Carver Owners Forum

I am looking at a Carver 44 Sojourn that does not have an ice maker.
We plan on staying out (away from the dock) for several days at a time and wandering what others do for long term storage / making ice. I use a fair amount over a 24 hour period on the boat.
Boat has the larger fridge/freezer in the galley and another fridge upstairs. However no ice maker.
Getting a large yeti type cooler and loading up with a bunch of ice is one option but would prefer an ice maker on board.

Is there somewhere else to mount an ice maker or is it worth the trouble and expense?
Large Yeti would be cheaper but buying a bunch of ice gets to be a pain every time we go out.

Thoughts?

I replaced our aft deck ice maker with a refrigerator. The ice maker worked fine but was pretty useless. It would produce about 10# a day (one small bag) and only would run on 120v so you had the have the genny running when away from the dock to make or keep ice.
We bought a Yeti knock off from BJ's for $200 (70 quart I believe with wheels) and it actually keeps ice longer than other folks yetis here at our marina. The only problem is it weighs about 45# empty, so you need two men and a boy to move it when its full.

I bought a table top ice maker that does about 30#'s a day. We make ice when the generator is running, then store it in the freezer which runs off the house batts. We have yet to run out of ice with four people using it. We don't run the generator much, just in the morning to make breakfast, then after dinner to cool the boat off as the sun sets just to get the heat out of the boat. The ice in the freezer helps keep the fridge cool also.

You can always pack a cooler with ice on top of some dry ice. This will last weeks.

As. Mentioned above the table top icemakers were really good. It would be a great Christmas gift to yourself

I had a table top unit. IMHO they are OK at best. Reason I say this is they produce soft ice which melts very easily. Put a few cubes in a Martini and they are gone in no time. If you put the ice in the freezer it will get hard like normal ice.

Midnightsun wrote:I had a table top unit. IMHO they are OK at best. Reason I say this is they produce soft ice which melts very easily. Put a few cubes in a Martini and they are gone in no time. If you put the ice in the freezer it will get hard like normal ice.

You need to drink the martini faster!

For those who want a small compact countertop unit, I was just at Costco where they have a Frigidaire brand unit in black stainless for $99. Same as this. https://www.amazon.ca/-/fr/Frigidaire-EFIC117-SSBLACK-COM-EFIC117-SSBLACK-portable-inoxydable/dp/B07J1YVSNQ/ref=asc_df_B07J1YVSNQ/?tag=cafrdeshadgo-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=459446540087&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9996348410746314436&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1002504&hvtargid=pla-655930922375&psc=1

Agree with all the comments. We looked into a small unit, but counter space is at a premium. So we bought a really good cooler, like the Yeti, great for keeping ice and the meats cold. I'm not ready for another appliance on the counter top.

Ice is not an optional thing! My sons bought me a Pelican cooler for ice storage. It holds ice for so long, it seems like it is making ice. And basically indestructible. Also serves as a portable seat/table, due to the type of non-slip pads on the bottom. Lifetime Guaranteed against breakage/defect. er