Member - Peter (WA) replied:

an ice box will be OK if you are not away from ice supplys for more than a day or two look at where you store it ie'out of the sun ,a wet towel on the top will help keep it longer as well as this larger blocks of uce last longer dont bust the bags open and spread it all around , keep ice box fill so you are not trying to heat up the hot air that gets in each time you open it ,water bottle work well for this hope this helps

Member - Nigel (QLD) replied:

A good fibreglass esky (eg EvaKool) will keep ice for much longer.

You don't need a fridge, but the benefits of a fridge are: no melting ice (or draining water) and you can get your drinks colder than you can with block ice. But you pay a price for the convenience. The downside is you need the power to run it. A serious dual battery setup can set you back up to 2/3rd the price of the fridge.

Having said all that - I couldn't survive without my fridge... :)

marcus replied:

Hi Skoby,
I think the main consideration here is the duration of this trip and future trips.i would say that 6 months on the road go the fridge.i have just been away for two weeks and the waeco performed brilliantly.The fridges are so convenient that the purchase price is soon forgotten and they will last many years with a product to sell second hand if you no longer need it. My calculations suggest that six months of ice is almost half the price of a fridge anyway.Try second hand market for a good fridge or www.fridgeshop.com for a factory second with warranty.

cheers mark

life is but a journey
make sure you are in the drivers seat.

paul replied:

and don't forget unlike an esky which if you take shopping with ice you then need to take out and empty and dry etc, your fridge needs no maintenance. i live in brissy and with 40C summer days not uncommon if i am out on the road i put the fridge on and if i see a good bargain at a seafood shop or a butcher then in the bought stuff goes (i have an explorer so has the benefit of a fridge compartment or freezer compartment at minus 18C). really handy, at parties and as a second freezer ... so many uses. And at the end of the day they are actually insulated like an esky so can be used as an esky (though as noted above no fridge comes close to the performance of an evakool -esky if you don't open it), and to be honest putting ice into a fridge overnight that you have put on full bore for an hour before closing down works better than an esky with soggy food containers in the morning.

but for cold beer, nothing works faster to draw out the heat than an ice slurry (which of course can be inside your fridge which makes the ice last soooo much longer).

so my point is i think if you buy a 12v fridge it's not going to used just for the journey, but is in fact a second fridge or at a twist of a knob a freezer (albiet too damn expensive to consider comparing in price to the one your kitchen, but hey, versatility and compactness costs).

Martin replied:

Skoby the only people who can answer your question are you and your partner! I need a fridge when I go camping. We have two families with whom we often camp. Neither of them nedd a fridge. Do you need a fridge skoby? Go on make up your mind!!!

Voxson (Adelaide) replied:

I couldnt do without my fridge either nowadays..
It is a bonus when you dont have to come straight home from shopping in summer because of the perishables too.._____________________________________________

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