Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

Me too, but everytime I think about it, Larrys post below comes to mind.

This idea comes up whenever we're on a sailing vacation for a few weeks. That's when ice is the first reason we need to replenish something onboard. And the first thing I'd have to do is rebuild the icebox. It's still a cavernous stock stainless lined poorly insulated box. But it'll hold 50 pounds of ice and all the groceries a family needs for a week or more(and we use it all), but the ice only lasts a few days. That's not such a big deal in the northeast. Blocks are available right in our harbor and most areas we frequent.

Soon it will mostly be the two of us though so the icebox can be made smaller with more insulation. To get a week as you're doing sounds like a real improvement. We often motor quite a bit when we're on vacation(much more than our regular engine usage for an overnight or two) so the box could be cooled during those periods with excess charging power.

Plus we could install a single solar panel as you've done(we don't have any more space than you).

They've become more efficient and less expensive to justify the expense. Bigger battery storage might be a problem not only for space but they may be under utilized too much of the time.

Not time yet.

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