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ArenaBlanca View Drop Down
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Posts: 158 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: traveling on a ferry
    Posted: 12 Oct 2019 at 2:15pm
This past summer my wife and I took our 179 to Vancouver Island via ferry and came back to the states via ferry.  In both cases, we had to turn off our propane and they secured the valve so the propane could not be used.

We have traded in the 179 for a 195.  The 195 has a two way refrigerator -- either shore power or propane.  When we had the 179 we had a battery option to run the refrigerator.  So what does one do when traveling by ferry when you don't have propane or shore power??

Okay, this may not be a problem when going to Vancouver Island or back but the ferry ride to Newfoundland is 6-8 hours for the shortest route or 14-16 for the longer route.
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Olddawgsrule View Drop Down
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Posts: 1014 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Oct 2019 at 2:50pm
First, I've done this a few times and we re-provision perishables once there (up to 5hrs so far). I hear the frig is good if cold and not opened for close to 6hrs. Beyond that, I'd be adding ice blocks (warm beer is a European thing). 

Think of your frig as an upright cooler and work accordingly. Ice blocks in zip-lock bags (near the beer) and work your produce according to how it want it stay cold. Like I say, an upright cooler. Dry ice to me is a over-kill and not really needed. I did that on a 6 day canoe adventure that I packed some steaks in a small cooler with dry ice. Night five they were still frozen.. Over-kill for a passage.

Don't over think it, yet think it. Ice blocks will do you fine. Packed around the beer, LOL..
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Pod People View Drop Down
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Posts: 1088 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Oct 2019 at 8:15pm
We always have a quality cooler  with us. A lot that we eat does not have to be kept at refrigerator temps in the high 30’s. We keep most of our veggies, cheeses, drinks, fruits in the cooler and reserve the refrig for necessities-eggs, milk, eetc.
Having a small battery operated fan inside the refrig also helps keep it’s temp when not under power.Refrigerator management is a little different from the home, but it getss easier and a system will evolve after a few trips.
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StephenH View Drop Down
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Posts: 6417 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Oct 2019 at 9:20pm
A pricey option for times like that is a Free Piston Sterling Cooler. Ours was a different brand but looks the same as the one in the link except for the end caps which are blue. These are very efficient and will operate on 12V a long time without running down the battery. The one we have came from our local ReSTORE. It was donated by a drug company (I don't know which one) and was used to transport medications (no biological/radiological ones)by drug company representatives. It cools to 4C, even in 90F weather. It isn't silent, but it isn't really noisy either. Unfortunately, the Coleman model is not available and I could not find any others that specified FPSC or FPSE except for a FreeBird model which is a deep freezer and priced way beyond anything I could or would pay.
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seafans View Drop Down
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Posts: 163 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Oct 2019 at 10:16pm
For camp trailers (caravans) in Australia most of the trailers have the Piston cooler.  I don't know if it the sterling but it does run on 220 volt AC 50 cycles.  From what I have see they work very well, better than propane even.
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GlueGuy View Drop Down
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Posts: 2702 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2019 at 10:37am
I've did a little poking around and those free piston coolers (smaller ones anyway) only use about 40-45 watts. That is less than half what the standard Dometic refrigerator uses. Too bad they don't come in a refrigerator shape so you can swap out the one in the R-pod kitchen.
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lostagain View Drop Down
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Posts: 2595 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2019 at 12:25pm
They are a pretty good deal for a picnic or tailgaiting, but their capacity is not real functional for 4 or 5 days of boondocking.  They measure capacity in "quarts" not cubic feet.  1 cubic foot is just a tad under 30 quarts, so for a 25 quart box, you're not getting much storage capacity.  You'd have to take 3 or 4 of these puppies along to duplicate the storage capacity of the refrigerator in your r-Pod.  And at 40 to 50 watts each, that's a lot of juice to feed them.  
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2019 at 1:29pm
You might want to check out this video for a detailed discussion of retrofitting an absorption RV fridge with an electric vapor compression refrigeration kit. The company the Mortons got theirs from apparently does not make a kit for the smaller rPod fridge model but it might for the 195.
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Ben Herman View Drop Down
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Posts: 356 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2019 at 3:27pm
Worst case if you don't want to carry a cooler with you for the whole trip - or don't have room in your fridge for ice - go to WalMart or equivalent, get an inexpensive styrofoam cooler and a block of ice, load your food into it for the passage. Give the cooler away on the other end.
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Olddawgsrule View Drop Down
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Posts: 1014 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2019 at 3:56pm
Originally posted by Ben Herman

Worst case if you don't want to carry a cooler with you for the whole trip - or don't have room in your fridge for ice - go to WalMart or equivalent, get an inexpensive styrofoam cooler and a block of ice, load your food into it for the passage. Give the cooler away on the other end.

That, on it's self, is a good idea to get through the passage. I like!

As much s everyone is talking about technology and what could be better.. I go back to basic's. Insulation of the unit. 

Every style, type, cycles according to how well it is insulated. Loss of cold and retaining. What do you wish to give up in looks to keep things cold? 

In another group folks have build coolers from HD/Lowes structural foam that far out perform even the YETI coolers. 

Though it would be difficult to line our existing units with such, making smaller boxes to fit within is not. 

My mind goes further, as you now expect from me, and look at building my own frig and using the parts available. 

What I say is not just think of system, yet think of insulation as well. 

I'm attempting to figure out my Wife's dream of a draw frig and how to implement. Would require 3 different draws of 3 different temps.... Yes, she does challenge me! 
And I do so love a challenge!
 
Insulation... My 2 cents. 
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