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Jeff

wrote:
Although I have been cruising for a number of years I still do not know the
amount of space needed to store food.
Some of the new sailboat are been equipped with only a 2.4 cubic foot front
opening frig and not other ice box.
When shopping for my new boat I wonder what to look for when it come to food
and water storage. I could benefit from other cruisers comments and
feedback.

First, a cranky comment - Why is that so many people ask very basic
general questions without offering even the simplest description of
their situation? I mean, don't you think it would help if you told us
whether you were interested in sail or power? Small boat or big? Or
if you were planning for 2 week trips or headed out for 2 years? Or
marina hopping day by day or hunkering down in a forgotten island for
a month? Coast of Maine or Caribbean? Or do you expect everyone to
tell you everything they know so that you can pick the parts that are
of interest to you? There. That's out of my system.

Now, as for food, you know what you like. Buy as much as will fit.
If you don't expect to see a supermarket for a while, buy extra.
Don't worry about milk or toilet paper since you can buy that
anywhere. Don't assume your eating habits will magically change; if
you hate rice don't buy the 50 pound bag because some cruiser said
that's the the right thing - you'll have 49 pounds when you return.

For water, there are so many variables there's no way to suggest a
number. We have 80 gallons, and figure that should last three of us
(plus a dog that gets a bath on occasion) for at least a week. But we
could stretch for more if needed - it really depends on how often we
go swimming and need to rinse off salt water. In Maine we use very
little water; down South we used a lot.

The big item is refrigeration. Here your choice really can affect
lifestyle. We have gone towards one extreme: we a 8 foot fridge plus
a 5 foot deep freeze, chilled by a holding plate system with a big DC
motor. The up side is that the fridge can hold two weeks of food and
several days of beverage, and the freezer can hold a summer's worth of
steaks, burgers, lamb, chicken, breads, veggies, etc. Wherever we
are, we can pull out a steak from our local gourmet market and grill
it up. Most is packed away pre-marinated or otherwise ready to
defrost and grilled.

The downside, is that this system eats at least 90 Amp-hours a day, as
much as 120 if its hot and the water is hot. If we're powering, or on
shore power, this is not a problem. But in an anchorage, we get one
day's grace and then have to start running the engine, or a small
genset, for about 60-90 minutes a day. We have limited solar (150
watts) which helps, and if were were out for longer periods we would
double the solar and add a wind generator, but for now we generate
most of the power with the engine. The biggest potential problem is
the we can't leave the boat unattended on a mooring for more than a day.

If I were to do it over with today's technology, I would use the new
small hermetic compressor systems, and I'd put in one for the fridge
and another for the freezer. Thus we could make do with only one, and
potentially get by with a small enough load that could be mostly
covered by solar. Also, I might consider getting an Engel chest that
could be used for periods when we had extra needs.

Make sure that any fridge you get is well insulated and the door is
well sealed. Front opening is not a problem - its a total myth that
"all the cold spills out." (Air has a very low heat content.) The
problem with front opening doors is that they are often thin and not
well insulated, and the seals are wimpy. Also, while the air that
comes in doesn't carry much heat, it does carry humidity, so you will
need to defrost more often. Also, front opening can be a pain on a
well heeled boat on a passage. Of course, hanging over the side of a
top loader looking for where the stick of butter went to isn't much
fun either.