On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:05:42 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

May sound silly, but I wonder if it's done? In my thinking of the
'cruise' I'd like to get out of hte idea of coolers packed with frozen
water. I know that small friges are available but I dont' really have
the space for that on my boat. The 12.v reefers can pull a lot of
current which I can make the power easily enough, but they ARE
expensive! then there's the cheap 120 v ones which can use I can use
an inverter to run, but they don't cool quickly and seem to run a lot
for no more benefit then I think I'd get. Then theres the refrigerated
coolers that run off a cigarette lighter socket but they only cool
down a little less than the outside temp which isn't much.

Drawbacks? Finding a container that would hold it without cracking,
and regulating the evaporating rate to get some kind of consistant
temperature. And it's volitile as far as handling it goes. "instant
frost bite" if it contacts skin. But I've worked with it in the past
and tongs work great for it. One advantage is that it evaporates to
nothing leaving only condensed humidity behind.

There is a local company that uses dry ice and they sell it resonably.
So instead of having sadwich material floating around in ice water, I
thought though far fetched, this might be a decent idea.

But I also realize that if it could be done easily, then everybody
would be using it.

Besides saying "forget it!" Anyone have any ideas about it or know of
a website that tells about how it can be done?

We used dry ice at one time when I was doing a lot of distance racing
on sail boats. It worked well for keeping pre-cooked frozen meals a
few days longer than would have otherwise been possible. We'd pack
each tin of frozen food into a styrofoam cooler with as much dry ice
as we could fit, tape the whole thing shut with silver duct tape and
then label the outside of the cooler with the contents and expected
use date. The day before the use date we'd unpack it from the
sytrofoam and put it in with the beverages to simultaneously thaw out
the food and get the beverages a little cooler.

If the dry ice contacts beverages, they will be quick frozen and split
open. Don't ask me how I know.

We had a couple of issues with dry ice other than the hazards of
handling it. For one, our source of supply was unreliable. Sometimes
they'd have it, other times not. In addition it is difficult to trim
it to the right size - easy with a band saw, but difficult and
dangerous any other way.

Long term you're going to be happier with something like an Engel
freezer/fridge. We have two MR040s on the boat for our Caribbean
cruise to supplement our built in freezer. They use very little
power, run on either 12 volt DC or 110 volt AC, and can be used as
either a fridge or a freezer with a twist of the dial.

http://www.amazon.com/Engel-MR040-Portable-Volt-fridge-freezer/dp/B001DE45EY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1269045809&sr= 8-2

They have uses off the boat also. They make a good back up beverage
cooler for parties on the patio, and they are also useful on road
trips: Run it on a 12 volt lighter plug during the day, take it in
and plug into a wall outlet at night.