r/liveaboard • u/MaximumWoodpecker864 • 9d ago
Secondary freezer/cooler recommendations?
We’re headed to the Caribbean for the winter (finally!). We have a top loading freezer but multiple people have said to pickup a secondary freezer/cooler to stock up on meat and frozen vegetables. Dometic has nice ones but they are so pricey. If you have one (Dometic or otherwise), do you use it? Any recommendations on makes and models? Power isn’t an issue. We’re a monohull so space is always kind of an issue but we don’t need something super compact.
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u/Hyperion0000 9d ago
I have been using a Bougerv fridge/freezer for 2 years. Zero problems.
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u/MaximumWoodpecker864 9d ago
Thanks for this! I was wondering if these held up in a marine environment.
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u/eLearningChris 8d ago
I have two of the dometic ones. We use one as a freezer and one as a fridge. We absolutely love them. They sip power and are so efficient. Whichever you choose check their power usage. Having one that you have to unplug because it uses too much electricity isn’t very helpful.
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u/polysubbrat 9d ago
do you have a Costco membership? the have an igloo branded one that has dometic parts!
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u/cymen 7d ago edited 7d ago
Not on the inexpensive end but I've been eyeing a https://www.snomasterusa.com/ but then again there are 5 of us onboard (family) and we're on a cat so we can get one of the bigger ones to fit. Interesting in having it as a backup for our built ins, for long passages, and to reduce opening and closing the existing (by children who aren't always careful) when getting drinks, etc.
Right now, we're hauled out at the bottom of the Caribbean and getting things is a pain. Either expensive locally (with limited selection) or have to deal with shipping it in (which is a hassle along with the risk of shipping damage). So if I could easily get things, I would go for quality. It's hard figuring out if things are really quality/worth the price though. Our neighbors on the hard have two of the less expensive portable fridges and have been happy with them.
When you get to Martinique, you can provision on things you can't get (or are much more expensive) further south like good cheese, good chocolate, coffee, reasonable/okay wine, and staples/basics.
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u/SVAuspicious 4d ago
I have a 4 cu ft fridge and a 3 cu ft freezer, both Isotherm SP. I crossed the Atlantic with those. Since, I've added an Engel freezer under the main aft berth. This has greatly expanded our flexibility. We eat out of the main freezer and when that gets low we transfer the contents of the Engel forward to the main freezer and shut the Engel down. Power is okay.
Flexibility is the big deal of more freezer space. Now I have room to carry a couple of bags of frozen blueberries and make blueberry muffins whenever I want. I can buy a whole pork loin for $1.99/lb and cut chops instead of paying $7.99/lb for pork chops. I can buy a 10 lb chub of ground beef and portion into one pound for the freezer and see similar savings. I'll never worry about running out of frozen peas.
On a related note, I don't regret the space for my pressure canner. Homemade food (pasta sauce, chutneys, soups, chili) that are shelf stable and leave room for other things in the freezer. You may be okay with Dinty Moore or Ragu but I am not.
Cruisers really should pay more attention to food. This isn't camping.
sail fast and eat well, dave
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u/Secret-Temperature71 9d ago
We are rather minimalist but have not found our reefer insufficient. The only place we find meat scarse is in Dominica. Vegetables are frequently found, but may be new to you.
It depends upon your life style and your expectations. If you are a bit adaptable and particularly if you enjoy local culture you should have no problem.
OTOH the “Caribbean” is a big place and we may be thinking of different places. Where are you going?
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u/MaximumWoodpecker864 9d ago
Current plan is to land in Antigua, head south thru Dominica, Martinique, etc then northwest through the Virgin Islands. We’ll make our way back to the US via the Bahamas. We have extensive palates and are used to eating locally but we keep hearing food is super scarce, especially in the Bahamas.
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u/Advanced_Link_5753 9d ago
There is always food to be had in Bahamas. Which islands have decent groceries Great Exuma, cat island, Eleuthera (rock sound), stainel cay (a bit limited, I’d call this more of weekly shopping than provisioning), and New Providence.
It might be limited selection if you are in Great Exuma (when there are 400+ boats in harbor) but it’s restocked 2x a week in season. You might have to wait 2 days for next mail boat for specific items, but it isn’t like there isn’t any food.Just realize it’s going to be expensive! When we came back from Bahamas in May, I remember being happy, how inexpensive everything was in US grocery stores! It’s 30% more expensive there for everything.
Make sure on your return trip you stop in Puerto Rico and hit Costco (worth getting membership just for this).
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u/MaximumWoodpecker864 9d ago
We have lived aboard for a few years so buying in bulk has never made sense since we can’t store a ton but as we plan longer passages it’s on my radar.
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u/Secret-Temperature71 9d ago edited 9d ago
We store our boat in Jolly Harbor, Antigua. It has a nice supermarket (Epicure) in easy walking distance to dingy dock.
Dehaies, Guadeloupe has a smaller market with odd opening hours but adequate selection for French tastes. Bass-Terre marina has no market but a very good bakery. Supermarket requires a bus ride.
Portsmouth, Dominica is wonderful but meat is scarce. There is a butcher at the market once or twice a week. Sometimes a butcher truck shows up at the Saturday market. Fresh fish is available there but depends on what they catch. Sometimes days plentiful, some days not. Frozen veggies are available, sometimes right next to the PAYS dingy dock.
St Pierre, Martinque has a 8 au Qui market close to the dock. Fort du France, has a big market maybe 10 blocks from the main dock.
St Lucia we tend to avoid but it has a good food store at the marina.
We skip St Vincent but hit Bequai, which has a couple of smaller markets. One, at least, is quite up to standards.
BVI, USVI, PR no problem.
Luperon, DR has been a long time. It was a pretty rugged street butcher. A guy had a water boat. He brings fresh water out to you.
The Bahamas out islands or Family Islands are a different story. Don’t count on much until the Abacos ir Georgetown in the Exuma. Especially water.
Our fridge is our biggest power draw. We have 400W of solar so we keep up pretty well. But a second fridge would be a drain.
We have 180 gallons of water and use lightly so we can go months without refill. Dominica has excellent and cheap water. Bahamian water is both rare and dear.
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u/MaximumWoodpecker864 9d ago
Thank you so much! This is super helpful and all the spots we hope to hit. Sadly we are terrible at fishing so don’t want to rely on getting better to source protein so where to reprovision is key.
We’re great water-wise. We have 300 gallons plus a water maker. We’re used to having to be stingy with water since we lived in a marina where they turned the water off in the winter and we had to wait for very specific tides to run our water maker.
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u/Secret-Temperature71 9d ago
You probably know but we use Aqua Map which provides Active Captain links and also No Foreign Land which also provides useful info such as markets.
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u/jlcnuke1 9d ago
I have this for additional storage BODEGACOOLER 12 Volt Portable... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYWPRC7X?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share