300# ice makers

swampu · Oct 20, 2012

Does anyone have any experiance with using a cabinet style icemaker on your vessel? I have two 32 cubic foot ice boxes and I am thinking about plumbing an icemaker to one of them and installing a cold plate. This is what I was thinking about.

I would place the unit on the roof and build a stainless chute to the icebox. This serves two purposes, one make ice and two I could design my inverter system to handle the ice maker and that should cover everything else when the ice maker is not in use. What say ya'll

HopCar · Oct 20, 2012

You might want to take a look at the Eskimo Ice Maker by Dometic. It is designed to make ice and pump it through a hose into your ice box. You find them a lot on big sportfish boats. Here is a link to the Dometic website Eskimo Ice Fishbox Ice Systems - Dometic

ksanders · Oct 20, 2012

I have a under the cabinet ice maker. Its not a 300 pounder, but it produces more ice than I've ever needed to keep a gigantic cooler of fish cold.

I think it produces 20 lbs a day, which is about 3 large bags, ant it runs on the inverter.

Shoalwaters · Oct 20, 2012

The Eskimo is good at what it does: making slush ice for keeping fish cold - not so good for cold drinks. Eskimos are designed to run continuously once started; they don't lend themselves to making small batches of ice. I can recommend the Raritan Icerette as a stand alone cabinet-style ice cube maker. Not so fond of the Scotsman cubers.

CPseudonym · Oct 20, 2012

swampu said:
Does anyone have any experiance with using a cabinet style icemaker on your vessel? I have two 32 cubic foot ice boxes and I am thinking about plumbing an icemaker to one of them and installing a cold plate. This is what I was thinking about.

I would place the unit on the roof and build a stainless chute to the icebox. This serves two purposes, one make ice and two I could design my inverter system to handle the ice maker and that should cover everything else when the ice maker is not in use. What say ya'll

I think the ice would melt enough in the chute to plug it up. Great way to think outside the box though.

Paul if you need a 300# ice maker for your boat parties I'm booking a flight for your next one. That's a lot of scotch

swampu · Oct 20, 2012

Craig, my plan was to make a chute that would drop the ice straight down into the ice box. I got the idea when I was at a bulk ice house ($1.75 for 16# bag or bulk) ice station. I'm digging the 300# boat party. I wonder how much scotch you would need

My plan was if I ran the thing a half of a day I would get 150# and that would be enough to handle my three skiffs and lots of bud lights...

HopCar · Oct 20, 2012

If this discussion was on a sail boater site, they'd all be going nuts over the amount of water you're planning to use.

ksanders · Oct 20, 2012

swampu said:
Craig, my plan was to make a chute that would drop the ice straight down into the ice box. I got the idea when I was at a bulk ice house ($1.75 for 16# bag or bulk) ice station. I'm digging the 300# boat party. I wonder how much scotch you would need My plan was if I ran the thing a half of a day I would get 150# and that would be enough to handle my three skiffs and lots of bud lights...

Unless you are a commercial fisherman there is zero use for a 300 lb/day ice maker.

I don't even know what brand unit I have, but it makes more ice than we need. When it goes out, it will be replaced with a Raritan unit.

swampu · Oct 20, 2012

HopCar said:
If this discussion was on a sail boater site, they'd all be going nuts over the amount of water you're planning to use.

The pictured unit but air cooled requires 25 gallons per 100 lbs of ice. Ksanders, my plan for this vessel is weekend trips to the islands with several groups of friends. My skiffs and any boats that may show up to fish would all require ice. When I fish I buy 50# minumum for small fish (trout, flounder and red fish) Big fish (cobia, snapper and aj's) need at least 150# of ice. What I catch and how many friends that show up are not set in stone but I don't want to run short.

CPseudonym · Oct 20, 2012

swampu said:
Craig, my plan was to make a chute that would drop the ice straight down into the ice box. I got the idea when I was at a bulk ice house ($1.75 for 16# bag or bulk) ice station...<snip> My plan was if I ran the thing a half of a day I would get 150# and that would be enough to handle my three skiffs and lots of bud lights...

Following the logic clearly now. One of my former accounts was a local ice supplier for this part of California. Construct an enclosure that is reasonably weatherproof and well ventilated on the roof and carry on, it should work great. I install units like those in semi weather proof outdoor locations frequently. It is important to service them more often but it's only cleaning filters and coils, not exactly rocket science.

swampu said:
I'm digging the 300# boat party. I wonder how much scotch you would need

No where near as much as I used to :lol:

RickB · Oct 21, 2012

swampu said:
The pictured unit but air cooled requires 25 gallons per 100 lbs of ice.

Where does the other half of the water go?

swampu · Oct 21, 2012

RickB said:
Where does the other half of the water go?

Good question, I don't know. I'll be asking though

rwidman · Oct 21, 2012

I would be concerned with the weight of the icemaker on the roof. Not only structurally, but the effect it might have on the stability of the boat.

And then there's the fact that it would be in direct sunlight much of the time which might impact its ability to make ice or its efficincy.

CPseudonym · Oct 21, 2012

RickB said:
Where does the other half of the water go?

This brief article explains it better than I can.

Ice Machines

Long and short of it is there is a certain amount of thawing and rinsing involved in making clear "marketable" ice. Which is what commercial units are all about.

Larry M · Oct 21, 2012

CPseudonym said:
This brief article explains it better than I can.

Ice Machines

Long and short of it is there is a certain amount of thawing and rinsing involved in making clear "marketable" ice. Which is what commercial units are all about.

Craig: Good article. I had no idea how inefficient some makers are.

swampu · Oct 21, 2012

rwidman said:
I would be concerned with the weight of the icemaker on the roof. Not only structurally, but the effect it might have on the stability of the boat.

And then there's the fact that it would be in direct sunlight much of the time which might impact its ability to make ice or its efficiency.

Ron, I don't think the weight will make any difference on my boat (structurally or geometrically) I would build a housing which would block the direct sunlight, the hotter the unit the less ice it would make.

Craig: I'm thinking on the extra water usage I could plumb that to a holding tank for toilet or wash down usage. Great article by the way, this is why the forum is great. Gets the grey matter working!

Ocean Breeze NL · Oct 21, 2012

swampu said:
Craig, my plan was to make a chute that would drop the ice straight down into the ice box. I got the idea when I was at a bulk ice house ($1.75 for 16# bag or bulk) ice station. I'm digging the 300# boat party. I wonder how much scotch you would need My plan was if I ran the thing a half of a day I would get 150# and that would be enough to handle my three skiffs and lots of bud lights...

Now we're talkin.. I'm on my way

swampu · Oct 21, 2012

Ocean Breeze NL said:
Now we're talkin.. I'm on my way

I never expected a world of warcraft gif on the trawler forum. Next year it's on like donkey kong if your ever in Mississippi

rwidman · Oct 21, 2012

swampu said:
Ron, I don't think the weight will make any difference on my boat (structurally or geometrically) I would build a housing which would block the direct sunlight, the hotter the unit the less ice it would make.

As long as you've considered those things, go for it.

CPseudonym · Oct 21, 2012

swampu said:
Craig: I'm thinking on the extra water usage I could plumb that to a holding tank for toilet or wash down usage. Great article by the way, this is why the forum is great. Gets the grey matter working!

As long as you do not allow it to cross connect to your potable system your good to go. I would recommend draining that tank after the weekend or so of use though as the water will develop a bit of a funk if stored longterm. Keep direct rain and heavy consistent splash off of the unit and it will work fine.

You mentioned heat already, the only other real variable for efficiency is incoming water temperature. Intuitively, the cooler the make up water the quicker to harvest cycle.

300# ice makers

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