Camping Fridges in D3/D4

Thanks for the many and varied responses.

Looks like something around the 40l mark would do the job and until I am convinced or can convince the family to do multiple day remote area trips then I will probably hold off going for a second battery set up.

I generally run rechargeable led lamps and a gas lantern together with head torches around camp so other than the fridge do not plan on any other electronic devices drawing power when stopped.

Not yet got to the stage or length of trip that would require a hot shower but might be necessary to get my wife and daughter motivated for a longer trip.

Have no particular allegiance to brands so will do my research on them shortly once I have pinned down what I want or need.

Again thanks for the feedback so far, I hope otehr are finding this interesting as well.

I must say I am very surprised at the cost of these, when you can walk into Hardly Normal and purchase a 400 -600 lt fridge with all the bells and whistles for about 30% of the cost of a portable 40lt one ?

With the strong $aud are there any O/S sites you can purchase from and ship in, like tires ?


George

I do not know why these are so expensive. Most off road gear is quite high, supply and demand I guess. I have heard the Bushman brand is as good or better than Engel. I do not know how their reputation is in Aus but, it seems like it would be a great place to start.

The other thing to strongly consider is a super high end cooler. Engel claims their "deepblue coolers" as they call them in the US keep ice for 8-10 days, which might be adequate for your needs. This alternative could get you some savings. In the much lower price range. I've read some accounts from users, who say they really work. I will provide you that review link as well.

Here is the web site so you can look it over, these would be my two main choices if it was possible.

a. Engel Australia - Portable Fridge-Freezers
b. THE BUSHMAN 12 VOLT FRIDGE FREEZER FOR CAMPING & FOUR WHEEL DRIVE

c. reviews
Engel User Testimonials

Sorry I didn't highlight that I had put in a link straight to the Evakool website specials board in my previous post. I have now done that.

The Travelmate series, which is the one I have has a Danfoss pump and is pretty well insulated, the model specific page shows that it only uses around 1.5 amps per hour if set between 2+ to -2 degrees with an ambient temp of 30 degrees.

They also offer a insulation bag for about $130 which should help. I have the bag as when I brought mine it was a part of the package. These 60 litre fridges are less then $800 that is why I'm saying they are good value. They also have a special on a 40 litre but they reckon it uses the same power as a 60 litre...

Check out my previous post for the website address if your interested.

As I said if you add up the price of one of these fridges and then add in a Traxide dual battery set up and a Yellow top battery it is often cheaper then buying one of the more favoured brands that often use more power than the same size Evakool.

A fancy fridge brand name just means extra expence as far as I'm concerned when it comes to fridges, as long as the beer comes out cold and the steak comes out fresh I'm happy.

cheers,
Terry

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Originally Posted by DiscoWeb

Thanks for the many and varied responses.

Looks like something around the 40l mark would do the job and until I am convinced or can convince the family to do multiple day remote area trips then I will probably hold off going for a second battery set up.

I generally run rechargeable led lamps and a gas lantern together with head torches around camp so other than the fridge do not plan on any other electronic devices drawing power when stopped.

Not yet got to the stage or length of trip that would require a hot shower but might be necessary to get my wife and daughter motivated for a longer trip.

Have no particular allegiance to brands so will do my research on them shortly once I have pinned down what I want or need.

Again thanks for the feedback so far, I hope otehr are finding this interesting as well.

I must say I am very surprised at the cost of these, when you can walk into Hardly Normal and purchase a 400 -600 lt fridge with all the bells and whistles for about 30% of the cost of a portable 40lt one ?

With the strong $aud are there any O/S sites you can purchase from and ship in, like tires ?


George

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Yes, but try strapping one into the back of a ute, and driving down the Gibb River road, and see how long it will hold together. I would guess the volume of the domestic stuff also keeps the price down, as would the competition amongst the dozens of brands available.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by unseenone

The other thing to strongly consider is a super high end cooler. Engel claims their "deepblue coolers" as they call them in the US keep ice for 8-10 days, which might be adequate for your needs. ...

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Hi George,
My wife and I just got back from a 8 day 3000km trek from Sydney to Griffith, Mungo NP, Broken Hill/Silverton, Menindee/Kinchega NP, then back to Griffith via Ivanhoe/Mossgiel/Hillston and finally back to Sydney.

On the morning we left, I filled the bottom of my 78L Coleman Ultimate Extreme cooler with 24x 500ml Heinekins, 20x 375ml cokes, 2L milk, then a bag of ice over the top. Then frozen food in zip-lock backs in two-person meal sized portions. Finally, 2x 3.5kg plastic ice bricks over the top. I had to put another bag of ice in at Griffith - the day before arriving home and drain some water out.

Yes - the cooler was opened/closed a lot. The beer wouldn't drink itself in there! :D Not to mention meals. We bought home enough meat from leftover semi-frozen food to have a BBQ for 16 people. Yes, I over-catered for the two of us! :angel:

All this proves, is that it is hard to really justify spending the $800+ on a car fridge freezer. It is pretty hard nowadays to go 5-7 days past somewhere that sells ice or has a big supermarket!

My cooler: Coleman - 82 Quart Xtreme 6 Cooler -
As the racers say - there's no substitute for cubes! :cool:

Good to see another point of view, but:

- 2 people
- 78L

the OP was asking about a family of four, which means every cubic centimetre is precious. Out of that 78L capacity you'd lose a fair bit to ice. Therefore a 40L electric fridge would be a better size/capacity tradeoff, and that's really important with camping families. *

So from that perspective it's easy to justify the $800.

Please, do not even mention Hardly Normal's products in relation to offroad touring and camping.



* can't wait to be a grey nomad and have 2 people in a Disco 7 with a big trailer and never worry about space again!

I know the ice idea wouldn't work up The Kimberley on a 40c outside temp day, even with a block of dry ice in there. Once you get a fridge you wonder how you did it with out one, 40lt fridge and another battery only way to go.

Cheers Ken

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ADMIRAL

Yes, but try strapping one into the back of a ute, and driving down the Gibb River road, and see how long it will hold together. I would guess the volume of the domestic stuff also keeps the price down, as would the competition amongst the dozens of brands available.

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Noted,

And obviously having a fridge built to cater for the battering of off road travel etc would add to the cost but the point was more that the differential does seem excessive.

Beer would probably bounce around a bit more in a 400lt fridge in the back of a ute anyway !!!

George

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DiscoWeb

Noted,
Beer would probably bounce around a bit more in a 400lt fridge in the back of a ute anyway !!!

George

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I don't know ...some would say a 400 ltr camp fridge is just about the right size for keeping beer in while camping. ;)

cheers,
Terry

Hi George.

If you're going the fridge route without a second battery, an easy way to take a load of your single battery, is to turn the fridge down to like -5degC during the day whilst your are driving (and the alternator is running the fridge/charging the battery). When you stop for the evening, immediatley turn the fridge back up to 3-4-5degC. It will takes ages for the internal fridge temp to climb back up from -5degC to +5degC ... maybe 6-8-12Hrs or more. Means your starting battery doesn't have to supply much power overnight (maybe 6Hrs or so), leaving you a healthy battery for the morning.

I do have a second battery, but still do as outlined above. I find that the -5degC setting is just low enough to stop things from freezing .... more than a 12Hr day though will freeze stuff (so keep your frozen stuff in the bottom of the fridge). My aux' battery will really only run the fridge for 24-36Hrs, but doing this I can just squeeze 2 days out of the battery.

Hope that helps.