No refrigeration...your advice?

[Amgine]

Actually, what the heck is Hunter Valley (to the aussies)? I was rooting through the wine cellar, and am about to open a bottle of Margan Merlot...

[GordMay]

Although paper products may be available in remote locations, they will be expensive.
Having a low mass per unit volume, they’re subject to volume shipping charges ($ per cubic Ft/metre) , rather than just by weight. These shipping surcharges can really inflate the landed costs.
Of course, we suffer the same (as shippers) handicap when trying to store 6 months supply of T.P. etc.

[Amgine]

Maybe I just haven't cruised far enough yet; so far they have never been as expensive as the stowage volume they take up. And where I sail everything comes in by boat.

I did meet a cruising couple back from a year in central america whose forepeak was full of TP, paper towels, etc. All of which had been readily available throughout their cruising range (they didn't attest to the cost). They just didn't use anywhere near as much as they'd budgeted.

[Amfivena]

Just read through the post and wanted to add a few lessons learned from my admittadly limited experience with using ice to keep food cold.

To prolong the life of ice keep it dry - an ice block stored on dri-dek, or similar, so water can drain will last longer than a similar size block stored wet. Also don't let anything touch the ice that won't absorb water. A can or bottle on the ice will let a film of water form between the item and the ice - excellerating melting. An absorbant towel works well to protect the ice and wisk water away if changed often. Try to position blocks of ice at a slight angle so a pool of water can't sit on the top.

This is all counter to 'common-sense' that suggests a given amount of ice introduced to an insulated box will keep it cold regardless of where the moisture ends up. I struggled getting a handle on this, but noticed remarkably improved perfomance from my ice blocks once I controlled moisture.

Otherwise other posters comments about good insulation and larger the blocks the better apply.

Oh... if you have kids 'schedule' several ice-box openings per day. If they don't get what they want during a scheduled opening - "too bad, the ice box is closed until supper..."

[s/v 'Faith']

Steve,

Let me see if I have this right... you found YEAR OLD MEAT..... under your settee, that had NOT BEEN SEALED... and you ate it.

We did this before going to Mexico in '93, stored them under the settee cushions. Nearly a year later we found one of the packages which had lost its vacuum. It had survived a very hot summer with the boat on the hard in Mexico, but the meat was still good.


Steve B.

I am trying to picture how that discusison would go with my wife..... 'no honey, honest... it will be ok....

[senormechanico]

If you must know the truth, it was my wife who suggested eating it.
First, we sniffed the dry meat. Then she put it in boiling water. Next, we sniffed it. I was the one who tried it. Over her protestations, I ate some more. We ate it in some kind of casserole, and now we don't remember anything after that. I have NO idea how we got back to the PNW or who I am or anything else, but I don't care as long as my welfare check comes regularly.<sarcasm>

Seriously, I suggested we try a little and it was perfectly fine. I suspect the meat was so dry that it resembled beef jerky. All we did was rehydrate it.

Steve B. on Whidbey Island Washington USA getting ready for a 972mb low going just north of us tonight with 90 knot winds

[Amgine]

I'm just north of you. In the PNW we don't need no stinkin' tropical cyclonic storm to get our hurricane force winds. Third low this week.

[Boracay]

If you go a few leagues up the Hunter River (near Newcastle, east coast) you should find the Hunter Valley:-
Hunter Valley Wine Country Tourism
I have not seen nor tasted Margan Wines but they have a website:-
Margan Family Wine List
I have heard that the Hunter is a tad warm for some varieties.
Some would argue that the McLaren Vale is Australia's best wine region, if you have the money:-
Shingleback | Handcrafted McLaren Vale

[Amgine]

Thanks Chris31415!

Wine is one of those things I can never carry enough of in my boat. It is, in fact, the reason I'm seriously researching a dripless shaft seal, so I can put bottles in the bilge with impunity (which would mean ripping out the just-installed-but-not-quite-working new bilge pump, but ya gotta have priorities!)

For extended cruising, how many bottles are "enough" on everyone's boats? What beverages do you carry beyond just water?

We carry several varieties of tea, instant coffee, and a few 12 packs of soda pop. The wine cellar is usually only one or two bottles due to stowage issues. Smaller bottles of water were popular this last summer as well, so we carried two cases but they lived in the head so were a real pain to move 'em aft, use the head, move 'em back forward...

[NoTies]

Trialled lettuce in our Evertfresh bags. Nine days and lost a few outside leaves ( I think this was due to the bag being too small for the lettuce and bruising resulted) rest of the leaves were still very crisp. This was stored out of the fridge in early summer temps. 100% happy.

[tdw]

Originally Posted by Amgine

Actually, what the heck is Hunter Valley (to the aussies)? I was rooting through the wine cellar, and am about to open a bottle of Margan Merlot...

Hunter Valley is one of Australia's top wine regions. Mainly prized for the reds, Victoria (Mornington, Yarra Valley ) Tasmania and Western Australia (Margaret River) are probably better for their whites. Barossa Valley is another fine red wine region.

Depending on the year it should be a nice drop. Untitled Document

[rebel heart]

I think I added my $0.02, so this is my $0.03

I lived on my old boat for a while, and now have a new one that came with a fridge, that hasn't been turned on in a while, and is being more or less gutted. One more thing to break.

In regards to ice though, my prefered list of refridgeration:

1) none; it's costly, maintenance intensive, and (to us) not really needed.
2) holding plate system.
3) eating dirt every day and getting punched in the face on Saturdays
4) hauling ice all the time, keeping the ice box cold

Hauling ice around really sucks. If you're not going to have a fridge, my advice is scrap the ice idea. It works in very limited cases, but as a long term solution it's more of a hassle than a holding plate system to be sure.

[senormechanico]

FWIW a Danfoss compressor is sealed and won't suffer damage if it doesn't get run for extended periods which can happen with an unused boat. A compressor which is run by an external motor of any kind has a shaft seal which will eventually dry out and leak. This is not to say that a Danfoss system will never fail, but I've had good luck on the boats I've owned. The only failure I experienced was due to insufficient zinc protection. The manufacturer's stupid recommendations were followed before I knew any better. I assumed they knew what they were talking about, but after learning the hard way, I found they were clueless.


My vote is do your due diligence, but having cold water on tap and ice in your drinks is awfully nice when it's 90+ degrees everywhere.

Steve B.

[hellosailor]

"A compressor which is run by an external motor of any kind has a shaft seal which will eventually dry out and leak. " Good point, Steve. Actually the seal is a combination of a huge graphite ring, which seats against bare metal and slowly wears with every revolution, and a "rubber" o-ring on the shaft, which prevents the refrigerant from reaching the graphite seal and bleeding out. In theory.

Car makers usually have a little line in the manual telling the owner to run the AC at least once per month, all year long, because running the system distributes the oil with the refrigerant, and without that oil, the o-rings all through the system will dry out. There's usually some felt near the graphite seal to capture the oil that inevitably creeps out, and keep it lubricated, too. That oil is important.

A good way to cool drinks is to have a hand-operated sump pump connected to the icebox drain. If you've been keeping the ice box clean, the meltwater is perfectly good (or at least, as good as your ice was<G>) and if you pump it out into the galley sink, it is still cold enough to keep cans and bottles nice and cold throughout the day. No need to open the icebox at all for a cold drink!

[Connemara]

Amgine:

Dunno about BC, but the liquor stores in Ontario are now carrying quite decent wine (from France and Oz) in Tetrapaks. At home, I still use bottles, but this summer, I will probably be using the boxed wine. Simple, easy, and no danger of dropping the bottle on something hard.


OTOH, a small cautionary tale. Some years ago, we decided to take a box of very cheap wine to a horse show and fired it in the freezer for a couple of hours first. So when we got to the show, we had wine slushies. Not great ... and of course, the first few were almost entirely ethanol, because the water had frozen out.

So chill yer Tetrapaks, don't freeze them.

MS
Connemara