Using Chest Freezer for Ice - Off the grid

[Kdog]

My deer camp is off the grid. We usually spend about a week there in December. This year it was a little bit warmer than normal. I typically use regular cheap Coleman coolers. Most years it is pretty cold this time of the year and you do not lose a lot of ice due to melting. Well this year it was a warmer than normal. It seemed like I lost a lot of ice.

I was thinking about getting a chest freezer to keep my ice in while I am there. It would be the type of thing where I would run my generator to get the freezer cold. Put the ice in and run the freezer periodically off the generator (which I will be doing anyway). If I shoot something I will take the ice out that I need to ice my deer in the ice chest.

I was thinking if I added extra insulation around the freezer (or inside) I could make it better insulated than a cooler. I would think a chest freezer is already better insulated anyway.

I know some may say just to get a Yeti or RTIC or whatever. Just thinking this would be cheaper and possibly work a lot better.

Turned out to be not much of a problem for me this year as I didn't kill anything in a week.

What am I missing with my plan/idea?

[Kdog]

BTW - Our camp is 1.5 hours one way from town and we can only drive in and out of the ranch at certain times. So going to town to buy more ice is not a convenient thing.

[Tmag]

Sounds like a plan.

[Todd-ty729]

When we hunted in mexico we would put dry ice and then regular bags of ice in an old refrigerator laying on its back with all of the shelves and stuff removed.

Same principal as the chest freezer.

We would keep ice for about 5-7 days depending on how long we were there and it would never melt.

Dry ice was the key to this.

[Kdog]

Just did some googling and it looks like insulating on the outside would be a bad idea, as this is where the condenser coils are normally located. I confirmed this on my freezer, I felt the sides and they are warm to the touch. I think I could add something on the inside though.

[Bigguy49]

My dad was a truck driver back in the old days when refrigerated trailers ment blowing in ice at a ice house and in the summer hauling from the west coast they would blow in regular ice then a layer of dry ice then a layer of regular ice to keep produce fresh on long hauls , we had a 16 ft travel trailer and he did the same with the ice box in the trailer when we traveled it works well to extend the life of your ice , just don't handle it with bare hands it will take the hide right off of you

[dbaio1]

I think a non frost free chest freezer will work good. During Ike I could run mine about 8 hrs a day and it stayed complete frozen and did not get above zero degree. Did that for 14 days. I think your plan will work better than any roto molded cooler made.

I picked up a cheap chest freezer for a little under $200 and it lasted over 10 years. I splurged on its replacement and spent $220. LOL

[txag80]

Your plan will work. I have seen guys do a similar rig when keeping fish frozen long term while driving cross country.

You could get an external thermometer to monitor the freezer temp, and set an alarm on it to know when to kick the generator. Or, you could just run a generator on a standard interval to keep everything frozen. Place it in the an area with full time shade obviously.

[SaltwaterSlick]

Heck, just put the freezer on your utility trailer with the genny... Park it in the shade/under a carport or such... never even have to unload it that way... Many moons ago, my dad and his hunting buddies did that and processed their deer that way... of course, not leagal for whitetailed deer now, but none the less, it worked like a champ.

[jeremy360]

Have you tried freezing big blocks of ice vs a bag of ice cubes...makes a huge difference.

[Jamesl]

BTW - Our camp is 1.5 hours one way from town and we can only drive in and out of the ranch at certain times. So going to town to buy more ice is not a convenient thing.

Sounds like you should get a spot on the ranch you have to drive through. That would only make it a 25 minute ride to town.

Seems like a good idea though.

[El Viejo]

Sounds like a plan. I have a small chest freezer I'd let go for a good price if interested.

[bbqfan5909]

The headache of taking a chest freezer out with a generator, a better cool makes much more sense?

[elkaholic9292]

We pull a lowboy trailer with a deep freezer on it to Colorado elk hunting. You'll go broke buying enough coolers for 4 quartered elk. We have a generator hooked up to it, but we usually just open the lid at night and let it freeze. We may run generator a few hrs on the trip home, but probably don't need to.

[Mrsailfish]

When I hunted in Mexico, we had bought a chest freezer that ran on propane. It worked great