Thoughts on ice???

[Dean1]

Hi wondering what the majority of us on here do in realation to ice.

My trips are becoming longer now and ice seems to be an issue. My banks overnighters etc. are no probs but trips of up to 3 days and the likes see ice becoming more of a problem.


I usually freeze 2 litre bottles and those in a saltwater slurry seem to last about 2 days max if the lid isnt continually lifted. But when out on the water for over 2 days this becomes a problem. Well for a start where can you buy 'REAL' block ice these days. Caboolture ice works has compressed 'party' ice and there like $5 a block. 10-20 blocks soon adds up and wont even go the distance. What are we doing? Whats an ice machine worth? Ive thought about buying another chest freezer just to acommadate/create 'real' block ice.

Regards, Dean.

[rowanda]

what sort of esky are you using. I have a tropical ice box and have no prob getting atleast 5 days out of it and thats being opened by kids etc as well all the time

[insideout]

would advise against using ice dean...very bad drug....now that that bit of sillyness is out the way, would you consider using dry ice for the longer hauls??/
We used to use it for the fraser fishing comp , and it lasted for a long time, even with the lid opening and closing.

I propose we give it a test,and buy some dry ice and beer in a very large esky and try out the benifits of it against normal ice....

Failing that, i have bought a 400 litre freezer, and found some big tubs and frozen them,and they have lasted the distance for up to 4 days.

Apprently the slower the ice is frozen, the betta it is..

[Wahoo]

G'Day Dean, an ice machine for at home will set you back about 1k, good value, i have looked into this also, but then worked out a 600L freezer is better, i make my own 15kg block ice, i have 2 tubs and make them out of this, the freezer has got 6 of these blocks at any one time, the food esky has one + a bag of party, the other has 2 maybe 3 blocks, when we get home the ice from the food esky goes back in the freezer and ready for next trip, at first we were using quite a few $$$ on ice every trip, was getting beond a joke, dont forget the longer you leave the ice in the freezer the harder it gets and longer it will last


Daz

[insideout]

sorry, i forgot to say, that in my kc i measured out the eskys and created a "bed" of ice on the bottom made up of square blocks of ice that worked very well.

They all eventually fused togeather , making a big block, perfect for the outside trips.

i made my ice in blocks, for i found the ones out of buckets (rounded) smashed the eskys inside with all the movement, and often mulched some of the fish...

[Dean1]

would advise against using ice dean...very bad drug....now that that bit of sillyness is out the way, would you consider using dry ice for the longer hauls??/
We used to use it for the fraser fishing comp , and it lasted for a long time, even with the lid opening and closing.

I propose we give it a test,and buy some dry ice and beer in a very large esky and try out the benifits of it against normal ice....

Failing that, i have bought a 400 litre freezer, and found some big tubs and frozen them,and they have lasted the distance for up to 4 days.

Apprently the slower the ice is frozen, the betta it is..

Ha ha yeah the smack just aint cuttin it these days Mate you cant use dry ice in a slurry can you?? The 400 ltr freezer sounds the go, and I know what your saying about smashing the fish this can happen if its rough offshore they get pounded from the bottles. A large block sounds the go, will have to do some homework. Maybe just pop the ice out of the tub and keep making them. The inbuilt esky in my boat doesnt seem to last the distance like the poly techni ice esky. But a heap of block in there shold do the trick as long as I dont run out of room for the reds Thanx for the replies

[lee8sec]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/MANTOWOC-ICE-...3A1%7C294%3A50

[Dean1]

G'Day Dean, an ice machine for at home will set you back about 1k, good value, i have looked into this also, but then worked out a 600L freezer is better, i make my own 15kg block ice, i have 2 tubs and make them out of this, the freezer has got 6 of these blocks at any one time, the food esky has one + a bag of party, the other has 2 maybe 3 blocks, when we get home the ice from the food esky goes back in the freezer and ready for next trip, at first we were using quite a few $$$ on ice every trip, was getting beond a joke, dont forget the longer you leave the ice in the freezer the harder it gets and longer it will last


Daz

Yeah mate cheers for that. Seems to be the go I think I was on the right track. 600 ltr is a decent freezer!! Did you buy that new??

[lee8sec]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/COMMERCIAL-IC...3A1%7C294%3A50


http://cgi.ebay.com.au/MANTOWOC-ICE-...3A1%7C294%3A50

[Wahoo]

Yeah mate cheers for that. Seems to be the go I think I was on the right track. 600 ltr is a decent freezer!! Did you buy that new??

G'day Dean, yes i did buy it new about 2 yrs ago, best thing i did for bait and ice

Daz

[Dean1]

what sort of esky are you using. I have a tropical ice box and have no prob getting atleast 5 days out of it and thats being opened by kids etc as well all the time

The inbuilt esky in the boat is a KC factory 250 litre job, the additional esky is Techi ice 200ltr which does seem better than the built in esky. But when your'e adding fish to the inbuilt esky with slurrie it will obviously be working harder especially if fish are put straight in after their bled. I like to leave them in the bin to cool down a bit before throwing them into the slurrie. Cheers.

[finding_time]

what sort of esky are you using. I have a tropical ice box and have no prob getting atleast 5 days out of it and thats being opened by kids etc as well all the time

It the fish that burns the ice not quality of the esky so much!


Deano this is my biggest issue i reckon and i think it all comes down to starting volume. i dont like block ice i'm a crushed fan but you need more, for a 3 day trip i reckon about 80 kg is a good staring point, 3 x20 kg bags in the main esky (400L)and 1 x 20 kg bag in a spare esky( 80L) with your cold food. When filling the esky i lay the fish in the bottom and open one bag at a time so it's easy to handle, the extra ice in the other esky is my back up , so is the other esky if we catch heaps!Make sure the ice is cold ice!!!!!! I know that sounds silly but it makes a huge differance , if you ice is dripping water to start with your in big trouble , i like it so cold that it sticks to your fingers when you handle it. I often by ice from Coles, and chilli it righ down in my own freezer a week before a trip and never have an issue! If your leaving from 1770 the servo there has 20 kg bag for sale quite cheap and these are usually great quality!

Ian

[Heath]

If you make your ice out of seawater, it lasts a hell of a lot longer. Takes longer to freeze as salt water has a lower freezing temp, but does last significantly longer.
In summer normal fresh water ice lasts us about 5-6hours, seawater ice still has about 30% left after 5-6hours. This is in our kill tank which is not insulated.

[trueblue]

If you make your ice out of seawater, it lasts a hell of a lot longer. Takes longer to freeze as salt water has a lower freezing temp, but does last significantly longer.
In summer normal fresh water ice lasts us about 5-6hours, seawater ice still has about 30% left after 5-6hours. This is in our kill tank which is not insulated.

I do this as well. or put salt into the frozen bottles. It takes longer to freeze, but stays frozen longer.

if you can't carry enough wet ice to keep cold for the trip, buy a block of dry ice and wrap it in newspaper. Keep the dry ice on top of the rest of your ice, and this will keep the wet ice frozen. dry ice is rated in 'days' ie, a 7 day block, a 4 day block etc. Thats how long it takes for the dry ice to evaporate away.

[Dean1]

Interesting comment about the saltwater lasting longer. 2 ltr orange juice bottles last a very long time, they never seem to break but 2 litre milk containers only last 1 trip, the fish puncture them. I mite fill my bottles with saltwater now thats great to know.

If im doing an overnighter at the banks about 12 2 litre bottles go the distance, but my last 1770 trip I had 10 blocks in the inbuilt esky and a 200ltr backup full of party ice and 2 blocks in there. The backup ice was added throughout the trip, after 2nd day and before heading back to Brissy etc.

The ice in the backup lasted exceptional it was a solid block virtually after 2 days those techni ice eskys are brilliant I was very impressed!!

Ian I do have a 400 ltr chest freezer at Rules mate so that is very handy, just throw the ice in there overnight before heading out in the AM.

Ive just insulated my livebait tank, its 120 litres it wil be my new Bait/livebait tank.

Nothing like been organized