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Old 04-18-2011, 10:31 AM   #21
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Refrigeration is not the only thing you can strip off the boat. Remove the engine, transmission and drive shaft and you will add a lot of space; after all, Lynn and Larry Pardey do it. More space can be garnered by removing all that electronic stuff that sailors didn't have a hundred years ago but....................what fun would that be. If you want to live in the stoneage on your boat, try it at home first. Turn off the fridge, pull the plug on all modern conveniences and see how much fun you are having. If you like it, strip your boat and sail like our forefathers did.

Jim
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Old 07-17-2011, 04:46 PM   #22
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I may have an interesting perspective as we own two boats; One with and one without refrigeration. Personal thoughts are that ANY good reefer should start with a great ice box with drain... Simply put, you can have it either way! If the power isn't there, buy some ice...

As we are currently in the Caribbean, I am quite happy to open the fridge and grab a cold drink. We love being able to bring a doggy-bag home from the eatery in town and save it for a snack in the future. When our black dog gets too hot in the sun (yes, we provide shade he fails to use), it is nice to be able to put ice cubes in his water. The forementioned downside to all of this is the power consumption. We solved our power problems with two 120 watt solar panels and a wind-generator. Our small Adler-Barbour 12 vdc fridge that was added to our original icebox has been wonderful... To the point that we are considering the addition of a similar (more modern) system in our other boat.

Could we live without refrigeration? Certainly, but we prefer not to do so when possible. Our boats are 32 and 34 feet long though, and even at that length the compressor takes up space that could be used otherwise. So does the watermaker, but not much, and I was able to mount it where other items would not have gone.

Another option is the purchase of a portable unit. I have a friend who sails a Corsair 31 over to the Bahamas often who purchased a portable unit he swears by, though the brand name eludes me at the moment I will post it when it comes to mind.

Both viewpoints can be correct for different cruisers, but what I read here suggests that the "Admiral" wants a fridge... If the Admiral isn't happy, the boat can get might small!
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Old 08-04-2011, 04:23 PM   #23
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Never in my (modern) life could I imagine how can someone live without a refrigerator, especially if you are cruising the oceans for weeks. So I want to know from you, who are on the "no freezer/refridgerator" side: what do you eat when on the move? No vegetables or meat, only freshly caught fish, banana, rice, or what? What food do you have on board?
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Old 08-06-2011, 01:28 AM   #24
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Originally Posted by habanaman View Post

Never in my (modern) life could I imagine how can someone live without a refrigerator, especially if you are cruising the oceans for weeks. So I want to know from you, who are on the "no freezer/refridgerator" side: what do you eat when on the move? No vegetables or meat, only freshly caught fish, banana, rice, or what? What food do you have on board?
When traveling, of course, the fresh veggies and meats go quickly. However, things that last longer than you think (un refrigerated) include tomatoes, peppers, onions, citrus fruits, apples, carrots, Romaine lettuce, fresh spinach, cabbage, aged cheeses, eggs, margarine, mayo, other condiments, well, a whole lot of things! Many things do better unrefrigerated.

Things we consume the first day (or early next morning) after grocery shopping include milk, cottage cheese, fresh chicken, beef, pork. Things that will last for a few days include fresh mixed greens (baby lettuce, etc) and vacuum packed meats though. Cured meats like bacon will last 10 days or so in a cool place. Summer sausages and pepperoni last for months unrefrigerated. Breads only make it a week or so. Bagels maybe 2 weeks.

We typically shop for fresh food 2x per week. If busy, 1x per week. If not, every other day. We've gone as long as 4 weeks w/o re-provisioning while coastal cruising. By the end of the 2nd week, we're out of meats--besides cured summer sausages/pepperoni and except for canned chicken, tuna, beef or fresh caught fish. Since we love eating salads, we're out of Romaine lettuce about that time too and have to start getting creative with canned beans and beets as well as cabbage, radishes, onions, and other crunchy things to make a salad.

We actually eat healthier than most people do who are living with a full refrigerator and freezer at home.

You might enjoy looking at the website of a young couple sailing in the Caribbean right now. If you do a google search with this info:

refrigeration site:windtraveler.blogspot.com

You'll find links to several posts they've made about their boat not having refrigeration including the following:

http://windtraveler.blogspot.com/201...s-that-do.html

http://windtraveler.blogspot.com/2011/05/fruit-man.html

http://windtraveler.blogspot.com/201...-cruising.html

You will also find the writings of numerous cruisers from the Pardeys, Annie Hill, the Smeetons, Hal Roth, well...pretty much anyone who cruised prior to the 1980's seems to have spent quite a bit of time cruising without ice in the icebox.

Fair winds,
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Old 08-06-2011, 09:54 AM   #25
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Having a fridge is luxury - not a necessity , during a passage lasting 27 days nonstop from Kilifi Kenya to Langkawi Malaysia - Half filled the boat's cold boxes with block ice (around 4ft x 9" x 4" -- 1.2m x 23cm x 10cm)

And for cans of beer and bottle of wine, 2 x 18 litre canvas Flax water bags- which you fill 3/4 full with the cans and bottles - and top up with water - hang them in the wind - the water seeps through the canvas walls and evaporates cooling the contents.

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Old 08-08-2011, 10:31 AM   #26
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Originally Posted by MMNETSEA View Post

Having a fridge is luxury - not a necessity , during a passage lasting 27 days nonstop from Kilifi Kenya to Langkawi Malaysia -Â*Â*Half filled the boat's cold boxes with block ice (around 4ft x 9" x 4" -- 1.2m x 23cm x 10cm)

And for cans of beer and bottle of wine, 2 x 18 litre canvas Flax water bags- which you fill 3/4 full with the cans and bottles - and top up with water - hang them in the wind - the water seeps through the canvas walls and evaporates cooling the contents.

Attachment 1737
Good idea and much more effective than I first thought!

We used MMNETSEAS way to cool all our things on our first Atlantic crossings back in 1993/94. We had a little box on the side deck, in the wind, but away from the sun, where we kept all the goods that did not like temperatures of 25°C or more. We wrapped everything into thin cloth and kept it wet. This way we got the temperatures down to 15 to 20°C, depending on the humitity of the surrounding air and to some items it made a difference melting away or not.

As there are shops and stores close to most marinas, we do it the same way like redbopeep .And a friend came up with a great idea: Hiding a brick of milk below the pizza in the deep freeze at the supermarket when working down the shopping list. The next morning, when buying the rolls for breakfast, he bought the milk and put it into the ships ice box and on the day sailing it kept everything else cold.

But as a nice cold beer makes an ancorage in the tropics even nicer, we pretty soon had an ice box and bought big humps of ice every few days. And now we have a cheap little peltier-ice box (of the portable type you plug into the car's 12V system for long trips to keep the coke and sandwiches cold) that fits into a self built and well insulated box, to hold the cold even longer. Â*This little box needs only 2,5A (30W) and is always running as soon as the sun is shining on one solar panel of same capacity. That makes a really cold beer in the evening and some other things that need to be cooled find their place in this box too.Â*

Uwe

SY AquariaÂ*

Â* Â* Â*
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Old 08-11-2011, 02:22 AM   #27
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I like the idea about the milk--cute. We also have used evaporative cooling as you describe successfully. Before we moved aboard, we owned a little 120VAC countertop icemaker--we used it in the boatyard where we rebuilt our boat for 2 years. It came to the boat with us when we moved aboard but we seldom use it. However, when we spent an unexpected month in the Sacramento Delta last August, at one point we did pull it out and make a lot of ice for a get-together with other boaters. However, we know from experience in the hot boatyard that it doesn't work well at temperatures over 95F or so. When it up and dies on us (which surely it will since it was an inexpensive little thing) we will not replace it. We own a tiny 12V cooler for the car and we've not used it on the boat--only for driving trips. We do own a vertical igloo cooler (small about 12"x12"x20" tall) that we place milk, meats, and salad greens (other than romaine) in for very short term.

I would imagine that most cruisers on a boat over 40 ft will have room and budget for refrigeration (or icebox) of some sort. When you get into a smaller boat, I don't know if the space taken by such a system is worthwhile. Even a well insulated icebox takes quite a bit of space.

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Old 01-23-2018, 11:13 PM   #28
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Yea, well that's what we folks from Indiana call it

"No ways will a cruiser who cruises the oceans do without refrigeration." Pssss ...I can think of numerous cruising families who do so. Including the famous Annie Hill and the Pardeys already mentioned. I won't go into discussion of the various sea-steaders as they're on the fringe anyway. What they all tend to have in common is--yep-- a small boat and the desire to keep it simple.

Here's an excerpt from Dave and Jaja Martin, who wrote about their family of five cruising for several years in the book Into The Light and who had a PBS special about their cruising lifestyle, IceBlink....

"We chose not to install refrigeration on DRIVER, or even an simple ice box, because of left-over attitudes we'd preserved from our days aboard DIRECTION. On a small boat, a well insulated ice box devours valuable space better allocated to water and food storage. Although our previous cruising grounds had been in the tropics, we'd learned to lead a well adjusted existence without suffering ice addiction or refrigeration mania. By keeping in mind what a reliable chilling system can cost, we decided we could buy cold drinks in restaurants for the rest of our lives. On hot days, when we longed for something cold, we just imagined we had refrigeration then pretended it was already broken.

Even on a boat with ample space, refrigeration is a luxury that can become a power consumption nightmare. If an alternator is used to charge the twelve volt batteries, refrigeration can eat the life out of an engine. Wind and solar powered alternatives often look good on paper but they can prove unpredictable for constant high energy demands, such as refrigeration. A refer or deep-freeze full of perishables is a great way to improve quality of life at sea, or in remote anchorages, but perpetuating battery life can become a choking responsibility.

Years before, we had been anchored in a remote bay when a fellow cruiser came around with a bucket of half-frozen meat. His refrigerator/freezer system had conked out, and without any chance of getting it fixed, he was distributing prizes to all the cruisers who would accept the meat as gifts - better to give it away than let it spoil. We accepted two pounds of hamburger and a pound of bacon then put them on deck in the shade to defrost. We were excited. We had not tasted red meat in weeks and our mouths watered in anticipation of the feast we would soon be enjoying.

When we returned from a trip to shore, shortly before dinner time, we discovered that hungry seagulls had eaten every scrap of our defrosted meat. We shook our heads angrily.

Refrigeration is for the birds.
"

That pretty much sums it up from the "no refer" crowd

I've taken the "nope, don't need it" position here simply because we're not putting it in for a while (or maybe never). However, there are many, many good things that can be said about having refrigeration on a boat with adequate power resources. I hope that others will come along with good insights regarding having reliable refrigeration on a small boat.
Canning solves the problem.Cooking it in the canner and leaving the lid on,until you need it , preserves it a while longer.
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Old 02-02-2018, 09:59 PM   #29
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Decades ago I had a battery killing refer that I only used with shore power. I used ice away from the dock.

I crewed on a boat three years ago where we spent a significant amount of time searching for and hauling ice. The food in the ice box would create an unpleasant soup in the box.

Now I have another boat and I bought an ENGEL portable refer/freezer. It is very efficient when I am using it as a refer. It runs on 12VDC/120VAC. They say that it draws about 1 amp per hour. That's probably pretty accurate for the way I use it. When the compressor runs, it draws over 4 amps, but it runs less than 25% of the time here in Guatemala. My 100 W solar panel keeps up well.

If it should fail, it can be used as a cooler.
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