Sailing around the world on a budget

[mjcoon]

In many places putting local ice in drinks means the following week being spent in the toilets bent in two by intestinal disease

Probably better to use bought ice in a freezing mixture to freeze bottled water (assuming you can trust that...). We used to buy block ice intended for fishermen and break it up in the cockpit bare-chested to get full benefit...

 

[BobnLesley]

... Years ago I tried taking on holiday a cassette of the sound of ice clinking in a glass to see if it enhanced the sensation of drinking warm G&T: not much!

Way back when, we had friends in the eastern Med without a fridge (actually without much of anything) who had and swore by a set of plastic ice cubes; the theory was that while these didn't cool the drink, the sound that they made clinking in the glass deceived your brain into believing that it was cooler. I guess it worked, or otherwise on a Pavlovian principal?

 

[zoidberg]

Probably better to use bought ice in a freezing mixture to freeze bottled water (assuming you can trust that...). We used to buy block ice intended for fishermen and break it up in the cockpit bare-chested to get full benefit...

I'm hoping that habit will spread....

 

[bergie]

In many places putting local ice in drinks means the following week being spent in the toilets bent in two by intestinal disease

Avoiding ice is a good idea, as is not eating uncooked veggies in a restaurant. Or at least consume the drink quickly enough that the ice won't have a chance to melt

We actually do carry an ice cube maker on our boat. Consumes only around 80W, so while we don't have the power budget to make ice every day, it is a nice thing every once in a while. And the ice stays good for a while in a thermos flask. We tell ourselves that the ice maker is a fallback system for the fridge...

The first unit broke when we were in Scotland, but the manufacturer was gracious enough to make us a return label to send it from Northern Ireland (our next port), and then send a new unit to us in Galicia when we were a bit longer in a marina.

 

[lustyd]

Multi purpose vacuum pump also ideal for aircon, some people use a vacuum cleaner

It's sucking out no contamination

Pretty sure we’re talking about different things. Vacuum sealers for food incorporate a heat seal and use food bags and can be used for sous vide cooking as well as portioning and storing food. I also have a vacuum pump but it wouldn’t serve the same purpose.

Amazon.co.uk

 

[lustyd]

" a vac pack machine on board."

Are they 12 volt, or would going into a Marina be necessary to operate the machine?

It’s pretty low power and only on for seconds so a small inverter would be adequate and well worth it. The trade off is the ability to buy pasta, rice, nuts etc. by the sack load and portion them down which not only is usually far cheaper, it means only a portion is open at a time to the air and critters so food tends not to spoil even if thrown in the bilges.

 

[Sea Change]

In many places putting local ice in drinks means the following week being spent in the toilets bent in two by intestinal disease

You're not putting enough rum in it then

 

[Snowgoose-1]

In many places putting local ice in drinks means the following week being spent in the toilets bent in two by intestinal disease

And ground beef on the rare side almost everywhere in the world.
Just watched a prog where 12 yr old is lucky to be alive.

 

[mjcoon]

Way back when, we had friends in the eastern Med without a fridge (actually without much of anything) who had and swore by a set of plastic ice cubes; the theory was that while these didn't cool the drink, the sound that they made clinking in the glass deceived your brain into believing that it was cooler. I guess it worked, or otherwise on a Pavlovian principal?

I suppose these days we could have electronic transparent cubes that played a choice of sounds... fake ice, anyone?

 

[dansaskip]

Whilst an advocate of the KISS principal, there are limits.
Our fridge died the day after we arrived in the Marquesa Islands and it wasn't until we reached Tahiti six months later that we were able to fix it; No, the main downer was cool drinks, though you can with perseverance learn to enjoy G&T/Rum cocktails/wine when warm, we never managed the same with beer;

you provide a good example here of why not to have a fridge -
they break down
Me I have long given up putting ice in G& T after all it only dilutes it and cold beer well it just lessens the taste unless of course you like beers that are so awful that they can only be tolerate so cold you can’t taste them

 

[Sea Change]

you provide a good example here of why not to have a fridge -
they break down

You can apply that same argument to every piece of equipment.

I think the key is to not let yourself become dependent on any potentially fragile equipment. Your fridge, watermaker, lights, engine, GPS, etc can all fail without warning. The thing is to not put yourself in a position where that critically endangers you.

 

[IanCC]

You can apply that same argument to every piece of equipment.

I think the key is to not let yourself become dependent on any potentially fragile equipment. Your fridge, watermaker, lights, engine, GPS, etc can all fail without warning. The thing is to not put yourself in a position where that critically endangers you.

Fridge, watermaker? On a "budget".

 

[Sea Change]

Fridge, watermaker? On a "budget".

Watermakers are expensive and something of a luxury, yes.
But a fridge?? What kind of budget are you on that you can't afford £200 for an Alpicool?
You'll probably end up out of pocket by the time you've bought all the canned food you'll need
Even the author of 'Get Real, Get Gone', who wrote vociferously about the perils of marine refrigeration, has fitted a small portable unit.

There's definitely a bit of a hair shirt mentality going on in this thread. Maybe there's a lot of people sat in a comfy home (no doubt one that has a fridge of course) daydreaming about taking off on a 1970s style adventure. Well if that floats your boat, fine. I don't think it's a rational choice

 

[capnsensible]

Well we managed 2 cruises to the Caribbean and back without a fridge and ate perfectly well. Most of the time I didn't need a shirt, let alone a hairy one.....

 

[MisterBaxter]

Watermakers are expensive and something of a luxury, yes.
But a fridge?? What kind of budget are you on that you can't afford £200 for an Alpicool?
You'll probably end up out of pocket by the time you've bought all the canned food you'll need
Even the author of 'Get Real, Get Gone', who wrote vociferously about the perils of marine refrigeration, has fitted a small portable unit.

There's definitely a bit of a hair shirt mentality going on in this thread. Maybe there's a lot of people sat in a comfy home (no doubt one that has a fridge of course) daydreaming about taking off on a 1970s style adventure. Well if that floats your boat, fine. I don't think it's a rational choice

It's not just the fridge though, it's the generation, storage and charge management capacity to keep it running reliably, then the cost, space and time involved in installing and maintaining it.
I think it's legitimate in a thread about cruising on a budget to explore the very cheapest end of budget cruising, which inevitably leads to discussion of simply doing without various bits of equipment.

 

[dunedin]

Fridge, watermaker? On a "budget".

See separate thread - somebody is looking for somewhere to do urgent fit out of essential kit for their cruise - generator, freezer, air conditioning etc….
Different folks different priorities

 

[Stemar]

But a fridge?? What kind of budget are you on that you can't afford £200 for an Alpicool?

ISTM that it isn't just the fridge, it's the extra power consumption, which means more batteries and more solar or whatever generating capacity.

We weren't crossing oceans, but we managed for years without a fridge, sometimes for a couple of weeks at a time without re-provisioning. Lots of tins, bottles and UHT milk.

 

[Tranona]

It's not just the fridge though, it's the generation, storage and charge management capacity to keep it running reliably, then the cost, space and time involved in installing and maintaining it.
I think it's legitimate in a thread about cruising on a budget to explore the very cheapest end of budget cruising, which inevitably leads to discussion of simply doing without various bits of equipment.

Problem is that "basic" and budget" change over time. In the 60/70s basic may have been an old converted fishing boat or a pre war "pocket" cruiser and a Nic 32, Rival 32, GH31 etc would have been the height of luxury. Now those luxury boats are firmly in the basic and low budget camp. The point about the fridge is that even the most basic can afford a portable freezer and the solar panel to keep it running.

 

[lustyd]

To be fair 200W of solar and a controller would only bring the fridge cost up to £500 max. There’s cruising on a budget and there’s choosing a needlessly basic lifestyle and it’s good to know which is which. Everyone is entitled to choose, but it’s folly to suggest there’s some nobility in going without. If that cost is out of reach then it’s very likely that a boat and food might also be too expensive anyway. Early in the thread people were discussing realistic budgets of £1000-2000 a month so saving £500 wouldn’t affect affordability at all.

 

[Sea Change]

we managed for years without a fridge, sometimes for a couple of weeks at a time without re-provisioning. Lots of tins, bottles and UHT milk.

Tell that to kids today, they won't believe you, etc.