Chilled drinking water on board?

We boat recreationally and go through a lot of cold drinking water on hot summer days. I would really like to cut down/eliminate using bottled water. We've got stainless tanks, so the water is as decent as whatever source and filters we use.

There's really not enough room in the fridge to accommodate a Brita or other type of pitcher. Nor is there room for a stand-up water bottle type, like the kind you'd have in an office or home. That and manhandling those 5 gallon jugs on board would be something I'd prefer to avoid. We do not have an icemaker onboard.

Has anyone seen/used a cold water dispenser setup on a boat? Either built-in or counter-top.

I wondered about this very same thing. My initial thought was to route plastic tubing through the fridge (coiled inside like a house fridge water dispenser set up) to my filtered drinking water faucet at the sink. But I decided I didn’t want to drill holes or take up too much room with the coiled tubing in my fridge.

Now I’m thinking it might be better to buy a very small portable fridge that I can fit under the sink and not feel bad about drilling holes in. I can then coil as much plastic tubing as it can hold. I’ve seen portable fridges online that are less than a cubic foot.

We are probably nuts but when we go to the boat we freeze 2, 1 gallon, chunks of ice for the food cooler. After loading the fridge we put them in 1 of these. We carry 2 or 3 gallon jugs of drinking water along and put a gallon in here. Lasts about 3-4 days.

At home I am a fanatic about ice cold drinks. But on the boat I have become accustomed to drinking room temperature drinks and really don’t mind now. It is much simpler. We have an ice maker aboard but we don’t turn it on. We do put some drinks in the refer and drink them as they warm up without ice.

Has anybody tried one of these


From Amazon:

https://tinyurl.com/yxjqemwv

I have considered gizmos like this from time to time, for both boat and home.


https://puretec.com.au/SPARQ-S4

Ended up buying a Samsung refrig. with water/bubbly dispenser for home

Decided it was too impractical for the boat.

Fortunately, one of the design quirks in our small boat is a near-household size 270+48 liter refrigerator+freezer. It's so big, that we frequently end up storing things in it that don't even require refrigeration.

We spent a lot of time on a Privilege cat in the BVI. It had a dedicated water chiller at the bar that worked really well. If was the go to vs grabbing a can of something from the cooler to alleviate thirst. I think it was something like the unit below.
If one could find a DC unit that would be great
HOLLYWOOD


https://www.expresswater.com/produc...MItey12JDX6gIVlxatBh1GVgVkEAQYASABEgJru_D_BwE

While I mostly drink room temperature water, there are times when I want it cold or to be able to provide cold water for a guest. Standard half liter disposable water bottles seem to make the most sense for guests and when leaving the boat. Quart or half gallon reusable liquid containers that fit the refrigerator door rack, seem practical to maintain a steady supply of cold water.

Ted

I also used to use bottled water. Carrying two cases of water on a bicycle is a real challenge!
Now I have two , two gallon Igloo thermoses. I fill them at home and refill as needed at "safe" locations.

We go through a lot of ice though. My refrigerator is small, as are many boat refers. We carry a high quality insulated cooler which holds two eight pound bags of ice and all the "closed containers" of food like some soda, mayo, juice for lemonade, etc. (Things with watertight tops) Everything nice and cold for almost three days, plenty of ice for the iced tea and lemonade and some extra food storage. The cooler fits nicely under the dining table. I put some of the "fuzzy" side of velcro on the bottom so it slides in and out of its "cubby" easily.

I have debated using the melted ice water for coffee or tea but it seems there is always some floating crud in it so I just return it to the lake.

pete

Pete Meisinger said:

I have debated using the melted ice water for coffee or tea but it seems there is always some floating crud in it so I just return it to the lake.

pete

Click to expand...

While I don't do it, I have seen people repurpose 2 liter soda bottles by cleaning them, filling them most of the way with water, and then freezing them for ice. If you leave enough of a head space or squeeze the extra air out before capping, you should be able to keep them from splitting when they freeze. After the ice melts, you should have cold drinking, coffee, or cooking water. Certainly worth a try.

Ted

We have a fairly lage refrigerator/freezer on board that keeps drinks cold but there are times we want to have ice for mixed drinks.

On the left in this photo.

We bought a counter top ice maker that plugs into 120V. The ice is not the hard, frozen kind we're used to but it is ice, even though it melts pretty quickly in a drink. If we're just out for a day we'll pick up a bag of ice and put it in the freezer rather than mess around with the ice maker.

hollywood8118 said:

We spent a lot of time on a Privilege cat in the BVI. It had a dedicated water chiller at the bar that worked really well. If was the go to vs grabbing a can of something from the cooler to alleviate thirst. I think it was something like the unit below.
If one could find a DC unit that would be great
HOLLYWOOD


https://www.expresswater.com/produc...MItey12JDX6gIVlxatBh1GVgVkEAQYASABEgJru_D_BwE

Click to expand...

Thanks. This is what I was envisioning cobbling together unaware that such a thing exists. Yes, a DC version would be great. But I think a small dedicated inverter would work. Thoughts?