water drenched ice chest... other ideas?

[oklahomajewel]

Take your pulaski and the cooler out to your back yard and whack off the appropriate amount of ice from the glacier. Layer glacier ice with Bud until you have a solid foundation covering about 1/2 to 2/3rds of the capacity of the cooler. Lay your frozen packages of moose burger on top of ice and Bud to fill. All vegetables should be canned and kept in a Safeway bag separately from the cooler, preferably in a location where they will not rattle as you drive.

Upon arrival at the camping destination...drink beer, eat at a restaurant or mooch off the guys with dutch ovens. Put thawed and unused moose burger in a location near to camp for evening bear watching. Use melted glacier water/ice mixture remaining in cooler to soak the hand you burned while trying to light campfire....Juneaudave

I'm with ya Dave... or how about just plan to lay your frozen moose burgers on top of the ice and then add Miller Lite to fill. Oops! Forgot the moose burgers... oh well.... All vegetables (and Tequila, Seagram's etc) should be kept where they won't rattle or spill.... Use melted glacier water/ice mixture remaining , to soak the hand while mixing with the liquor with the other hand....

You crack me up! hahaha

[gyroguy]

Use melted glacier water/ice mixture remaining in cooler to soak the hand you burned while trying to light campfire....Juneaudave

Doesn't the silt in the glacial ice get into the burned area?

Only real good use we had for glacial ice was cooling down chocolate milk for visitors from "Outside."

Sure miss the blue color of the ice, though!

[TomS]

I hate to be the jerk who interupts an entertaining hijack with an on-topic post. But, here goes...

At this year's Camp ADK Spring Tear-UP, we met a guy named Doug from Canada who was using an Engel 12/110-volt compact freezer/refrigerator. He raved about the performance of his unit. According to Doug, these units are much more effecient than the thermo-electic units. He had his in the back seat of his car plugged into a cigarette lighter. He said it didn't drain his car battery. He also said the units are very rugged. They are used by the UN in Africa to transport vaccines to remote villages in harsh conditions. The down side is they are very expensive, (over $600 US for a 34-quart capacity model).

Since the tear-up I've been thinking about that little fridge. I'm getting sick of the daily routine of buying ice, schlepping it back to the campsite, draining the cooler, and filling it up with more ice. Then there is the problem of water-logged food, and the zip-lock bag of meat that always seems to bleed over everthing.

So, I did a little more reasearch, the 34-quart model will fit my slide-out cooler draw in my tear drop. In refridgeration mode, it draws .7 amps.

.7 amps x 24 hours = 16.8 amp hours per day.

My Optima battery is rated at 55 amp hours. At that rate, it would drain the battery in 3 days. Actually, the realistic range is probably less than that since you are not supposed to drain the battery below 50% capacity.

However, at .7 amps, my battery could certainly power the unit for a full day driving. If I know I'll have shore power available at my destination, I can run the fridge off the trailer battery while I drive. Then recharge the battery at night at the CG while I run the fridge off shore power.

If my destination doesn't have shore power and I'm on a weekend trip, I could put it in the car during the day's drive powering it off the car's electrical system. The alternator should be going full-bore so battery drain wouldn't be an issue. When I get to camp, run it off the trailer's battery overnight. Then move it back to the car for the drive home.

I know $600 is a lot of money. But, my leasure time is important too. And, doing that ice routine a major PITA. I'm seriously considering buying one of these things next year.

Here a link with more information.

"I'm gonna tell you baby, we're gonna move away from here
I don't want no ice man, I'm gonna get me a frigidaire"
-- B.B. King

[kurtibm]

When we go rafting we always keep a wet towel on top of the cooler (yeah, I know, we don't need to look too hard to find water) & a piece of 1/2" "blue foam", cut to fit into the top of the cooler, just below the lid.
This has proven to sustain ice about 20 to 25% longer than w/o both.
Obviously the effectiveness of the wet towel increases in dry climes due to evap cooling physics, but should/would help anywhere.

[madjack]

...Tom, if you are going that route, have you considered this one I have seen it on sale for $369, making it a bit cheaper...here is a review of it ...scroll down the page about halfway...looks like it would work quite well........
madjack

[TomS]

...Tom, if you are going that route, have you considered this one I have seen it on sale for $369, making it a bit cheaper...here is a review of it ...scroll down the page about halfway...looks like it would work quite well........
madjack

Thanks for the tip Jack.

We're in the middle of packing up for a 4-day weekend on Cape Cod. I need more time to research this puppy. At first glance, it appears too tall to fit in the slideout in my lower galley. However, the price is very attractive and the L.P. gas option makes it usable for extended trips in our local state parks that don't have electricity. I'll definately do more research on it when we get back..

[kurtibm]

$100.00 for one in/near Sacramento... (used once)

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/spo/180025247.html

[madjack]

Tom, that 200 buck savings will buy a lot of martini's ...we always carry a cooler in the car and the thought of plugging into 110v at the house, 12v in the car and 110v or propane at the campsite is very attractive to me...plus it will make ice to boot
madjack

[PaulC]

Tom, I have used both the Engel and the Dometic fridges. In my opinion the engel is the go. The 3 ways are okay BUT are not as efficient on 12v and mains as they are on gas. Also, check out the Waeco range of 12v fridges. They tend to be a little more economical (who said Cheaper )
than the engel. They also have some features that may interest you re power usage.

Cheers
Paul

[catrinka]

I managed to find 2 rubbermaid cereal storage containers that are the perfect size to stand up in my cooler. I freeze water in these before leaving home. On longer trips when I need to buy ice, I can fill the containers easily with the removable top and there is no mess in the cooler.

[Juli n Bill]

I found a single plastic shelf from a cheap shelving unit in my alley. It's the perfect size to fit in the bottom of our cooler and it keeps the food up out of the melted ice water.

[oklahomajewel]

Juli & Bill.... nice name, girl! haha

I will try that idea, or cut down my old charcoal grill piece to fit down in the cooler. Bend a couple of the tines to act as 'legs'... well , I've got it pictured in my head....

Thanks!
julie

[sunny16]

I've used Tupperware to put food in that I didn't want wet. This keeps the ice around the drink cans clean and the food stays cold, too. I too hate it when you pull out a sandwich and the bread is mushy or you want to use ice in a cup and it is colored with who knows what.

[Gaston]

last trip we made (IRG) I froze 1 gal milk jug full of water, froze 3 of 6 water bottles and all the meat we were taking. the day before we left I put the frozen stuff in the cooler and all the stuff we wanted cold in the refer,you know pop, salad fixens etc. then I put 10lbs of dry ice in the cooler with the frozen stuff to get it good and froze. On the day we left I added a 10lb block of ice to the cooler and all the cold stuff from the refer. we were gone 7 days and i still had ice and frozen meat when we got home. kinda over kill as I also had frozen beer, frozen salad, frozen just about everything else!! be carefull that dry ice really get the froze stuff hard froze But I had not a drop of water in the cooler in 7 days

[madjack]

dry ice=110*BELOW ZERO...be very careful when handling...it also out gasses CO2 as it sublimates.................