Small coolerbox for 3 or 4 days?

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steve yates

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Is there such a beast, that could keep milk, butter, bacon, cheese etc cool enough for 3 or 4 days? Even a 12v one? Especially if I just had to plug it in for 12 hrs or so to get another few days out of it?

Its for my small trailer sailer so probably only needs to be somewhere between 10-20l vol?

Any experiences, reccomendations or links much appreciated. The beer will go in a locker on the waterline, I’m an ale man so dont want that chilled anyway :)
 
steve yates said:
Is there such a beast, that could keep milk, butter, bacon, cheese etc cool enough for 3 or 4 days? Even a 12v one? Especially if I just had to plug it in for 12 hrs or so to get another few days out of it?

Its for my small trailer sailer so probably only needs to be somewhere between 10-20l vol?

Any experiences, reccomendations or links much appreciated. The beer will go in a locker on the waterline, I’m an ale man so dont want that chilled anyway :)
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For a powered one it depends on how big your battery is and what ambient temperature although you can plug it into your car while driving to the boat. I gave up on a powered one due to energy anxiety and the reduced interior volume. Now use an unpowered box. Have found the camping gaz ones are good but none will keep your milk cold for 3 or 4 days in the summer. I have not seen one with more than 30mm of insulation. Obviously, ensure everything is cold when it goes in. I pack two bottles of milk and freeze one overnight before leaving home which helps a lot. Then if I am fortunate to be close to a food shop I buy a bag of ice and put that in the bottom.

www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
 
When I had a small boat with limited electric I used a simple cool box with ice packs. If going for several days I took things that kept (small cartons longlife milk etc) and avoided things that would go off or go runny. A bit like camping. Like you, there was always a place to cool beer or wine and we enjoyed some decent meals.

Now I can bake a loaf of bread and keep frozen food but there is a certain pleasure from the simplicity of things on a small boat. And it's much simpler to maintain.......and quieter.
 
We‘ve tried both ways with this, having sailed trailer sailer multihull cruisers, and now grown just too big for sensible trailing, but stil a tad small for a full on installed fridge. We are currently using a Vevor compressor fridge, and found it really good. Ithink average power use is in the 15-20w range, peak about 50 when you first turn on. 12v cold boxes use more. We have tried them, the trick for the milk is to freeze a pint or so, and put that in, then a pint just cold, ready to use. But it doesnt get near a proper fridge with ice cubes for your G&tT. Our batteries are staggering along on their last legs,, but we have 200w of solar, plus charging off a chunky outboard, used as little as possible.
 
Our second fridge is an Indel B 40 litres compressor job. We have an additional 12mm of insulated cover. We keep it about 10 degC for fruit and veg in the Tropics. Uses about 250w per day. Impressed with it. Maybe a 100w solar panel and you could run it?
 
If it's a simple insulated box, you need ice in it. Enough so there's still some frozen at the end of your days away. Once it's all melted, everything in the box will start to warm up. You can use freezer blocks instead but ice is easier to come by.

The icebox in our boat is built in and probably not insulated to a high standard. We start it off with about 5 or 6 litres of ice, less just for a weekend. And try to top it up with a litre or two of ice every day or so. Frozen plastic bottles work well and don't melt into the box. Loose bags of ice, less so but a nice treat for the G and T.

So... try filling your icebox up to half full with ice and see how that goes. If it doesn't last, you need a better insulated one. They are available but pricey.
Eg YETI Coolers

Our local UK outlet
 
For the past 7 years I have used a Dometic Tropicool thermoelectric cool box on my Fulmar. This was set to be at 4 to 5C and was run from the domestic 12V supply most of the time. Provided you have a large battery with solar charging and some access to either an engine charging or mains, you should be fine for 3 to 4 days. The Tropicool range all can be run from 12V or 240V, so being portable you can get it down to a working temperature before you leave home and then run it in the car whilst driving to the boat. This will save a lot of battery charge. Also starting with a couple of ice packs will also reduce the demand on your battery.

https://www.dometic.com/en-gb/outdo...everage/portable-coolboxes/electric-coolboxes
Scroll down this page and look for Tropicool. Mine is the equivalent to the TCX14, but I found this a little small as it would only take 1 litre bottles of milk. Personally I would buy the TCX21 as it is much more volume. They are both rated as the same energy usage and at £215 compared to £195, worth every extra penny.

At times I have also used it as an extra fridge at for large family events and on some long car journeys. I am just finishing fitting a full fridge in Concerto, but I am still keeping my old Tropicool as it so useful.
 
That's quite interesting, those electrically cooled boxes are a similar price to the unrefrigerated ones I linked to. Maybe a bit bulkier, but without having to pack ice in them, more usable capacity?
 
My wife found herself instructing on a boat which just had an icebox. It did however have an oven. She had a brainwave; she included a ( smallish) frozen turkey in the victuals. It stayed frozen until the last day of the course, whereupon it was roasted!
It was a big hit with her French trainees, who were not accustomed to the way we serve roast turkey in these islands.
 
To OP firstly ndo not consider the "electronic" or peltier type cool box. They just gobble current with little result. if you want freezer get a compressor type. Waeco for eg.
However for 3 or 4days you can do a lot with just an insulated box. Freeze ice in a largish bottle and if necessary wrap that bottle in foam or paper to reduce melt rate. It will keep an insulated box cool enough for long time. Here in Oz the "Esky" has become a legend. lots of plastic boxes available quite cheap. Only problem is they are heavy when full of food and ice. ol'will
 
I am quite impressed with my Halfords coolbox. It had a "Which best buy" award some time ago. Cost was about £60. It is 12V & I paid An extra £15 for a 240/12V transformer. I have a voltage regulator wired in to the back of a cigar socket so when on 12 V it does not flatten my battery & comes on whenever the engine runs or the battery is over 12.7 V. In port I switch to 240V. I have a switch on the main panel & often just turn it off if not opening it, or leaving the boat to go ashore for a while, as it stays cold for quite a long time.
It does not actually "freeze" but drops the temp to around 20 degrees below outside temperature. So some days it gets very cold , on really hot days it just gets "cold", but then I work the contents to suit.
I imagine that if one also placed ice in the box around any food & gave that a cool down from time to time the effect would be to keep the ice for a very long time without running the box for long.

It also has a "warm" facility for keeping food hot during transport , but I have not tried that yet.

The fan; which runs constantly when power is on; can be annoying at night, so I normally turn it off.
It is not loud enough to worry me in the daytime.
If it is a warm night & I have meat in it, then I put it in an aft locker where I have another power supply for that purpose.

My only concern is that the handle seems weak but as I do not carry it full it has not been an issue YET!!
 
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We managed with one like that but they’re not efficient current wise, for the limited amount of cold they deliver. Heres a small compressor fridge, nearly as portable as a halfords cold box. VEVOR 20L Portable Car Refrigerator Fridge Freezer for Camping Car Boating Caravan Bar | VEVOR UK We’ve got a 40 odd litre one, can’t recall exactly. Our higher startup current is about the same as the pelier cold box, after which it’s lower all the way, being efficient and thermostatic.
 
I see little, or no point, in using ice to keep the contents of any, unpowered, ice box cold. Why not simply freeze the contents of the box, casserole, butter, gin in your home deep freeze and use these frozen components as the means to keep the contents cold. You need to plan such that you only remove what you need that day and not rake around looking for the, gin?, as raking round allows less cold air into the box. So freeze milk, butter, or the casserole into cubes sized for a meal for the crew and arrange these cubes to be removed in sequence.

You need a good cool box and you might need extra insulation - but exactly how useful is frozen ice, compared to frozen gin or a home cooked soup or casserole.

Jonathan
 
Neeves said:
I see little, or no point, in using ice to keep the contents of any, unpowered, ice box cold. Why not simply freeze the contents of the box, casserole, butter, gin in your home deep freeze and use these frozen components as the means to keep the contents cold. You need to plan such that you only remove what you need that day and not rake around looking for the, gin?, as raking round allows less cold air into the box. So freeze milk, butter, or the casserole into cubes sized for a meal for the crew and arrange these cubes to be removed in sequence.

You need a good cool box and you might need extra insulation - but exactly how useful is frozen ice, compared to frozen gin or a home cooked soup or casserole.

Jonathan
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We still freeze stuff thats not for immediate use, even though we have a fridge. It makes such obvious sense, as you say. 2 pints of frozen milk to start you off, as a bare minimum. We have frozen milk at home all ready for a dash to the boat. Taught by other cruising sailors we met, in small cruisers.
 
Put the contents in the bottom of the box and the bag of ice over the top. I was considering making a custom coolbox from glassfibre and insulation. I've known some people turn awkward lockers into coolboxes by installing decent insulation.

Since ms ronsurf cured my asthma by suggesting a dairy free diet we consume very little. Cheese can be stored at room temperature so that goes in the bilge with the beer, for milk those little hotel room canisters can suffice. Butter? Just go without. Drop scones and syrup/honey/fruit for breakfast, or good bacon sarnies.

I would rather go without butter for three days than have no VHF radio because the electricity was spent keeping butter cool.
 
ronsurf said:
Put the contents in the bottom of the box and the bag of ice over the top. I was considering making a custom coolbox from glassfibre and insulation. I've known some people turn awkward lockers into coolboxes by installing decent insulation.

Since ms ronsurf cured my asthma by suggesting a dairy free diet we consume very little. Cheese can be stored at room temperature so that goes in the bilge with the beer, for milk those little hotel room canisters can suffice. Butter? Just go without. Drop scones and syrup/honey/fruit for breakfast, or good bacon sarnies.

I would rather go without butter for three days than have no VHF radio because the electricity was spent keeping butter cool.
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Convert the bag of ice for a bag of frozen gin....?

Just out of interest - what is so important about the VHF. You can have a hand held VHF, with rechargeable batteries. If disaster strikes - Epirb or serious equivalents. Forecasts - iPad, internet, (again) rechargeable. Its not 1960 - surely we do not need to sacrifice, deep frozen, 100gms of butter (accepting you have a special and important reason for having no butter desires) for a VHF conversation.

Apparently people cross the Atlantic - without using a VHF.....in fact people cross the Atlantic and turn their chart plotter off for 23 hours a day and people used to navigate with a pencil, paper chart, ruler and a sighting compass.

Jonathan

If you can freeze gin or vodka - it is seriously cold - I've never risked decent malt whisky to the rigours of freezing - unknown territory. :)
 
ronsurf said:
Put the contents in the bottom of the box and the bag of ice over the top. I was considering making a custom coolbox from glassfibre and insulation. I've known some people turn awkward lockers into coolboxes by installing decent insulation.

Since ms ronsurf cured my asthma by suggesting a dairy free diet we consume very little. Cheese can be stored at room temperature so that goes in the bilge with the beer, for milk those little hotel room canisters can suffice. Butter? Just go without. Drop scones and syrup/honey/fruit for breakfast, or good bacon sarnies.

I would rather go without butter for three days than have no VHF radio because the electricity was spent keeping butter cool.
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Just as an aside, it worked for me on hay fever.
 
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