Is a Fridge Worth Installing?

[alctel]

The one thing I found my freezer essential for was fish - any fish caught that was too big to be eaten in one day got chopped up and frozen.

It's going to be hard to feed a fridge/freezer with just 100 watts though, and you don't have much real estate for more. I'd probably forgo it if I were you. Lots of tins and stuff around in other countries!

[SVTatia]

Originally Posted by Notfast

I've got a Westerly Centaur which is a 26' cruising sloop I'm slowly outfitting for probably going most of the way around the world although I don't plan to return to my starting point of British Columbia in Canada.

I've got a new engine with a 70 amp externally regulated alternator and one 100 watt monocrystalline solar panel feeding a 345 amp hour carbon foam (Firefly) house bank. Minimal electronics just tablets for navigation and cabin/nav lights all LED.

I prefer to eat beef, pork (bacon), butter, eggs and beef tallow but in my land travels in Latin America I didn't see much in the way of good quality steaks that will freeze well and I imagine the selection is more limited in the south pacific. I'm also on a low budget as the big ticket refit items I have to buy before shoving off will constitute a year's profits so not much left for food etc. Should I even bother with a fridge/freezer? I was considering an either or unit that can be used as a freezer for offshore.

Loose plans are a year or two in Sea of Cortez before crossing to Marquesas and probably spending years in the South Pacific. I'd then like to spend several years in Asia especially Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia before heading to the Med and Western Europe and just running out the clock going between Europe and the Caribbean/ Latin America.

Advice?

Nice little boat, there is a new Youtube channel with a couple just starting to cruise on one (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBn...0llciMg/videos).

I cruised for many years in the tropics without a fridge, you learn to live without one, what to buy, how to keep fruits and veggies, etc. Now I'll be installing a small one in my current boat, so that I can keep some foods, leftovers and a cold beer, but no freezer.
This is a very personal choice, its one of those damm if I do, damm if I don't kinda things. Also, its not just a matter of buying a fridge, you need to check if the insulation of the current icebox will be adequate and the entire electric system will need to be revised and adjusted.

Check out Carolyn Shearlock's website, she has books, good articles and tips on the subject - link below, also a link to one of her books.

https://theboatgalley.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Storing-Witho...ef_=ast_sto_dp

[laika]

One found its way into our 27' a few years back. You do come to appreciate it / depend on it. Depends how you care to look at it. We have one of the smaller engel fridge/freezers and never did find a great place to put it, so it's remained strapped into the corner of one of our settees.

Do you have the space for it?
Do you have the budget for it?
Do you have a good place for more solar?
Can you retrofit an existing icebox with a cooler plate?

In the tropics, our engel averages about 35-40ahs per day. Running in freezer mode would be closer to 60.

Off topic, but I cherish our watermaker much more than our fridge. I'd take a warm beer over seawater any day of the week.

[Simi 60]

Ice cream, ice cubes
That is all

[Craig Cape Town]

I have managed without a fridge. But I've have thrown away a lot of spoiled food and have put off cooking some types of food that I enjoy because there would be too much left over. I've refused offers of fish because they were too big for one meal and have even been two minded about catching my own. You have more options with refrigeration if you're not able to go to a store everyday.
Look at a portable box type fridge with dual voltage, so you can get it well chilled on 110V before you set out. You don't need to spend a lot. There are budget brands such as alpicool on Amazon with high sales and good reviews.
Be mindful of their consumption. The smaller ones run at about 45W and the larger around 60 - 80W. Some have an economy option. 100W solar should give you about 30 ah per day and will run a small fridge.
Leftovers are such a bonus.

[Stewie12]

Keep it simple. Fridges and freezers require a constant source of power and we lived aboard for years without either. We did eventually install a small 12 volt fridge which we used to cool beer and wine etc, but even keeping that in power was challenging.

[Martkimwat]

I upgraded my Passive toolbox on my 26 foot boat last year, having had a Dometic 22 litre refrigerated toolbox for the previous four years. When I removed the toolbox I discovered it only had between 1/2" to 1 1/2" of spray on foam over it. I removed all that and fitted 1" vacuum insulation panels between layers of 1/4" closed cell foam which was all there was room for, then installed an Isotherm refrigeration unit. BD50 compressor) the toolbox is 65 litres and I have calculated the daily current draw here in England at around 15~20 Amps per day although it draws 4.5 Amps when running. I have 150w of solar which pretty well copes with all my needs (includes comprehensive electronic suite) except on very overcast days. Not all my solar can 'see' the sun at once so typically about 100w at anyone time. I am adding another 50w panel this winter in the hope it will negate my need to run the engine occasionally on overcast days. My solar panels are all high efficiency mono crystalline made by Sunbeam (supposedly 24% efficiency) The toolbox is certainly more efficient than the Dometic Coolbox which drew about 24 Amps per day and ran at 4.5 Amps as well (probably the same compressor)The toolbox would often freeze if the switched got knocked, I don't think my coolbox conversion will, although more efficient, but it's three times the capacity.

[Scaramanga F25]

You will need a minimum of 3 of your solar panels to maintain a fridge/freezer.
Need 2 for a small Engel fridge/freezer.

The best is to learn now how to eat differently. learn about powdered protein, eat fish and local produce. Freeze-dried packages work well but you are on a small budget.

Canned bacon is good as well as NZ canned butter.

Learning to can your food when it is available is a great way. Powdered milk in a can.

We cruised from 1975 to 1981 with two babies this way. Only the occasional 50lb ice block.

[anacapaisland42]

Only if you plan to stay plugged in, on a dock and drink mai tai's reminiscing about that trip you never took,
Use the fridge space for food storage.
Bill,
Ontario








QUOTE=Notfast;3565720]I've got a Westerly Centaur which is a 26' cruising sloop I'm slowly outfitting for probably going most of the way around the world although I don't plan to return to my starting point of British Columbia in Canada.

I've got a new engine with a 70 amp externally regulated alternator and one 100 watt monocrystalline solar panel feeding a 345 amp hour carbon foam (Firefly) house bank. Minimal electronics just tablets for navigation and cabin/nav lights all LED.

I prefer to eat beef, pork (bacon), butter, eggs and beef tallow but in my land travels in Latin America I didn't see much in the way of good quality steaks that will freeze well and I imagine the selection is more limited in the south pacific. I'm also on a low budget as the big ticket refit items I have to buy before shoving off will constitute a year's profits so not much left for food etc. Should I even bother with a fridge/freezer? I was considering an either or unit that can be used as a freezer for offshore.

Loose plans are a year or two in Sea of Cortez before crossing to Marquesas and probably spending years in the South Pacific. I'd then like to spend several years in Asia especially Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia before heading to the Med and Western Europe and just running out the clock going between Europe and the Caribbean/ Latin America.

Advice?[/QUOTE]

[Rapanui]

While you clearly can cruise without a fridge, it certianly gives you more options in your diet. However, given your current battery capacity and charging capability, in my opinion both need boosting just for 24/7 sailing unless you are carrying a lot of fuel to use the engine to charge the batteries for a long period every day, or you are forsaking navigation electronics and electric autopilot and otyhe electric niceties. Unless your batteries get to near 100% every day, then they are likely to die very prematurely. Adding a fridge would make that equation worse.

Fridge or no fridge, you need to secure the ability to recharge to 100% very regularly while sailing 24/7, and engine charging will not do that unless run for very many hours. Solar + engine on the other hand work hand in hand allowing the engine to do the bulk and solar to finish off silently over many hours.
I suggest that you find a way to fit significantly more solar. Modern panels and MPPT chargers are very cheap, the cost is in the structure required to support them, but if you are handy and ingenious (and you will have to be!) that is containable. Whether you need additional battery capacity is probably best determined by a trial non stop sail.
We bought a portable Waeco (Dometic) 38 litre fridge to use as a freezer to suplement our built in fridge. Used in 35+C temps in Croatia, its power consumption was remarkable low, less than 15Ahr@12V overnight, so that could be a viable option.

[Copacabana]

With another 100w of solar, I think you can run a small Engel fridge without a problem. You have enough battery ah reserve. I have a 40-quart drop-in Engel in the tropics and it consumes about 30ah per day (set as a fridge). Have a look at the portable models to see which one you can fit on board. The nice thing about these fridges is they can run as a fridge or freezer. Another tip is carry a decent soft cooler on board that you can fill with food and frozen water bottles. When not in use, you can fold and store it. I've found that whenever you are in a place for a few days, you can always ask a local shop to put water bottles in the freezer to purchase the next day. In a cooler, they can keep food fresh for days. You can live without a fridge, but having one on board makes life so much better, even if it's just a small one.

[Dave Lochner]

We have a refrigerator and use for our coastal cruising. It draws about 80-90 ah a day. With 300 watts of solar we can almost keep up with the drain if we are careful about using other electric devices. To supplement our alternator will recharge our 2 firefly batteries at 90 to 105 amps. To charge from a 30% SOC to 100% in about 5 or 6 hours of motoring.

You have plenty of battery power to run the refrigerator. What you don't have is enough is charging capacity. Properly charging the Firefly will require an alternator output of about .4C, or about 140 amps. Your 70a alternator is just not up to the job. Charging at lower rates will reduce the number of cycles the battery can provide.

The 100 watt solar can be expected to provide 300 watt hours per day on average. That's about 25 ah or about a quarter of what you will need.

[nortonscove]

Worth is such a personal thing that only you can answer it. Personally I have a refrigerator and freezer on my boat. If I were to undertake such a trip I would appreciate it more than I do right now.

[JBP]

If you get a small portable, you don't have to use it all the time. Stock up on meat, eat like a king for a week, then unplug it and go back to normal sailor food.
Under ideal conditions, your 100W should keep up with a small portable. When it gets cloudy for several days in a row, eat up.
You can get a Chinese portable for a lot less than the Japanese Engle, but not as efficient.

[Statistical]

Based on the size of your boat, the amount of power, and size of battery bank I second the sugggestions to get a small portable camping electric freezer/cooler. You can either plug it into a 12V socket or for many models hardwire it in.

It is going to be small and limited but so is your energy budget and needs.

Getting even the smallest marine fixed installation unit is going to be colossal overkill in terms of effort and energy.