proper portable cooler

[JMAC]

What do you think the best type of cooler would be for use as an icebox in my sailboat which could cruise but most likely will see only day use... have ye preferences?

[skuthorp]

I've seen a reference to a chemical cooler that is driven by motion. somehow the mixing of chemicals in a sealed double skin cools things down. At rest they separate till next time, anyone else know about this? I have no idea as to cost or efficiency, I'd just use ice or freezer cool bags in an ice box myself.

[Bill Perkins]

I like Igloo coolers . The most interesting idea I've come across ( in MAIB ) is to add a plastic foam " cosy " to the outside of whatever cooler you select for cruiseing .

Unscrew the mounting plate for the handles , install a plywood shim the thickness of the foam sheet you intend to use , and reinstall .Then build a foam box that hugs your cooler .

[ 12-11-2002, 11:37 PM: Message edited by: Bill Perkins ]

[ishmael]

If you have twelve volt, some of these newer electronic fridges are supposed to work quite well. Can't come up with the name off hand, but look in any camping or chandler's catalogue.

No personal experience.

[skuthorp]

Engel make a first class fridge/freezer, Iv'e had one for 15 years, no trouble at all.

[JimConlin]

Sometimes the cooler's place within the boat suggests desirable features in the cooler. In my current project, the cooler will be belowdecks, stuffed beneath the cockpit. To get to it, you'll stand forward of it and dragg it into the cabin. Igloo makes a 'Wheelie' model with wheels on the bottom corner and a lid that is hinged at the wheels end. This'll be convenient to use in my tight space.
http://www.gopromos.com/images/05514f.jpg

[Wild Dingo]

ooohhh yer talkin about an esky!! now Im with yer!

Actually aside from Sulthorps great promo of the engel fridges...

I found one in the local Kmart that really did things for me and Tiff... we laughed our butts of right there in the store hootin around holding our sides... well it grabbed me as funny as heck she just giggled cause I seemed to be intent on proving her recently made point... that Im totally mad :rolleyes: ...

I mean this thing was a minature fridge... the standup round top type used in kitchens in the 50s and 60s even had the door that opens with one of them pull out chrome handles stood all of 2ft high and about a foot in beam draft of about the same... pretty cool looking thing... 240v and 12v... tryin me darndest to get possumpoop to get me one for Chrissy!!!

What a hoot!

Take it easy
Shane

[doorstop]

Build yourself a box out of Styrene foam, clad that with 3/8" ply(glues well with construction adhesive), decide how deep you want the lid to be, set your table saw or power saw to a depth equal to the thickness of the ply plus foam, ... cut your boxin "half", fit hinges as appropriate. An alternative to this is to clad a styrene broccoli box with ply and do the same. Paint the inside with acrylic house paint to seal it and to make it easy to clean. If you use block ice instead of cubes or crushed it will last several days easily in even the hottest climate, we make ours in empty (of milk!) milk cartons.

[Russ]

Hey Ish, they're called thermo-electric devices and they work on the principle of the Peltier effect. Essentially they are an electronic heat pump with no moving parts. They up side is that they are small and will produce a really good temperature differential to ambient. The downside is that they are power hogs and only efficient if they are set up correctly.

I've been messing around with them for a few months now and have built a cooler about the size of a twelve pack to go to around 40-45F on about 3 or 4 amps. A little more tweaking and I'm going to install it on the boat. Neat stuff.

[Ron Williamson]

We have a Koolatron that works pretty well.It also heats if you reverse the connector.(Warm beer,EWWWWW!)
R

[ion barnes]

Ron has taken the words outta my mouth. The key to performance is effectivness relative to ambient air temp. The Peltier effect is only good for about + or - 40'f of your air temp and I would hedge that to about 30'f due to the amount of work required to reach the extremes. I wll add that there is a built in version from Origo called MarinCool and it uses water as its heat sink so that would be your ambient temp. Have not got any feedback on performance but Pratical Sailor did a poor review a couple of years ago. Their findings were real slap-dash and I have not given them any credability for it.

[Gordy]

I got one of the so called "5 Day" coolers. The insulation is thicker, therefore the interior volume is less, but the sucker really works!

I buy a case of bottled water at the warehouse store and freeze them. As they thaw they provide drinking water.

[John B]

My enquiries have led me to believe( enough to invest in) that the Danfoss pump is the most economic/ efficient unit available. I just bought an Australian unit with one in it. EVAKOOL I think is the name. It's a very well made glass box with the pump off the side. I just didn't have the time to make an icebox and retro fit the pump this year.I also like the idea of being able to take "units" out of the boat reasonably easily.
I'll tell you after christmas how it went. we've only had one weekend away so far and the bugger froze my beer.Sigh. It has a low voltage cut off. It has a temperature control. The nut behind the wheel hasn't worked out the calibration yet.

[Stu Fyfe]

In my small cruising boat, I find trying to keep anything cold is a pain. If I do try to keep things cold, I use a small soft foam cooler that you can fold up when it melts. That way I'm not wasting space when the ice melts. I think that the biggest drawback to a cooler on a small boat is the space it takes up when the ice is gone. You can learn to live without cold drinks and food can be bought that doesn't need the refrigeration.

[Russ]

ionbarnes,
Agreed. I have found that there are three fronts in which there are problems in using Peltiers. First, as you touched on is temperature differential. The best Peltiers I have found in a single stage are only good to 40degsF difference as you state. The trick is to get the maximum heat transfer possible. Using water as a cooling medium is good as is air if done right but the trick is in the transfer itself. Heat conduction is a tricky thing and so far the commercial coolers don't do a very good job of it. Simply blowing air over a heat sink won't cut it.

Multistaging is a neat idea that will gain increased temperature differential but the power consumption goes up dramatically.

Second is retention. Now that the cold is in the box, it is very important to keep it there. Insulation, insulation, insulation. Loading pre-cooled rather than warm products will help keep the shock load down. Top opening rather than side opening is a big plus. Also, making sure the kids don't open the reefer ten times an hour will obviously help.

Third is power management. Peltiers actually prefer to be pulsed with a switching power supply. Use of pulse width modulation and a thermostat will allow dynamic adjustment of power rather than binary control. This way it will use the minimum amount of power for cold maintenance or use maximum power to overcome a shock load. So far as I know no commercial cooler has this capability. They either turn it on or turn it off.

There was a company building peltier reefers that advertised in the back of Cruising World once or twice a while back. I never saw any review on their product and I haven't seen the ad lately.

Now make sure you don't tell anyone about my ideas until I can patent this thing and make my (dream) million dollars.

[ion barnes]

No worries Russ :D

[JMAC]

I'm starting to think that I'll make one out of ply covered with glass and lined with 1" blueboard. This might also serve as a step down into the cabin. I thought I would make it to hold four 1/2 gal. milk containers and keep these filled with drinkable water, frozen up the night before. Sound reasonable?

[Wayne Jeffers]

Originally posted by Gordy:
I got one of the so called "5 Day" coolers. The insulation is thicker, therefore the interior volume is less, but the sucker really works! . . .I'll second that recommendation. They're made by Igloo, BTW. The thickness appears to be close to 2" all around and it's all filled with foam insulation, even the lid.

Note that most coolers have a wall thickness of much less than 1" and the lids are uninsulated! :(

Wayne

[NormMessinger]

Ah, now we are getting down to the original question. I had heard the Igloo was good but hadn't caught on to the model. Thanks.

--Norm

[On Vacation]

Coleman Extreme. 5 day cooler and it works.

[ion barnes]

If you can buy one that fits, why waste time building. If build it is, use epoxy to bond the ply to the foam. Blue foam is only choice, but make it thicker.

[Meerkat]

http://www.thinkgeek.com/cubegoodies/toys/5991/
http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/front/deskmate-fridge.jpg

It Chills, It Warms, Its Portable, Its Networked
Ok, so it's *NOT* networked. Someday portable fridges just might be though, so keep your eyes peeled! And in the meantime, you can enjoy everything else a good desktop fridge has to offer, like:

Ideal for desks, dorms, computer rooms, cars, LAN parties, Next-to-the-playstation 2, etc...
Warm/Chill modes (chills down to 40 degrees F and warms up to 120 degrees F)
Front window!
Includes convenient fold-out carrying handle on top
Cup holder while unit lays on back.
Includes 7-foot power cord with both AC *AND* car adapters!
Holds up to (9) 12-ounce cans

Fridge Dimensions:
Internal: 10" tall by 5 3/4" Wide by 5" Deep
External: 14" tall by 6 3/4" Wide by 7" Deep
$70 - seems like it would be good enough for eggs, butter and milk for a weekend at least, depending on battery drain.