Ice Makers

After an extended trip and the continued purchasing of ice, wonder if anyone has a small ice maker that makes solid ice. We had one of those portables which has a limited life span and the ice not all the solid, wondering if anyone had a lead on a compact regular ice maker, or they only make the larger in cabinet types?
Thanks!

We have a Raritan Icerette that we almost never use because it requires 110V, so is only practical if you are docked to shore power for an extended period. You can not just plug it in and make ice. It takes several hours to make any quantity.

We also have a frig/freezer (12v/110V) that makes ice in those old fashion plastic ice trays. Plenty of ice for drinks unless you really need a lot, or drink a lot!!

Third option is we also have a couple of 12V freezers. These are great!! Low power draw and the ability to easily store about 6.5cf of food, including ice cream and ice.

If I was starting over I would forget the Icerette and just use the 12V freezers. Much more useful and probably cost less!!

Thanks Chrisjs, we too have the plastic trays which we do use, we can only hold two and if you have guests on-board it just doesn't cut it. I like the 12vdc freezer idea, appreciate the info.

We have an icemaker onboard and we never buy ice anymore.

The ice from our icemaker is used to keep our fish cold. We do not use it for drinks simply because we do not use the potable water system enough on our boat to keep the water tasting perfect.

For drinks we have a counter top ice maker, one of the ones that makes ice that is "soft"

We use the ice maker in our Sub Zero, we though about getting a separate one but don't have the room.

We're down South, so an icemaker is imperative. Nothing worse that having 3 hrs left on your cruise, and only 45 minutes of ice left in the cooler.

While the icemaker is a power hog, it would be difficult to get along without it. While underway or at anchor ours runs off an inverter. Plenty of ice is a good thing.

Love the $cot$man on the Hatt. Makes real clear bar quality ice, the process gets all the minerals out of the water. A wonderful, very indulgent luxury. Also an ice maker in the SubZero, which makes standard cloudy hard frozen ice, nice back up for big parties but not anywhere near as nice the ice. For the cooler to take on the dinghy to the beach, those blue frozen bricks work great.

If cruising the US ICW....the most practical ice situation on a smaller boat to me is just buy the stuff and keep it in a freezer.

We have your typical smaller Norcold fridge and the 7-10 pound bag of ice takes up most of it except for random bags of frozen veggies and fruits and a few other things.

I also have a 5 cu ft freezer (standard big box store type) on the flybridge that 1/2 of it is a large Rubbermaid full of brine to keep it frozen for a day or two without electricity depending on temp.

I have a ice box in the galley that just sores warm soda, water and beer because it's handy to do that. But I plan on buying one of these to turn it into a 2.5-3.0 cu ft freezer instead of the one on the flybridge. Seems simple enough...cut a hole/plug it up. I can buy a boat load of ice for what a good icemaker costs and while many operate years without maintenance...other people I know are constantly fighting with them.

WAECO ADLER BARBOUR CoolMatic Cooling Conversion Kit | West Marine

We have an ancient ULine and it works great. Makes tons of ice and yes it uses as much power as the fridge. Make sure everything else in your AC system is up to the task.

My wife is always asking for ice. I dont see any need for it. I'm surprised so many people need it. Maybe I'll cave and get her one of the home depot portables.

Daddyo said:

We have an ancient ULine and it works great. Makes tons of ice and yes it uses as much power as the fridge

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Same here. Works better with the filter screen at the front kept clean.

Thank you everyone for your input, looks like its either the portable soft ice which I've tried or full up unit. We do run invertor underway and we have a gen, but looks like maybe a mixture of portable freezer with store bought ice might do the trick. Our cooler properly loaded hold for a while, but you do need to keep on it.

Again thank you, no holy grail in the ice maker bizz yet, but all good.

I might try one of those countertop units. At the cost, failure is not a big deal. I like ice cold drinks in a little cooler and ice is always a PITA to manage. My inverter underway has enough capacity to run one as well as fridge and little stuff.

Any favorite brands? Home depot ones ok? Warranty would be easy there, just take it back, no shipping.

Dometic makes 2 models of small portable icemakers. The smaller of the two claims to make ice in 13 minutes and is smaller than a small microwave. It's pretty light so its easy to move and to store. They run on AC but I believe they have a small draw compared to the bigger U Line or Sub Zero types. Nothing wrong with U Line--I had 2 on my previous boat. I am thinking about the smaller Dometic though as Poach is quite compact. Meanwhile we make it the old fashioned way--in ice cube trays.

Capthead said:

Isotherm "Clear Ice" Ice Maker

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That's just like my Scotsman, with a good description of how it differs from freezer ice. Since the bin is not refrigerated, it doesn't consume all that much power. We turned it off at night because it is on the aft deck right above the MSR, noisy.

We have two Ulines. One in the garage for a spare. When on the boat, the Uline will hold about 25 pounds of halibut filets. Some activities are too important to waste in making ice.

Capthead said:

Isotherm "Clear Ice" Ice Maker

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I installed that exact unit on the last boat I was running. I lucked out and got a deal on a scratch and dent unit. It worked very well and made nice ice.

Capt.Bill11 said:

I installed that exact unit on the last boat I was running. I lucked out and got a deal on a scratch and dent unit. It worked very well and made nice ice.

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It is on my wish list. Unfortunately, way down the list. I buy clear ice at Winco for .98 for a 10 pound bag. That's under 2 bucks for 20 pounds. I also have a portable ice maker that makes soft ice when I'm away from the dock. I take RO water for it and it is better ice than tap water ice.