Urgent Help required to Chill Beers.

[Alistairr]

A downside of a small boat, is no proper Fridge.

Can anyone recommend a travel fridge or Electric Cool Box, That actually works!!
12v&240v Please.

I Bought a small portable fridge last year, It was supposed to chill, But all it did was sort of blow air in, not a lot of good as chilling. And after using it last year i complained it was no good, and they took it back.
Its best to buy something thats recommended, and that people use, and it works.
Hopefully some of you guys out there will have these either for the car or the boat, and can tell me whats best.

It needs to be reasonable compact, and if on the web, i need it for this weekend, as i need to chill the beers and the Breezers before meeting Dave1258 and his wife./forums/images/icons/laugh.gif/forums/images/icons/wink.gif

Cheers.

Alistair..



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[Roy]

Hi Alistairr

The weather recently might mean that you don't need one at all.........!

We have a fridge as you know but we also have two coolers - one is a marine type coolbox into which we store pre cooled or pre heated stuff and it keeps everything cold or warm as you want it. We also bought a wee one from Tesco a couple of years back for around £30. It takes about a dozen cans or bottles. Works off 12v only though and has two detachable lids - one with the cooler thingy in it and one just for taking the thing to the beach or wherever there will be no power. Really good value. Hope this helps a bit. Have a nice meeting with your friends. Roy

<hr width=100% size=1>What does this mean then?

 

[Alistairr]

Hi Roy, I wonder if thats where i went wrong last year. "Pre-Cool" The stuff b/4 using the coolbox??
And does the Tesco's one, Chill the stuff quite well??

I presume you will be up at the boat at the weekend?? Why not join us down at the Islands either Saturday or Sunday, Or Even Monday, as its a holiday weekend, We will possible be staying out over night on Anchor, either Sat, or Sunday night.



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[jimi]

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.williamransom.com/radian-b/range/freeze-spray.htm> Just get yin o' yon freeze spray thingies .. the smell'll put aff ra polis as weel</A>

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[terryw]

I bought an electric cooler/heater from Halfords a couple of years ago. it runs off 12v and will cool or heat depending on switch settings.
For the weekend I would suggest turning it on 24 hours before you need it, and Pre-Freezing your beers, the box will keep them cold all weekend, (if they last that long), if you keep it plugged in.
Another option which works very well is a fishermans keep-net, full of beer and left in the water behind your boat (only when moored).

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[studgies]

I got one from halfords a couple of years ago when we had a smaller boat, it was crap if you started with warm things but if pre cooled they stayed cool, longest test it got was a week on Loch Lomond where it worked perfectly. Amother point it get one that opents from the top as this keeps the cool air in better. Again it is only 12 v but it was on offer for £25, they had some last week when I was in too I think, did not look at the price but I am sure they were on offer!

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[Alistairr]

Thanks Terry & Studgies, I have looked at the ones In Halfords, thought it would be the easiest and cheapest solution. So if all else fails i might as well try theres.
I'd prefer Fridge to Coolbox, But thats maybe where i went wrong last year, "Front Opening".

I use the fishermans keep-net idea quite a lot, But the wife draws the line when i put the milk and cheese, in it too./forums/images/icons/laugh.gif/forums/images/icons/wink.gif



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[Alistairr]

So Jimi, I geather o'yon freeze spray wid freeze thae boas af a brass monkey, so dae ya think thae'd chill mae beers?? asweel.



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[Andrew_Fanner]

Failing all hte above, see what your local caravan/motor caravan shop have to offer. SOme of the cheap cool boxes available at this time of year are exactly that, they will chomp through a battery in a few hours and still not give you very cold beer.

A longer term solution is to see what a company like Shoreline can offer. A lot more money than £30 worth of powered cool box, but a lot more chilling capacity too.

<hr width=100% size=1>Two beers please, my friend is paying.

 

[jimi]

Na ya eejit .. jist spray yer tongue .. then they'll a' feel cauld ..

<hr width=100% size=1>I Have The Body Of A God... Buddha

 

[Roy]

Ours opens from the top and works best as they all do if you chill the beer etc first (or buy a bag of ice from Dale at the hotel for 50p?) Makes a great job actually - called the Electrobox Trippy - Sounds like something outta an Ann Summers Catalogue...... On our first boat, a searay215express we bought a new battery for a spare to run cool box off or just as a back up - only used it twice actually - if anyone in the Perthshire or Loch Lomond vicinity want a spare battery, pm me for details. We may be up this weekend Alistairr and may join you then. Thanks for the invite. Had the new baby out at the weekend in the wind and rain of course but enjoyed it. Getting used to sterning her in to the berth but could not get her to plane due to misunderstanding the tab indicators and the leg position led's. (Did not try to plane her astern into her berth of course not!!) Manuals .... of course should be studied first!!! So, Alistairr, if you should see a stern wave approaching you followed by a large boat - that 'l be me. Cheers. Roy

<hr width=100% size=1>What does this mean then?

 

[Alistairr]

Exactly right. On My first overnighter out of the marina last year, We anchored for the night, and by midnight my battery had gone flat, so no lights and no bilge pump. I maintain it was because the 12vfridge was running constantly.
Fortunately i was able to start the engine the following morning on the reserve battery.

So are Shoreline on the web, and are they drastically more expencive?



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[PhilF]

we got one that heats and cools, put the beer and wine in one sunny afternoon as an overflow to the fridge and 3 hours later.... yes you guessed I heated all the drinks up nicely thanks.
I think its a camping gas make and works very well , no noise with a 240 volt converter as well as 12 volts,
will get details weekend if you still have the need
Phil

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[Alistairr]

LOL, Well you must have been at it, on Saturday. As we were up on Sunday, and the weather was terrible. Looked for you but didn't see you. Nobody was moving on Sunday.



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[Alistairr]

Jist spray yer tongue!!!!!! Mae gawd i'll need two many cans ta keep up wit mae drinkin/ oor drinkin/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif.



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[gjgm]

dont know how long you expect the beer to stay cool, but up to 24 hours by starting with very cold beers, and the freezer packs you get at camping shops. Of course the temp stays lower longer the more full you keep it, and the less frequently you open it ! But thats also true of the electric ones too. If you load up in the morning, it will still all be chilled that evening.
Only set you back a few quid, which must impress the bloodline!

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[cngarrod]

Hi Alistair,

From my own experience the small 12v portable firdges you can buy are ok, provided that the food is cold to start with. If the food / drink or whatever is warm or hot... they are not "man" enough to make them cold.

I have one that i bought years ago from halfords and gets used regularly in the car via the 12v socket and it works a treat... but as i said, only if i put cold food / drink in there to start with. Am not an engineer, but i suspect it has something to do with ambient temp and energy consumed to energy being available and so on...

Cheers,

Craig.

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[Wiggo]

Alistair,

there are two types out there - Peltier Effect and compressor ones. The Peltier type are typically what you will find in camping shops/Halfords etc, and cost anywhere from £50-£100+ depending on size. As others have said, they're crap at chilling stuff down, but fine if you load them with already chilled beer. The advantage is they're cheap, but the downside is they will hammer your battery.

The alternative is a compressor based one - these cost a good deal more: £300-500, but they do work. They will also be kinder to you battery, have thermostats so you can control the cuirrent drain, and will chill down if you want them to. The trick is to turn the thermostat down to max to let them chill stuff down while you are motoring along, then back it off to just keep stuff cold once you have the motor turned off.

As ever, you pays your money...

If you have a built in coolbox (we did on our old Maxum), i.e. an insulated box, but with no means of cooling, you can add a compressor and evaporator plate for about £250 that turns it into a fridge (that's what we did). See <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.waeco.com/pages/products/mk/agg.htm>here</A>

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Buy my boat? Too late!

 

[Dave1258]

Just bring yer beers and put 'em in here mate, loads of room in the M/home fridge! /forums/images/icons/cool.gif
Fancy a BBQ on Sat night? what's the forecast?



<hr width=100% size=1> A man should have two things in life, a boat and a wife willing to let him have one.

 

[longjohnsilver]

As well as pre-cooling the beers also put in a couple of those freezer ice pack thingies, should be no problems then with keeping anything cool.

Just one word of warning, keep an eye on the power consumption of the fan assisted cool boxes.

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