Is a Fridge Worth Installing?

[Eric ROGUE]

I have a similar size boat. I built an ice box, but even thinking a refer coil would take up less room than ice the insulated box took up so much room I removed it. Instead I have two pressure cookers. heating food in them every couple of days keeps the food indefinitely in semi tropical weather (summer in New England). Tested in my home. Hotter than on the boat sitting in 70* F water. Farm eggs will keep a month or two. Canned goods, indefinitely. So I would have said "No" to a refer unit Until I read your diet. Bacon, chicken, beef do come in canned form. But you seem to want to live on a boat that is a house on land, specifically a house on land in the USA. And you need to do it on the cheap. Lots of contradictions for you to work out according to your value system. Refrigeration is not cheap: initial cost of unit extra batteries, extra use of engine, maintenance of it all.

I suggest that beans and rice, other dry goods, fresh fruits and vegetables for as long as they last, and canned goods are the basis of an excellent diet on passages. In port eat whatever and however the locals eat. Save your money and eat street food and in restaurants where the locals eat. You will have a much richer time while you cruise.

[Leighpilot]

Well just get vaccinated or install a fridge big enough to double as a morgue freezer. I think a lot of countries are going to keep vaccination as a requirement of entry. A buddy of mine just spent a week in an isolation hotel ( at his own expense) on St Lucia. No week on his charter yacht for him.

[Eric ROGUE]

COVID is off topic and should not be allowed to derail the topic. Eating a healthy diet and for my money supplementing that healthy diet with high quality mostly organically sourced supplemental nutrition helps maintain health. Regardless of diet, aging does make us more vulnerable to disease as our immune systems deteriorate. The COVID anti-vaccine and radical right non--sense in western democracies is a rather successful co-intel project off Russia. No one would even have discussed whether or not to get vaccinated against various diseases when traveling to overseas destinations where infection was possible. Suddenly, COVID vaccines are an issue. Get vaccinated. Wear N-95 mask or KN-95 mask when in public as a protection against all airborn diseases. Avoid traveling to destinations that are hotspots, whether in the US or elsewhere. Until the crackdown on mask jerks in airports and on planes I did not consider it safe to fly. Since the crackdown I have felt safe to fly. I carry a backpacking straw filter that removes chemical contaminants, sediments, and waterborne protozoans and bacteria

[ftamburrano]

In the Number 405 (March 2022) of the monthly sail magazine "Bolina" you will find a very long article regarding the installation of a fridge on a small/medium sailboat (say...up to 38 feet). All aspects are dealt with: choice of the compressor, size of cables, electrical power, insulation, etc. The article, dealing also with the physical principles of cooling etc., is also available on the digital issue of the same month. See bolina.it . Of course, you will have to recur to an on-line translator in order to translate the text from Italian. Please find attached some images of the article.