Roger Long wrote:
I've been spending a lot of time on the boat and schlepping a lot of
ice. A real refrigerator system isn't in the cards on my small and
simple sailboat (I know it can be done but I don't want to carry and
feed batteries of sufficient size).

I only have hot water at the dock when plugged into AC but it works
well. I heat it up just before leaving and it lasts well into the
first day, especially with some motoring. It occurred to me that a
similar AC set up would be a good compromise. I could leave food on
the boat for a few days and have things nice and cold when I put the
ice in.

I'd like recommendations or experience with a small, simple, AC only
set up that could be retrofitted into a typical sailboat ice box. If
it had storage cold plates, it would be even cooler, er, neater.

There are portable freezers. Some are 110/12/propane. One came with my
boat but was stolen from the boat when it was on display.

http://www.fridgefreeze.com/
http://www.survivalunlimited.com/refrigerator.htm

Freeze it down with some bottles of water. You have cold water when the
ice melts, cold beer, and a bit of cold storage.

If using propane doesn't bother you under way, you can have it all.