Portable cooler/freezers

[Schuster]

Does anyone out there have a recommendation as to a particular brand and size of portable cooler/freezer to get. I am considering something around 40qt size to put up and freeze ling cod, shrimp while fishing in the San Juans. I see there are a lot of brands out there that claim to be good at a 1/3 of the price of say a Dometic cooler/freezer. Thanks for any suggestions. Dave

[kennharriet]

This link may be helpful. We went the Engel 14 a couple years ago without regret.

http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=28209

[thataway]

I had failure of two of the Dometics. Thataway the 25 has and ARB and it was doing fine, until about a week ago, and the new owner says it is no longer working.

I put in a Norcold chest type (12 volt only) on the in side and is running well a year later. I had Norcold which lasted up to 15 years.

I have a "Black Forrest" by WACO as a SUV/Truck refer/freezer and it was cheap and worked well. All of the Black Forrest seem to be out of stocks.

[colbysmith]

We have an Engel 40 qt portable that we like. We had talked with others before purchasing it, and it seemed to be the most recommended. Colby

[ricka]

We purchased a SNOMASTER CL56 and have been very pleased with it. We used it last year during the Friday Harbor gathering for freezing our shrimp catch.
I like that it has two compartments that can be set at freezing or fridge temps.
We ran it using a Goel Zero 1400watt. We kept that charged by solar and dock power.

[hardee]

I have been using my boat since I got it and only (VEWRY) rarely used a cooler. I am thinking I may be using it in areas where the water temp won't keep my cabbage and yogurt cool enough, so seriously considering the Engle, on of the smaller ones, (about the 17 size), and keeping it portable for use in the truck too.

I'm open to suggestions, ideas and comments on efficient function etc. (Or if anyone sees a particularly good deal on them anytime.

Harvey
SleepyC

[colbysmith]

Hi Harvey,
We go out for several weeks at a time, and it's nice being able to take frozen vegetables and meat in it. And Ice Cream! Lol. We can also make ice for our drinks (usually tea or soda). It's been great not having to worry about buying ice every few days as we did with our old cooler. I don't believe the amperage draw is more than 4 amps max, and we keep it around 8-10 degrees. (At Powell, or in the really hot weather, the same setting will allow it to get up to mid 20's, but that's still keeping things frozen.) At home when we first load it, I'll turn it on maximum, and it'll get down to -7 or a bit colder. We used it once as just a refrigerator on our trip out west last Thanksgiving (without the boat). We have the 40 qt I believe, and it holds more than we thought it would. You just have to figure out the right size packages and how to load it. This last trip we are returning from, we had 3 cartons of ice cream (1/2 g?), extra cheese, lunch meat, hamburger patties, chicken, brats, and vegetables in it. My wife usually tapes a list on top of it with what's loaded in it, then crosses the items off the list as they are removed. Just an easy way to keep inventory of what we have. BTW, on the 25, we keep it in the cockpit. I have 12vt plugs in the side compartments that I can plug it into. On the 22, when I was solo on the Alaska trip, I sat it in the front passenger seat. I made a board to go between the seat bench and the berth bulkhead, that I could pin down, and then I had cut some notches in it to attach a strap, so the cooler was held down securely. I had an accessory plug nearby that I could plug it into. This not only kept it out of the way in the cockpit, but helped balance the boat laterally. Colby

[hardee]

Thanks Colby. I never thought of using the front seat for that. Interesting idea, and a power plug handy there.

Harvey
SleepyC