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cosmosmariner · 11-07-2009, 21:59

It does depend on what you want and size is not necessarily a constraint. Aboard our 25' Cruising sailboat (and our son's 27' cruising sailboat) we have an Engel MT35 portable freezer. The unit is about the size of a normal cooler and lives in the aft of the cockpit. My requirement is 1) Two trays of ice cubes per day 2) Two 1 lt. bottles of ice per day 3) Some miscellaneous treats.

We have a built in 2 cu ft ice box in the galley. We keep two 1 lt bottles (juice bottles like Ocean Spray) of ice in the ice box. Each morning we swap the partially thawed 2 in the ice box for the 2 completely frozen bottles in the Engel. This way we have fresh block ice every day. Power consumption is 4 amps at 12 volts. We have four solar panels providing a rated 460 watts per hr. Count on half that. Both ours and our son's Engles have run continuously since June 2005 and defrosted about every 6 months (takes 1/2 hr). Capt. Woody of Lats and Atts took the smaller MT 17 on his circumnavigation. And yes it will keep ice cream.

11-07-2009, 21:59	#9
cosmosmariner Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Western North Carolina USA Boat: 1987 Watkins 25 Wu-Hsin Posts: 77	It does depend on what you want and size is not necessarily a constraint. Aboard our 25' Cruising sailboat (and our son's 27' cruising sailboat) we have an Engel MT35 portable freezer. The unit is about the size of a normal cooler and lives in the aft of the cockpit. My requirement is 1) Two trays of ice cubes per day 2) Two 1 lt. bottles of ice per day 3) Some miscellaneous treats. We have a built in 2 cu ft ice box in the galley. We keep two 1 lt bottles (juice bottles like Ocean Spray) of ice in the ice box. Each morning we swap the partially thawed 2 in the ice box for the 2 completely frozen bottles in the Engel. This way we have fresh block ice every day. Power consumption is 4 amps at 12 volts. We have four solar panels providing a rated 460 watts per hr. Count on half that. Both ours and our son's Engles have run continuously since June 2005 and defrosted about every 6 months (takes 1/2 hr). Capt. Woody of Lats and Atts took the smaller MT 17 on his circumnavigation. And yes it will keep ice cream.