Is a Fridge Worth Installing?

[Bycrick]

I did a two year cruise without a refrigerator. Lots of dried and canned food. Made arriving somewhere a real treat. Certainly can be done. The 10# of bacon hanging from the mizzenmast rigging so it wouldn’t drip grease below decks. The stalk of bananas all ripening at the same time. Cracking every egg outside away from everybody in case it was bad. Even a staunch anti-vegetarian like me was looking forward to eating something that was supposed to be green when I reached port. Crew almost coming to blows to be first in line for an ice cream cone. Or a cold beer. If you can do it, it will be an adventure.

[R Hutcheson]

Instead of a permanent installation, you may want to consider one of Engel's DC refrigerator/freezers. I've met several cruisers who swear by them and just got one today for our boat to augment the installed system. Can't say yet how it will perform, but it's hard to argue with the price compared to installing a marine refrigeration system. Don't discount the value of an ice cube in your drink. With a Yeti cup a little will go a long way.

[stacyanna21]

Back in the day I did a trade wind circumnavigation E to W over 10 years. Half with my wife and 2 young children the rest single handed. No refergeration not even an auto bilge pump switch. Never missed either. Lots of canned foods and boxed wines. Caught a fish every day I fished. Poached,sashimid,and dried. I did develop a taste for dried fish. Soy sauce and pan fried tastes a bit like bacon but you develop a taste for different states of dryness. I had to limit my fishing as how much can one eat? Customs took all my canned meat in Brisbane on check in. Having a young family and always on a budget that hurt. You won’t starve you just eat differently. Oh,flying fish land on deck mostly at night it seems. Fried head guts and all are delicious. The boat had a nice toenail and every morning I’d check on deck for them. We did conch and a variety of welks in the BVI. Kids loved the hunting and made conch horns and sold them to people on the charter boats. We ate conch stew,conch fritters,fried conch well you get the idea.

[SteveSadler]

I've sailed a few boats on extensive trips. One from SF to Tahiti with no frig. In high latitudes, no problem! But when you hit 20 dgs N or S, nothing lasts more than a few days unless its packaged processed food. Sure you can live on it but if you like fresh fruit, vegys, fish, meat, beer, room temp wine (60dgs) or anything not packaged, then a refer is a necessity. Even in SF to Mexico we hunted for ice in every anchorage. Try live on packaged food for a month, it's not fun!

[Cyrus Safdari]

It is a lifestyle choice and depends on how willing you are to give up a chilled drink. Crusing is supposed to be an enjoyable experience not a penance. I don't see a purpose without ice cream myself...

but truth is, whatever fresh stuff you must store in a fridge like some veggies and fruit, wouldn't last more than say 12 days anyway in a fridge. So unless you plan to reprovision on a regular say 2 week basis, it may not be worth it to you. That doesn't mean you just eat tallow, there are plenty ways to store veggies and fruit and healthy stuff w/o fridges. Cabbage, onion, carrots will last a month if stored properly, and you can can things yourself including canning own meats. I like biltong.

Caught fish can be preserved in many ways, including as simple as salting it, but freezing helps kill any parasites tho

As for finding steaks in Latin America, ever been to Argentina?

[Tanqueray]

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?

Essential, if you like cold beer!

But if they drink beer warm in those countries, then not such a big deal

Maybe a small portable Engel or similar would give the ability to keep some food cold, but turn it off when not needed.

Greg

[chasfgr]

After my first year of a new boat, I converted the "icebox! to an external compressor and freezing plate.
33 years later it's still performing perfectly.
One point - it will treble or quadruple your power usage = your standard alternator on normal motoring just won't be able to cope - after several extrnal rgulators, I foun one man enough for the job of recharging from a 189ah altenator.
The biggect problem was finding a robust enough alternator to cope with and boosting the battery capacity.
At 52N phoytovoltaic panels ,were totally inadequate in high summer (I had 540 watss input, with panels in every concievable place.
Those panels wer mor able to cope in the Med but even then, I had to recharge every 5 days.
So for a fridge you need shorepower, thus a marina.
Power supplies, in Med public quays were seldom adequate to cope with needs, of which a laptop was the least.


Si a fridge is essential, it's supply is the moot point

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by R Hutcheson

Instead of a permanent installation, you may want to consider one of Engel's DC refrigerator/freezers. I've met several cruisers who swear by them and just got one today for our boat to augment the installed system. Can't say yet how it will perform, but it's hard to argue with the price compared to installing a marine refrigeration system. Don't discount the value of an ice cube in your drink. With a Yeti cup a little will go a long way.

I agree, a portable fridge such as an Engel ( there are many other brands of similar products) is the ideal solution for your situation. These can be used as fridge or freezer and can be easily and relatively inexpensively replaced in the event of failure.

The main problem is how to generate adequate electrical power. In the worst case, during times of low electrical power production, the fridge can be turned off and converted to simple unrefrigerated food storage. So other than the modest additional cost there are few drawbacks to installing one of the portable fridge units.

Even if electrical power is limited the fridge can at least be on most of the time the engine is running and the alternator is supplying power. This will allow a cooler storage option that can still be useful.

On a 26 foot yacht it is helpful to explore foods that you enjoy, but require no, or minimal refrigeration. This will take some experimentation.

[ftamburrano]

You may soon (March) read a long paper article on the subject "Installing a fridge on a small sailboat" on the <BOLINA> monthly sailing magazine published in Italy. Everything about installing a fridge is there explained: choice, electric cosumption and wiring, switch, insulation, thermostat, maintenance etc, with illustrations. You might read it using an on-line translator from Italian.
It will be published on March 1st, 2022. An exhaustive article on the subject.
See also bolina.it

[boatman61]

Maybe you should be looking at these, vary each fuel to suit your solar power peaks and troughs.. propane bottles are easily stored and can be refilled as you go.
3 way fridges.. 12v, 110v, propane

[mako]

Are you sure you want to bring your boat into Vietnam? Might wanna research this more. The costs alone will buy you more solar and a super high efficiency refrigerator/freezer.

It's an incredible country and we lived there, but it's much easier and cheaper to visit via land than boat. Especially with only a 26 footer, you'll have the mandatory guy up on your deck, unless they've loosed up their requirements recently.

[bleuet323]

Yes but 100 watt solar panel will never be enough. On the note of solar panels there are flexable thin solar panels that can be installed on the deck of the sailboat. I have several of them on my sailboat. Only draw back is walking on them with bare feet on sunny days. Another tool is a wind generator. Having the fridge battery connected to the engine alternator to recharge on occasion though a switch is also a source of power to run the fridge. A DC fridge is a safe way of keeping food fresh and safer than a propane run fridge.

[mako]

Not a bad idea boatman, on the fridges multiple fuel sources. At anchor (not heeled) you can run off propane. More safety measures are required however, and OP will need to be able to refill more bottles in the South Pacific

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by mako

Not a bad idea boatman, on the fridges multiple fuel sources. At anchor (not heeled) you can run off propane. More safety measures are required however, and OP will need to be able to refill more bottles in the South Pacific

Here's something to throw into the weird and not so wonderful mix

We had a boat that had a gas fridge, not the best thing in the world but cheap and was trouble free for the several years we had it

When we went to New Caledonia and got gas there, the fridge died in the arse.
Not sure what the issue was but seemed odd that a fridge that had been trouble free would die an instant death at the change of a bottle.

Same happened with the 2hp Suzuki on the tender
Abused the bejesus out of it for several years, never an issue.
New fuel in New Caledonia - never fired up again!

Painful couple of weeks as "glace" was a hard to to find easily
And it was a long row trying to find it.

[mrcarson]

32ft Pugh Steel. C/C Cutter. I carried and turned over Canned and dry food on a 3 month
Storage volume cycle. Every tin texta dated with content (Labels come off).
In lockers in Bilges. under Main cabin floor. Great extra Ballast. Along with spare storm Admiralty, 50m Galv chain. Drive shaft. Prop. engine head and parts.
Large icebox built in under chart table, Conv to Fridge with Danfoss Comp. Had Dinghy Davits on stern. with 3 x 85w panels. Several along ea side of coachhouse top.
Wind genny. Towing Alt. 2.8kva Petrol genny, Used them all but have lived in Australian tropics for near 40 yrs. Cool climes. not necessary. (tip surrounding waters normally colder than air I kept items and drinks below surface in containers when on pick.)
In Tropics, even tap water is warm YUKKkkkkkkk.
Make up a tube/tyre desal unit for fresh water when away from civilisation too. It extends your trips. Have fun.