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Old 10-16-2021, 08:46 PM   #1
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Freezer

The largest refrigerator that I can fit into my galley is approximately 4.5 cu ft. The freezer in a refrigerator of this size is minuscule.

I am considering using a drawer freezer installed under a seat. This is unit that I am considering,

https://yachtaidmarine.com/shop/mari...arine-freezer/

I am interested in other solutions folks have come up with for a freezer.

Thanks,

Bruce
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Old 10-17-2021, 02:13 AM   #2
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I have a small household chest freezer up on the flying bridge.

Works great and cost $200 at lowes
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Old 10-17-2021, 05:53 AM   #3
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I have an Engel portable refrigerator / freezer. Very happy with it. The insulation is very good and power consumption (12 VDC and 120 VAC) is quite reasonable. I'm not impressed with RV / marine refrigerators and especially freezers as I find the insulation is usually crap, meaning higher power consumption. To me, a pull out drawer style freezer might be convenient, but the thermal loss would have to be the worst with the best style being a chest freezer. I guess that would all depend on how often you go into it and how important daily kilowatt consumption is. I look for efficiency as I spend time on the hook.

https://engelcoolers.com/collections...verland-fridge

Ted
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Old 10-17-2021, 06:01 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by O C Diver View Post
I have an Engel portable refrigerator / freezer. Very happy with it. The insulation is very good and power consumption (12 VDC and 120 VAC) is quite reasonable. I'm not impressed with RV / marine refrigerators and especially freezers as I find the insulation is usually crap, meaning higher power consumption. To me, a pull out drawer style freezer might be convenient, but the thermal loss would have to be the worst with the best style being a chest freezer. I guess that would all depend on how often you go into it and how important daily kilowatt consumption is. I look for efficiency as I spend time on the hook.

https://engelcoolers.com/collections...verland-fridge

Ted
Ted how are you powering the Engel? Just a simple 12 volt connection or are you running it off of the inverter? We are looking for something for the flybridge for our trip south next winter.
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Old 10-17-2021, 12:06 PM   #5
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Ted how are you powering the Engel? Just a simple 12 volt connection or are you running it off of the inverter? We are looking for something for the flybridge for our trip south next winter.
Right now 120 VAC. Ideally 12 VDC. I like the unit very much, and in my adult years have gone to reading the manual before making costly mistakes. The manual says that it will run on voltages below 12 VDC. Cooling capacity is reduced along with efficiency. They specifically say not to use it on too high a voltage (without indicating what that threshold is) as the power supply will be damaged. I need to call or email them as my alternator is putting out 14.4 VDC in the absorption stage. They recommend a dedicated circuit as it has a 10 amp fuse. Provided 14.4 VDC is compatible, I'll probably put in a dedicated circuit this winter. For this summer's cruising, there was a wall outlet handy.

Ted
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Old 10-17-2021, 10:44 PM   #6
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I use a Vitrifrigo 4.2 cu ft refrigerator without a freezer for the same reason you stated. I do carry an Engel portable 30 liter freezer but after looking at the Vitrifrigo 1.6 cu ft (45 liters) drawer freezer you are thinking of using I'm liking it very much.
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Old 10-18-2021, 02:02 AM   #7
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You say you have room for a 4.5 cu. ft., but are looking at a 1.2 Vitrifrigo single-drawer cooler. I'm confused.
We replaced our old NorCold, with the miniscule freezer, with the Vitrifrigo 2-drawer unit (freezer on top), and love it. Works great in our GB 36, looks great, and holds all the things we want. A minimal of wood butchery to fit, and we haven't looked back.
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Old 10-18-2021, 02:28 AM   #8
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Seems like a steep price to pay for such a small freezer. We have a small chest freezer that has about triple the capacity and paid less than $600 from Overstock. It runs on both 12 and 120 volts. Freezes ice cream rock hard.
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Old 10-18-2021, 02:52 AM   #9
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Seems like a steep price to pay for such a small freezer. We have a small chest freezer that has about triple the capacity and paid less than $600 from Overstock. It runs on both 12 and 120 volts. Freezes ice cream rock hard.
So, what is it, please?
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Old 10-18-2021, 04:53 AM   #10
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I use a Vitrifrigo 4.2 cu ft refrigerator without a freezer for the same reason you stated. I do carry an Engel portable 30 liter freezer but after looking at the Vitrifrigo 1.6 cu ft (45 liters) drawer freezer you are thinking of using I'm liking it very much.
As usual, we have here all sorts of choices and combinations. Three factors dominate: cost, space, electrical draw. We have a 45-quart Engel, two 4.2 cf Vitrifrigo fridge-only fridges in a cabinet, a seven cubic-foot freezer on the flybridge deck, and a large-capacity commercial ice-maker (clear ice) on the aft deck. We use the Engel to supplement the Vitrifrigos and to keep beer more than ice-cold. While the Vitrifrigos keep food suffiently cold, they do not get the temp down to near 32 degrees as does the Engel. We like our beer VERY cold. The chest freezer, even in 90-degree temps, easily freezes ice cream rock hard allthough I did add some inulation. We use a lot of ice and never run out.

As for electrical, our cruising patterns are such that we do not ever worry about capacity. Our battery bank sustains us for 16 hours to 50% depth of discharge, no solar. It takes a 5-6 hour run to fully recharge our batteries. We also do not care when we must run a generator a few hours per day if we anchor for more than one night which is not often when cruising. Solar would be a choice if our overnight pattern were to change but it is not worth the bother for our use pattern. We do have plenty of unused real estate to add solar panels.

We also have two generators, a 12.5kw and a 7.7kw. We use each according to the load drawn. The 12.5kw is nice to have as it produces about the same as the input from 50-amp shorepower. Total number of hours on the two are about 6,000. The propulsion engines have about 6,700 hours. No doubt the prior owners used them way more extensively than we do. I attribute this to the substantial upgrades we made to the electrical system.

We are full-time live aboards, six years now, and, cooking-wise, we enjoy having most everything at hand that we could have in a dirt house. What works for us won't work for others. As for the Engel, we love having it but it now costs $1,200. We paid $800 for the same model four years ago. That is a dear price to pay for cold beer.

Last note - we run the Engel on 120VAC even though I could easily run a dedicated 12VDC circuit. I may get around to doing so this winter. By the way, our Vitrifrigos are 12VDC only. Except for lack of ready access to a dedicated 12VDC circuit, I could never see any sense to suffering the conversion losses from charging batteries, then inverting to run the fridges on 120VAC, only to have the fridges convert (more energy loss) the juice back to 12VDC to run the compressor.
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Old 10-18-2021, 05:06 AM   #11
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Right now 120 VAC. Ideally 12 VDC. I like the unit very much, and in my adult years have gone to reading the manual before making costly mistakes. The manual says that it will run on voltages below 12 VDC. Cooling capacity is reduced along with efficiency. They specifically say not to use it on too high a voltage (without indicating what that threshold is) as the power supply will be damaged. I need to call or email them as my alternator is putting out 14.4 VDC in the absorption stage. They recommend a dedicated circuit as it has a 10 amp fuse. Provided 14.4 VDC is compatible, I'll probably put in a dedicated circuit this winter. For this summer's cruising, there was a wall outlet handy.

Ted
Thanks for that Ted.
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Old 10-18-2021, 06:13 AM   #12
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Seems like a steep price to pay for such a small freezer. We have a small chest freezer that has about triple the capacity and paid less than $600 from Overstock. It runs on both 12 and 120 volts. Freezes ice cream rock hard.
Yep, my $200 household chest freezer is a perfect addition.

Yes one could spend more, but I frankly do not see the reason or advantage.

Not on a boat with a modern inverter based electrical system.
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Old 10-18-2021, 10:11 AM   #13
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First Mate and I have just returned from 4.5 months living aboard our Island Packet SP Cruiser, travelling the South and South West of England - covid limited our ambitions this year.


We have a portable Dometic 40 litre fridge/freezer hard wired in with retaining straps via deck eyes under our - little used - chart table. The Dometic, like the Waeco, uses the small Danfoss compressor and has a smart switch. When shore power or genset power is available it uses that, when that is disconnected, straight to 12v.


Uses 3 amps when pulling 12v and is quiet and efficient.


The Chinese, of course, are getting in on the act and their offering are 40% cheaper using a similar small compressor.


One that took our fancy in New Zealand was called " Brass Monkey "


As in 'Cold enough to freeze the balls off a Brass Monkey'.


If we have nearby resupply we ALWAYS have cold beer and ice cream.
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Old 10-19-2021, 01:04 PM   #14
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We have an approx. 4.5 cu.ft fridge/freezer.
After a few years on the longer trips we decided to purchase a chest freezer with a small compartment that can act like a fridge..

It sits out on the back deck. It is secured into place. It is covered with Sunbrella cover both for shading and for rain protection. The Sunbrella is not just lying on the freezer top, but is secured above and angled so the rain mostly runs off and there is air movement to carry off much or the suns heat on the clear days.

I learned some years earlier to protect these things from the elements.
I repaired two units from friends due to water getting into the little control panels which are NOT sealed from the weather. THe water corroded the little circuit boards requiring a bunch of cleanup, LED and resistor replacements and trace repairs.

One I figured was outright rain.
The other was condensation moisture. She wrapped the unit with a snug fitting insulation wrap and it trapped moisture which then made its way into the controls.

They do still work but if the freezer is exposed to the elements protect it with some free air movement possible.
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Old 10-19-2021, 01:59 PM   #15
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So, what is it, please?
I believe it is an Edgestar. Works great. However it is in the storage shed for the winter so I can’t confirm that is the brand but ai am 90+% sure.
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Old 10-19-2021, 04:17 PM   #16
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One that took our fancy in New Zealand was called " Brass Monkey "

As in 'Cold enough to freeze the balls off a Brass Monkey'.

If we have nearby resupply we ALWAYS have cold beer and ice cream.
Any freezer with that name just forced me to check it out. Pretty good product from what I saw. Too bad they don't make it for 120v operation although they ship worldwide.
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Old 10-19-2021, 06:49 PM   #17
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Just realized I forgot the mfgr. Dometic. I do not particularly like Dometic but it has been fine. It is now about 6-7 yrs old. It sees about 6-10 weeks use yearly.
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Old 10-19-2021, 08:40 PM   #18
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I suggest as others have to avoid spending big bucks for refrigeration/freezers for your boat. I firmly believe that spending the big bucks for a 12V so called marine fridge/freezer is beyond my accepted limits for wasteful spending.

15 years ago I purchased an 8.3cuft Summit apartment fridge ($550 delivered) for our boat with a great freezer that features self defrost. It continues to run flawlessly and ice cream gets rock hard.

I designed a simple relay system to operate from dock power when available and changes to my 4KW true sine wave inverter immediately if dock AC is not there. Geez…..still thrilled about it having self defrost!
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Old 10-19-2021, 08:47 PM   #19
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Seems like a steep price to pay for such a small freezer. We have a small chest freezer that has about triple the capacity and paid less than $600 from Overstock. It runs on both 12 and 120 volts. Freezes ice cream rock hard.
I agree. Did a Google and found there is bunch of drawers out there, at least one for about 700. But I would go with a larger unit if space is available
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Old 10-20-2021, 07:50 AM   #20
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Any freezer with that name just forced me to check it out. Pretty good product from what I saw. Too bad they don't make it for 120v operation although they ship worldwide.



We have had two American built boats here in the UK. Both have 110v electrical systems for water heating, battery charging and microwaves. A transformer is fitted so the UK and European 240v systems can operate the US 110v systems. A separate ring main allows 240v from the sockets.


Can it work the other way - transformer 110v to 240v?


Just checked Amazon - step up 110v to 240v transformers are readily available.


The magic words are " Step Up " not step down.


Perhaps there is some milage in trying that route for a freezer with a smart switch for you guys stateside.
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