that.

I built mine with a Waeco fridge kit. I had a stainless steel tub made to suit the available space. The fridge/freezer is only 100L. The 10 litre freezer section is an eliptical evaporator plate mounted such that we can load it from the top. It has a perspex floor with a foam insulated cover. The lid is another 1" foam sheet. I used kingspan rigid insulation for the tub. We have 6" on the bottom. 4" on the sides and top. The energy consumption is very low. The run time is 20 mins in the hour. With a 45w compressor we only average about 17w

 

[john_morris_uk]

The freezer kit is a pretty standard project, I bought mine from Penguin Refrigeration. The kit contains the compressor, the plate, thermostat, and the insulated copper piping which has quick release bayonet fittings. Everything you need except the actual box. I chose an air cooled system, with the compressor blowing the warm air through to the heads, which is well ventilated. You can also spend a bit more and get a water cooled type which is more efficient and doesn't heat up the cabin at all, but installation is a bit more involved and would have required a haul out for us. If we'd been hauling out anyway, I would have considered it.

I converted a locker by building up slabs of 25mm Kingspan/Celotex (any closed cell polyurethane insulation will do). You can use polystyrene but it's only got half the insulation value.
To line the inside, I cut sheets of perspex and used sealant in the corners. I had a go at heating and bending the perspex to reduce joins, but it wasn't really worth it and I had a few failures that way.
The better way would be to use glass/epoxy and gelcoat to create a seamless liner which cannot leak. That's a bigger job though.
The hardest bit for me has been getting the lid to seal. I've got a big slab of Kingspan that just fits in to the top, and then another layer of foam goes over that. It's definitely not completely airtight and it's something I need to upgrade when I get a chance.

The freezer draws about 2.5A and it cycles on about 50% of the time.

Building your own fridge or freezer allows you to make it whatever shape and size you want, and to pack in as much insulation as possible. I've got a minimum of 3" everywhere, and in some places much more than that.

Very similar to our combined fridge/freezer except I built up the Celotex and then carefully measured and had a stainless liner and top fabricated.

 

[KimB]

The freezer kit is a pretty standard project, I bought mine from Penguin Refrigeration. The kit contains the compressor, the plate, thermostat, and the insulated copper piping which has quick release bayonet fittings. Everything you need except the actual box. I chose an air cooled system, with the compressor blowing the warm air through to the heads, which is well ventilated. You can also spend a bit more and get a water cooled type which is more efficient and doesn't heat up the cabin at all, but installation is a bit more involved and would have required a haul out for us. If we'd been hauling out anyway, I would have considered it.

I converted a locker by building up slabs of 25mm Kingspan/Celotex (any closed cell polyurethane insulation will do). You can use polystyrene but it's only got half the insulation value.
To line the inside, I cut sheets of perspex and used sealant in the corners. I had a go at heating and bending the perspex to reduce joins, but it wasn't really worth it and I had a few failures that way.
The better way would be to use glass/epoxy and gelcoat to create a seamless liner which cannot leak. That's a bigger job though.
The hardest bit for me has been getting the lid to seal. I've got a big slab of Kingspan that just fits in to the top, and then another layer of foam goes over that. It's definitely not completely airtight and it's something I need to upgrade when I get a chance.

The freezer draws about 2.5A and it cycles on about 50% of the time.

Building your own fridge or freezer allows you to make it whatever shape and size you want, and to pack in as much insulation as possible. I've got a minimum of 3" everywhere, and in some places much more than that.

Thanks once again for such a complete answer, could very possibly become a task on hubby's list, I'm off to do some google searching!

 

[KimB]

I built mine with a Waeco fridge kit. I had a stainless steel tub made to suit the available space. The fridge/freezer is only 100L. The 10 litre freezer section is an eliptical evaporator plate mounted such that we can load it from the top. It has a perspex floor with a foam insulated cover. The lid is another 1" foam sheet. I used kingspan rigid insulation for the tub. We have 6" on the bottom. 4" on the sides and top. The energy consumption is very low. The run time is 20 mins in the hour. With a 45w compressor we only average about 17w

Thanks Geem, google research on the cards for me

 

[KimB]

Very similar to our combined fridge/freezer except I built up the Celotex and then carefully measured and had a stainless liner and top fabricated.

Thanks John, all great info

 

[john_morris_uk]

I built mine with a Waeco fridge kit. I had a stainless steel tub made to suit the available space. The fridge/freezer is only 100L. The 10 litre freezer section is an eliptical evaporator plate mounted such that we can load it from the top. It has a perspex floor with a foam insulated cover. The lid is another 1" foam sheet. I used kingspan rigid insulation for the tub. We have 6" on the bottom. 4" on the sides and top. The energy consumption is very low. The run time is 20 mins in the hour. With a 45w compressor we only average about 17w

Very similar except we used Penguin water cooled and our freezer is horizontal and has a door on it. (Fabricated from a white plastic type chopping board.)

 

[davethedog]

Our boat comes with a separate water cooled freezer (approx 30ltr capacity) and fridge as standard and would not be without the freezer out here in the Caribbean, especially when you know you have to stock up when the food is plentiful and reasonably prices (french islands). Yes the freezer is a bit of a power hog but worth it and so far the solar and current battery capacity is coping well.

Oh and the wife would never do without a freezer!