Icebox Improvements for Short Spouse?

[Lou Phillippi]

The icebox on our H28.5 is ok for me to place and retrieve cold items as I am over 6' tall. My wife, however, is frustrated that she cannot get things for herself because she is considerably height-challenged.Has anyone come up with ways a short crewmember can use the icebox which is wedged in an impossible corner of the galley?

 

[Steve Dion]

Have you thought about a rack in the bottom?

Lou:Have you thought about adding a rack/shelf near the bottom? We have a shelf about 15" from the top of the box. We made it from plastic that I got from Tap Plastics. I then drilled large holes in it to allow the cold air to get into the bottom portion of the cooler. We put the things that we need regularly on the top shelfs and the excess in the bottom. When the top shelf starts getting low we move stuff from the bottom up.

 

[Steve W]

how about adding a small folding step....

like the ones used on powerboat (sorry) transoms. They could be folded out of the way when not in use and won't fly around the cabin when under sail. Good Luck!

 

[Dan]

Use an "extend a hand"

OK I don't know what it really is called, but it's the thing that short people (or people in wheelchairs) use to get items from the top shelf. (An "extend a hand") It is a device that has a clamp on the end of a shaft that is closed by squeezing a handle at the other end. Wish I could explain it better. Sometimes you see these in physically challenged catalogues (or in some of the old cartoons - those usually has a boxing glove attached to it) Anyhow, if you have ever seen the depth of the icebox in a 29.5, you know it is DEEP. We dropped a whole bunch of loose grapes in the bottom of the icebox. There is no real normal way to get to them except for me to hold my wife by her ankles and drop her in the icebox - the crew did protest. Anyhow, the "extend a hand" device picked up each of the grapes from the bottom of the icebox without any talk of mutiny!! You can find good metal ones in Physically Challenged catalogues or cheap plastic ones at toy stores like Toys R US. Cheap plastic works fine for us. It works - watch the grapes!