Freezers

[davidR]

Hi all

 

Has anyone experience of yacht type freezers? We have seen a couple on boats we have looked over recently but been advised by someone that they are not very effective at long term storage. He was a bit vague as to what he meant ie 1 week or 1 year! We would want something that worked whilst we were aboard on extended cruises.

 

Thanks

[denboy]

my engel fridge or freezer(can select wich one you want)12v or 240 been working fine for the 5 years we have had this boat don`t know how long its been on here tho

[bottle]

Length of storage time is depicted, on domestic freezers, by *

 

Maximum is **** and will store food for up to three months but also check the food packaging.

 

Freezer compartments within a fridge are able to store for less time, usually a week or up to one month depends on make/model.

 

I doubt that 'yacht type' are any different, so the maximum would still be three months but could be less.

Edited October 4, 2008 by bottle

[magnetman]

I usually find that when on extended cruises supermarkets with freezers tend to turn up quite regularly. I know an icemaker would be nice at times but a proper house type long term freezer just doesn't seem necessary

[sueb]

my engel fridge or freezer(can select wich one you want)12v or 240 been working fine for the 5 years we have had this boat don`t know how long its been on here tho

Does that mean you have to use it either as a fridge or use it as a freezer? In that case you need two. My gas fridge had a top compartment for a freezer. It held a loaf of bread; some meat and some frozen veg.

Sue

[calamity507]

we have a haier 12 volt fridge freezer, been using it for 3 years with no problem. Have had meat in it for at most 6 weeks , freezes very well.

[Ange]

One of the things I'm really unhappy about giving up when we move on board is a freezer. Just how much power do they take? We're going to be living aboard full time with very little money - so I see a freezer as an essential (buy cheap meat at Lidl when we com across one to see us through a few weeks). Himself is very dubious about being able to power a freezer. I can live without the microwave, electric kettle, hair straightenters, etc but struggle to imagine life on a budget without a freezer.

[blackrose]

There's a woman on a boat in my marina who had a problem with her webasto last winter. We have a 3kw mains supply at the marina and when I suggested she buy an electric oil filled radiator she said "But what about my freezer? I'm not going without my big freezer" It seemed like a strange set of priorities to me... I'm not sure how much power a big freezer uses or if she could have run both, but I could just imagine her big freezer full of rubbish from Iceland.

 

Anyway, if you're on shore power then you can more or less do what you want, but if you're not then using your batteries to keep food frozen seems like a nonsense to me.

 

Ice and ice-cream in summer are nice but they're luxuries rather than necessities on board. I live on my boat and I don't have a freezer because I think that most frozen food is total crap and I prefer my food fresh.

Edited October 5, 2008 by blackrose

[Amicus]

snip

I think that most frozen food is total crap and I prefer my food fresh.

Obviously never tried "Aunt Bessies" roast taiters then?

[sueb]

One of the things I'm really unhappy about giving up when we move on board is a freezer. Just how much power do they take? We're going to be living aboard full time with very little money - so I see a freezer as an essential (buy cheap meat at Lidl when we com across one to see us through a few weeks). Himself is very dubious about being able to power a freezer. I can live without the microwave, electric kettle, hair straightenters, etc but struggle to imagine life on a budget without a freezer.

The cost of the freezer makes it very expensive meat. I also live on a boat and find I can shop cheaply localy to wherever we are. My fridge stores a small quantity of frozen food.

Sue

[ditchcrawler]

Hi all

 

Has anyone experience of yacht type freezers? We have seen a couple on boats we have looked over recently but been advised by someone that they are not very effective at long term storage. He was a bit vague as to what he meant ie 1 week or 1 year! We would want something that worked whilst we were aboard on extended cruises.

 

Thanks

By "yacht" type, do you mean these where you build your own cold cabinet

http://www.waeco.com/en/255_488.php

 

One of the things I'm really unhappy about giving up when we move on board is a freezer. Just how much power do they take? We're going to be living aboard full time with very little money - so I see a freezer as an essential (buy cheap meat at Lidl when we com across one to see us through a few weeks). Himself is very dubious about being able to power a freezer. I can live without the microwave, electric kettle, hair straightenters, etc but struggle to imagine life on a budget without a freezer.

You say little money, you can buy a lot of fresh food for the cost of a 12V deep freeze, plus the extra diesel running the engine to charge the batteries. maybe shorter battery life, depending on how low you take them.

[colin stone]

I'm using a Shoreline 24v fridge with freezer compartment and am most impressed with it. The small freezer compt actually holds quite alot and the whole fridge is fairly economical to run. I am also building a 80 litre chest freezer which will live in the bilges. This has 100mm kingspan insulation and will be powered by a 24 danfoss unit, but as the fridge is so good, I may not bother commissioning it.

[larkshall]

Well I too need a freezer, maunly because I tend to get meat from famiy farming connections (lamb, beef and pork) usually bought as 1/2, 1/4, or 1/8th of animal. For instance a beef 1/8th usually costs me £50.00, that is butchered and pre-packed.

 

So I need a freezer that will also freeze down quantities of meat.

 

But I grant you having one cluttered with iceland stuff is a waste.

[Bones]

I usually find that when on extended cruises supermarkets with freezers tend to turn up quite regularly. I know an icemaker would be nice at times but a proper house type long term freezer just doesn't seem necessary

 

Is there a unit that is just a freezer? I only use mine for ice for my gin, but a stand alone 12volt small freezer that stored peas as well would really solve my problems.

[kiki]

I usually find that when on extended cruises supermarkets with freezers tend to turn up quite regularly. I know an icemaker would be nice at times but a proper house type long term freezer just doesn't seem necessary

 

I actaully have an icemaker on our boat - the Much Beloved can live without fresh food but if there is no ice for his Bells and Soda, then God Help us all.

[bottle]

I actaully have an icemaker on our boat - the Much Beloved can live without fresh food but if there is no ice for his Bells and Soda, then God Help us all.

 

True, God (if he/she exists) help us all.

[Bones]

I actaully have an icemaker on our boat - the Much Beloved can live without fresh food but if there is no ice for his Bells and Soda, then God Help us all.

 

what make is it, how much power does it use, how quick is it?

[Justme]

For instance a beef 1/8th usually costs me £50.00, that is butchered and pre-packed.

 

 

But I grant you having one cluttered with iceland stuff is a waste.

 

What does 1/8 weigh?

 

That sound very very very cheap.

 

Dito Iceland stuff.

 

Justme

[kiki]

What does 1/8 weigh?

 

That sound very very very cheap.

 

Dito Iceland stuff.

 

Justme

 

Iceland stuff = not food

 

better to have lots of ice blocks. Will check the make when I get home. Makes lovely blocks within 7 minutes.- did I mention we do have shore power and don't use it when cruising. Think it cost me about £90 last Christmas. Its a bit big, about the size of a deep fat fryer, a pain as it has to stand on a shelf in the sleeping area, but if the MB is quiet and happy then so am I

[larkshall]

What does 1/8 weigh?

 

That sound very very very cheap.

 

Dito Iceland stuff.

 

Justme

 

 

It is, normal weight is circa 35lbs, because for beef I don't wan't my hare of offal, If you take the lot weighs about 15lb more.

 

1/2 pig (less head) weighed in at 29lbs, cost me 32 quid inc blast freezing

[nickelodeus]

Wow - poor David - ask a question about freezers and everyone assumes you shop at Iceland!

 

I had a fridge already, but I really wanted a freezer so that I could eat healthily more easily. Put simply, if I cook some tasty FRESH food, I like to make it in army-sized proportions so that I can freeze it in plastic tubs and defrost when I'm pushed for time and hungry, rather than hitting the biscuit tin like a man posessed.

 

I bought an Engel. Its brilliant, super efficient and roomy. It uses a solenoid powered piston type pump as opposed to an electric motor so there are less moving parts therefore less energy required to run it. It will happily run on 240v or 12v and can be easily moved. I don't know the exact current draw, but I didn't notice any significant extra drain when I went cruising earlier in the year. They come in all different shapes and sizes. Mine is a chest type 40 litre and can function as a fridge or a freezer.

 

Have a gander on google.

 

Nick

[denboy]

http://e.dominohosting.biz/dca/mpsdb01.nsf...FRIDGE/FREEZERS

[johnjo]

Hi all

 

Has anyone experience of yacht type freezers? We have seen a couple on boats we have looked over recently but been advised by someone that they are not very effective at long term storage. He was a bit vague as to what he meant ie 1 week or 1 year! We would want something that worked whilst we were aboard on extended cruises.

 

Thanks

Just about to install a standard household under counter freezer, have an inverter and 3 new batts. I'll let you know how I get on [if anyone is interested]. If anyone has already tried this please let me know how YOU got on.

If it dos'nt panout I might try replacing the compressor with either a DANFOSS BD35F or ACC GD30F 12/24.

Quite agree Iceland for me, yuk! but others out there might need to go there just for the price, we're not all well off [i'm certainly not] but we are lucky and want it for all our home grown veg and our farming neighbours meat which we freeze, delicious.

[Justme]

It is, normal weight is circa 35lbs, because for beef I don't wan't my hare of offal, If you take the lot weighs about 15lb more.

 

1/2 pig (less head) weighed in at 29lbs, cost me 32 quid inc blast freezing

 

WOW thats realy cheap.

Cant even produce my own (beef or pork) that cheap.

 

Are they free range (the pigs)?

 

 

Justme

[NiceNarrowboat]

I have had a seperate 12v shoreline freezer on both my boats and wouldn't be without one. The one I have is about half a metre tall and fits nicely under the kitchen sink. In my first boat it doubled as the TV stand.

 

Me thinks having a freezer means more time spent cruising and less time spent shopping.

 

Find the frozen peas very useful when accident-prone husband falls off boat, but any frozen veg does just as well