What to use for cold drinks?

[kiwi_camper]

Hi everyone. Although I'm new to myswag I have done a fair bit of camping in a CT. Recently we bought an 85ltr Evakool fridge/freezer and love it. The only problem is that I like using one side as a freezer and the other half for fridge items, but when you go filling up the fridge with drinks for the kids, bottles of wine and beer, there's not much room left for food. I don't want to spend a lot on a smaller fridge after buying the 85ltr and we did the esky thing for 18 months and it was a nightmare, so I don't want to go back to that. The way I see it is I have 2 options-

1) Buy a smaller (30ltr) fridge/freezer
Pros- guaranteed to get drinks cold, more versatile
Cons- more expensive

2) Buy a small (30ltr) fridge for drinks only
Pros- cheaper, can use it in the car while travelling
Cons- may not get drinks cold enough on a hot day

Whatever we buy would be kept in the kitchen, under an annex.

Are there any fridges or fridge/freezers people can suggest? I have been looking at the Evakool IB 31, as we love our 85ltr and have had no problems with it. I would prefer something with a price like the Waeco car fridges but a salesman said they just don't reach a 1 degree temp on a 30 degree day, which is when you want a cold drink!

Help, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 

[Hairs]

Hi kiwi_camper,

To Myswag,
Everybody has a different setup.
We have a 90lt 3way in the Swan for most stuff and it then depends on how long we are staying or traveling for on which fridge/freezer we take with us just fro drinks.
If it's a couple of nights we take a 33lt 3way just for drinks.
If it is longer we take the 50lt 3way Chescold.
It's what we have and we work with it 
Swing on by the Introduction Thread and say G'day.
Hope you enjoy your time here.
Happy & Safe travels.

[muzza01]

I have a 90 lt evacool.  I cryovac all of our meet so it lasts for a month on fridge.  I dont use the freezer side but use the whole fridge as a fridge.  We also have a 30 lt (i think) 3 way to run on gas for our drinks.

[jeb1900]

What about an Engel MR40?  At $699 you're getting a proper fridge/freezer with a good compressor with great power consumption? 



Not sure what that sales person was talking about RE Waeco, they're a fantastic unit.  Unless he was talking to you about a thermo cooler?  http://www.tentworld.com.au/products/fridge/item/Waeco-TC35-Cooler.aspx

I doubt that a thermo would be what you're after, their power consumption is far too high.  They're more designed for those who tour the country from hotel to hotel where 240v is readily available.  Not suitable for camping IMO

[KingBilly]

We have the 60l EvaKool and only use it as a fridge.  Like others we cryovac our meat and it lasts weeks.

A little Engel came with our Subaru and uses next to nothing in power as it has the Engel swing motor http://www.engelaustralia.com.au/products_details.asp?pid=0&productid=21492  We find it gets our drinks real cold.  It will fit a bottle of wine, 4 or 5 stubbies and the same in softdrink cans.  Enough for our daily needs.  Just top up the fridge before hitting the sack each night.

Oh, and welcome to the forum.

Happy camping
KB

[02-SR5]

I use the little Engle 32l for just this purpose.

I hate esky's.

[MR MAC GU]

We have an 80lt autofridge in the camper and a 40lt engel in the car. Use to also run a 25lt waeco as a freezer but I sold it as the kids were getting bigger and just couldn't fit it in anymore.


Sent from Behind you...BOO

[jk]

Hi guys and welcome to Myswag,

We run 2 x Engel 40lt fridges in the front of the camper, one for food/kitchen and the other for drinks/beer/wine. That way you can run them at two different temps to suit whatever is in them at the time. We also have a 25lt Waeco for day trips as it's easier than doing the ice/esky thing 

Cheers
jk

[Muckinhell]

If been looking at the same dilema, and i have been keeping an eye on these as there going for the 4-500ish mark with extras as well. I bought a 40ltr esky of them last year for $65 delivered with 6 sheets techni ice so there not scared for letting out a bargain.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/30L-Portable-Fridge-Freezer12V-24V-240V-esky-Camping-car-boat-Cooler-/140981381933?pt=AU_Business_Industrial_Restaurant_Catering_Equipment&hash=item20d3252b2d

[Jeepers Creepers]

50 Litre Dometic 3 way fridge/freezer for silly stuff like food.

Brand new Eva Kool 85 litre fibreglass esky for the important stuff, like beer.

[michael h]

I went through this a little while ago and ended up with  a custom 110l Evakool Esky converted into Fridge Freezer
In pursuit of the perfect setup for me I have owned at different stages the following fridges Evakool 42l,60l,85l,150l - Electolux/Dometic RC1180 Gas fridge/freezer and  Eskys from Evakool 60l,110l & 10l,25l ice boxes
The 60l and 85l fridges have been sold
 The 150l motor was used to retro fit the 110l (cost $500.00 by a fridgey)as the 150l fridge didnt fit in the cruiser too long ( purchased from ebay sight unseen) it now serves us well but not very light when full so we just lift the baskets out if needing to move the Big unit
Everyones needs are different and this suits me
The gas fridge will probably be sold but the 42l will be kept for overnighters
I also have the 110l fridge running 24/7 at home as a beer/bourbon fridge and for the kids Ice cream/Iceblocks
Cheers Michael

[GeeTee]

Hi Kiwi and welcome, just a thought, I sometimes use two fridges but I find for 'standing' camps for a weekend or a few days that the old-school chilly bin  with a few bucks worth of ice (or block ice you prepare/freeze yourself at home prior) is great for drinks. Then your fridge is used for food only. You don't need 21.7 gigawatts to power it and you keep a grand in the hand... 

[westvic]

Hi Kiwi and welcome, just a thought, I sometimes use two fridges but I find for 'standing' camps for a weekend or a few days that the old-school chilly bin  with a few bucks worth of ice (or block ice you prepare/freeze yourself at home prior) is great for drinks. Then your fridge is used for food only. You don't need 21.7 gigawatts to power it and you keep a grand in the hand...

I agree with GT. Personal preference is for beer in an esky on ice. All our drinks are in sealed containers so are OK to float around in an ice/water slurry. Start with a bag of ice ($4ish) and, as you also have a freezer part of your fridge, cycle some ice blocks through that to keep the esky going. I use the 1 litre "tinned fruit" containers that aren't tin.....small square plastic ones, frozen in the freezer at home before leaving (think about adding salt). Keep a couple in the freezer and a couple in the esky. As the ones in the esky start to melt pop them into the freezer and replace with the other two already in the freezer. Repeat as needed.

Big benefit of this is that the beer drinks are constatly just above freezing but never actually turn to ice. Also, not openning the freezer/fridge to get a drink which keeps it colder....and not warming the drinks when grabbing food.

[weso]

We have an 80 ltr weaco and a 40 ltr vitafrigo  which we use just for drinks alone, I can't stand esky's an esky needs ice to keep stuff cold which you need to buy so the more cash I spend on ice the less cash I have to buy BEER !!!!!!!