Ice Options for your Boat, RV, Off Grid Palace, or Tiny Home

Q: How do you have ice on the boat, I thought you lived like a savage?

A: I like to think of it as glamping. In between fending off pirates and drowning in the pluff mud* we have to maintain a certain level of civilized decorum. Tyler Durden** says that soap is the yardstick of civilization. We here at BE say it is ice that separates us from our prehistoric past.

I have thought about off-grid ice production a lot. Some might even say obsessively. After all, We suffer so you don’t have to™ is our motto here at BE.

The following are the results of our obsession and suffering on your behalf.

Note: The photos are also links, click on all the pretty things!

Additional Note: We test things to destruction in hostile environments like sand, salt spray, bitter cold, humidity, bugs of every description, heatwaves, etc. You know, all the things you run into in paradise that the travel programs and magazines just gloss right over. If it is on the list you know it has already survived a destruction derby or six.

No melt stainless steel ice cubes won’t water down your scotch or your Blank Canvas Chardonnay. Classic and attractive, just like you will seem to your date when you use the tongs to drop two into her glass.

These Vertical Ice Trays can be used against a vertical cold plate without leaking. They will also serve to insulate contents of the freezer from the cold plate. Simple, easy, cost-effective.

This red countertop Ice Maker will produce enough ice to keep your cocktails cold or stock a small beer cooler. Plug it in and let it rip. Add chilled water to the reservoir to get bigger cubes and faster production than using room temperature water. Other colours may be selected but may cost more than the red option. Works great when you are plugged in, not for on the run unless you have an inverter like this one.

This Engel Marine Freezer will make all the ice you want for 2.5 amps. Just buy it. I have one myself and it works like a dream. Automatically switches to DC when the AC power goes out. Efficient, quiet, low power draw, what is not to love? The Engel can be set at a lower temp to work as a refrigerator. I freeze liter bottles of water solid to keep my Yeti Tundra 65 Cooler and my soft-side coolers (more on that later) cold, and I make ice for drinks in these trays. Would you like a Margarita, Mojito, or Gin and Tonic?

You may prefer the smaller Yeti Tundra 45 that easier to move around when it is full. 

For outings on the kayak or in the car, I like the Yeti Hopper Two soft-sided coolers which come in 20, 30, and 40L sizes. The soft side cooler also doubles as temporary storage while defrosting the freezer or cleaning out the cooler. Never my favorite task, but it has to be done, even when you live in paradise.

-Kevin

*Pluff Mud is the decomposing salt grass, animal matter, and brackish water that makes the smell of the salt marsh at low tide amazing to experience. Remember the quicksand in Land of the Lost that terrorized your childhood? It was clearly based on Pluff Mud. Do not try to stick any body part in the Pluff Mud. Ever. Trust us. Don’t try it. Really. Nope.

**My deepest and most sincere non-apology for the gratuitous Fight Club reference.