Imagine your bareboat charter cruise starts in the Mediterranean summer! It's not only the breeze which enlightens the skipper and your guests - definitely ice-cold drinks are needed as well. We explain how to keep the fridge cold on board - also without spending too many engine hours.
Imagine your bareboat charter cruise starts in the Mediterranean summer! It's not only the breeze which enlightens the skipper and your guests - definitely ice-cold drinks are needed as well. We explain how to keep the fridge cold on board - also without spending too many engine hours.
The problem is: The electrical fridge keeps only cooling if the engine runs once a while. Otherwise this consumer will empty the battery within few hours. The wish for many hours under sails collides with the desire for cold beer...or lemonade ;-).
Here only helps ice in the fridge! You can have it as block or as cubes. But where to get ice-blocks?
First address for getting ice blocks are the fishermen in the harbor. Not the small boats, those that go out only a few hours and then return. Check for bigger trawlers that stay out many days. Those guys need tons of ice to keep their catch fresh and cool. Those fisher boats store plenty of ice before leaving the harbor. If a sailor begs for a single block of ice, he is often heard and the cooling on his yacht will be guaranteed during the next days. Sometimes you will get this for free, sometimes a can of beer or a few bucks will help.
If this method of ice-acquisition does not work, then check out for the next fish store. The fishermen in the harbor know where it is. Those fish dealers will have enough ice in their cooling units and they definitely will provide you some.
Shouldn't that be successful you can still try the bigger supermarket. But very often they only sell ice-cubes which melt faster and are quite pricey. The most expensive source is definitely bars or restaurants which might charge you a fortune.
Another tip: If you paid for a good dinner with your crew in a restaurant you might convince the owner to place some water-filled plastic bottles in his icebox until the next morning. At the breakfast you can pick them up and those will serve you practically as ice-bombs on board.
The best cooling effect definitely provides a massive block of ice due to its great coldness capacity followed by sacks of ice cubes. The less effective cooling effect are the frozen water bottles. But they provide the advantage that even melted the water serves for drinking.
Do not drain the meltwater immediately. As long as there are still ice cubes swimming in it, it provides excellent cooling potential.
Original text and photo by Hans Mühlbauer
Translated from German by Felix Wolf
Felix Wolf f.wolf@yachtbooker.comFelix Wolf is co-founder and owner of YachtBooker. He is a charter skipper himself and enjoys discovering new sailing areas.