We do a one week trip to the North Channel every year. I have 2, 5 day coolers which work pretty good, but by day 4 the ice is almost gone. The water stays freezing cold for another day or two. I usually have to find one or two bags of ice to finish the trip, which can be a bit inconvenient since marinas are few and far between. My thought is can I use a portable ice maker to make the replacement ice I need. It looks like these ice makers draw about 200 watts. I have a 40 watt solar panel and we don't use any real amount of power use on the boat. That would be about 20 amps. They make about 1 lb per hour of ice so I would need to use it only for about 5 to 7 hours for the whole week. My battery bank is 110 amp hrs. I don't want to spend the money for a fridge since we only spend this one week a year away on the boat. The rest of the year I'm in the slip at home and only do daysailing or a couple days trips. Does anyone have any experience with this. I would be running the ice maker through my 1500watt inverter.
Counter top ice maker
- Thread starter chp
- Start date
use block ice instead when stocking up for the trip. Better yet, freeze in a plastic container and then as it melts you can use the melted ice for drinking as well.
In rough round numbers, the solar panel has to run 6-8 times as long as the ice maker to keep the battery whole.. soooo if you are able to make a batch of ice in say 2 hours, that'd pull the battery down to about 50% and you'd have to run the solar panel for 12-16 hours to recharge it.. (given that it will not put up full power all day long)
A 100 watt panel would help ya a bunch
A 100 watt panel would help ya a bunch
My club does weekend cruises from April to November. Ice from the ice maker at home, I only use on days sails and Saturday happy hours in the cockpit and at both ends of the sailing season when temperatures are cooler/colder. Inbetween, I don't expect them to last the weekend. I just make larger ice pieces and relegate the ice cubes to thir own cooler for the Saturday happy hours. End of the weekend I look at the ice that's left to see if I need to make bigger for the next weekend..
I have considered the same idea. Seems like you could refreeze the water that was your ice and reduce the amount of cooling needed.
For now, I have an igloo ice chest that claims 7 days, and I freeze two 2.5 gallon water containers that I use on each end. I used this for a week in the gulf last year and it did well. There was still ice in the center of the containers upon return and there was lots of good cold drinking water along the way.
-Russ
For now, I have an igloo ice chest that claims 7 days, and I freeze two 2.5 gallon water containers that I use on each end. I used this for a week in the gulf last year and it did well. There was still ice in the center of the containers upon return and there was lots of good cold drinking water along the way.
-Russ
We have had one of these portable ice makers for years. They are great for mixed drinks, cocktails and serve the collateral benefit of use in coolers too. Block ice and dry ice are impractical and serve limited purpose by comparison.
You will have two problems. The first problem you have is power or rather lack thereof. You will definitely need a few hundred amps in your bank to sustain use regardless of your solar capacity. The other problem is space -your boat will be the designated party boat when others find out you have the ice maker.
You will have two problems. The first problem you have is power or rather lack thereof. You will definitely need a few hundred amps in your bank to sustain use regardless of your solar capacity. The other problem is space -your boat will be the designated party boat when others find out you have the ice maker.
Long range ocean cruisers use food that can be stored without refrigeration. That would be my solution if a port stop didn’t fit our cruise plan. (Although we have stopped in Little Current on our three visits so far.)
Canned food, eggs, potatoes, bread, pasta, milk powder, dehydrated food, salted meat are some of the solutions that come to mind. Then there is always fish! Outfitters routinely prepare food for 10 days canoeing in the Boundary Waters north of Minnesota without refrigeration.
Canned food, eggs, potatoes, bread, pasta, milk powder, dehydrated food, salted meat are some of the solutions that come to mind. Then there is always fish! Outfitters routinely prepare food for 10 days canoeing in the Boundary Waters north of Minnesota without refrigeration.
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Guy in our group bought a small generator just so he could run a blender for Marguritas
Bought one for camping; it makes that porous ice which melts quicker than butter on flapjacks. It was practically gone as fast as it made it. We ran it one whole day plugged into 120V 30A circuit and at the end of the day we hardly had any left. We decided it was a pain to keep watch over it, to refill the water canister and empty the ice into a cooler. We had thought about using it in the boat but the power consumption would have made it an impossibility. It does not cycle, it runs continuously. It's been a few years, maybe they have come up with some more efficient ones ($$$)
We have a tabletop unit that we use at the lakehouse when we have a big crowd. It makes ice fast but it isn't much less that 32 degrees. (Notice that the ice and the liquid water live in the same compartment in the unit). We always cycle the ice through the household freezer for a while before using it in drinks. That makes it more robust. You might want to look at the 12V Engle freezers.
Thanks all. Sounds like I'll just stick to my usual methods of freezing my drinking water and find some top ice on shore.