My solution to stop buying ice for the icebox.

[zmk1962]

Hey Raiders,

(I wasn't sure if I should post this in Boating or Workshop section - so moderators please move as you see fit.)

Generally I like to recycle and I definitely like to keep my boating costs as low as possible. I also like to look after my catch which means keeping it in a cold saltwater slurry as as soon as caught.  I found that buying bags of ice was always a pain and at around $5 a bag certainly not cheap. 

I've been using the following solution for a number of years now and yesterday at the boat ramp had a number of people comment positively about it so I though I'd share here:

- fill plastic preserved fruit containers about 90% with fresh water and freeze them into reusable ice packs.

- line the bottom of my 120L eski with a layer of these frozen containers. 

- cutdown a plastic crate to fit inside the eski so that it sits on top of the ice layer (I have added rope handles to the crate to make it easy to remove and lift out the catch)

- fill about 2-3inches of salt water into the crate to store the catch - it only takes minutes to cool.

Note: I put the ice packs into my eski at 9pm night before the fishing trip - back home around 5pm the next day after a full day on water and find that each ice pack is still 2/3 frozen. A quick hose down and wipe and they go back into the freezer for the next trip. 

Some advantages:

- The salt water cools (very cold) in minutes and keeps all the catch fresh.

- You can also easily replace the water if it gets too bloody/dirty from the catch without losing your "ice".

- There is no fresh water contact with the saltwater fish at any time preserving your catch.

Cheers 

Zoran

 

 

 

 

[Fab1]

Top stuff Zoran!Buying frozen water would really add up during the year for those of you that get out often.I just use two 2 litre frozen bottles of seawater and add seawater from where I'm fishing and works well also.

Cheers.

[Guest Guest123456789]

Great stuff, provided you have a freezer large enough freezing your own ice is brilliant.

a year ago I bought a hisense 142L chest freezer for $284. Very power efficient it’s paid for itself already - servo ice is a rip off and so is bait/burley.

[zmk1962]

Cheers Guys.  We have an upright freezer in the garage. Since its a freezer it runs all the time - so my thought was why not use the space. My wife has top 4 shelves I have the bottom basket. It rarely gets full but when it does I to re-arrange my ice packs around the other stuff or at worse temporarily take them out. If taken out - they go into an eski and stay frozen for quite a few days if the eski stays closed. By using the "smaller" containers I found it easy to pack around other items then if they were the bigger bulkier containers. It's all about working with what you've got I guess.

BTW, the other thing I found was that when we did have a power outage - the ice packs were in the freezer helping to keep everything frozen.

Anyway it works for me, can't remember the last time I bought ice for a fishing trip. I'm sure others have their tips as well.

Cheers Z

[PaddyT]

Yep it works well, I actually freeze salt water- just pour some salt into the bottles and freeze them up. I reckon a few of those and them 1 bag of servo ice made into a slurry with seawater . The temp i get  is so cold I can barely keep my hand in for a few seconds

[JonD]

I've also been filling 3lt bottles with saltwater for years, I also carry a couple with fresh water just in case ( having to carry 2lt per person can be a pain if I have 7 or so onboard). 

If im chassing jumbo sized kings and plan to keep one I line the big cooler bag with bottles but also need two bags of ice to go with it. The frozen bottles help keep the bags of ice frozen so I can simply pop them back in the freezer if I don't catch anything big.

[Nolongeramember]

I’ve been using frozen 2lt fruit juice bottles for years. I have certainly saved a packet doing so. 

I like to use the bottles without any handles to save any wasted space in the esky.