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 Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums
 General Sailing Forum
 Fridge or cooler?		  New Topic  Reply to Topic
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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5357 Posts
Initially Posted - 04/23/2025 :  11:14:51  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Among the forum members, what’s the skinny on what kind of cooler to use? Specifically for overnights and a few days out? This summer I plan to do some 3-4 day trips around LI Sound and Rhode Island, so I d appreciate your experience and advice.
• There’s always the old standby Ice Box built into the galley on the C25s.Similar on C250s?
• Then you can buy an Igloo or Coleman 3 or 5-day cooler is nice. I have one, but the ice melts about mid-day on day 2. Ruins my dinner. $100-200 gets you a really nice one.
• In the truck stop, I’ve seen the Thermo-Electric cooler that uses some kind of piezo element to cool the contents down to 40° below ambient temperatures. E.g.: 80° day, you should cool to 40°, 90° gets you 50°. I’ve read that they don’t work very well, nor for very long, and crap out after a season or two. They cost between $200-400.
• A proper refrigerator that uses a compressor - these are the most reliable, however they can cost $600-1200 and can run down your battery pretty quickly.
Anybody using a fridge on their boats? I’d love to know what your experience has been.
Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain — Milford, CT

DavidCrosby
Navigator

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USA
237 Posts
Response Posted - 04/23/2025 :  11:29:43  Show Profile  Visit DavidCrosby's Homepage  Reply with Quote
I definitely like having some sort of refrigeration device. I do not like chasing ice when on my trips. When I traveled the Mississippi and Ohio rivers from Alton, IL to Grand Rivers, KY the biggest challenge was finding ice. Soaking my food with the ice melt was another challenge.

I then went the thermoelectric cooler route. My biggest complaint is that you can not really control the temperature. We take our boat to the Great Lakes each summer. For the Apostle Islands trip on Lake Superior, it got quite cool at night. We ended up freezing our food over night.

I then bought a Dometic CFX335 portable refrigerator. I can set the temperature as I please. either as a refrigerator or a freezer. It maintains temperature nicely. I replaced my two old lead acid batteries with new 100ah AGM batteries and added a 100w solar panel. Also, installed an inverter for StarLink and a battery monitoring system. I find between the refrigerator, StarLink, lights, etc. I draw my batteries down to 85% overnight and the solar panel typically has me back at 100% by noon.

I use the portable refrigerator for lots of things, such as trips to the lake, holiday meals, etc. etc. It is not just relegated to the boat.

That's my two cents.
David Crosby "Small World"
'02 C250 WK #614
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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5357 Posts
Response Posted - 04/23/2025 :  12:27:21  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Your 2c is worth a great deal, thanks!
Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain — Milford, CT
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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.