Ice storage

[Petty Cash]

I have 28cc and the fish boxes hold ice but it melts very quickly. I have 150 quart cooler for ice and refreshments and was thinking of getting another cooler just to hold ice. Any suggestions.

[backman]

My approach

I redid my insulation this winter with the insulated duct insulation; the shiny reflective duct tape and use an extra piece of the insulation on top as an ice blanket.

I also start my fishbox cooler with 60-100$ of block ice; a block being one I made myself which is roughly 25# of ice made from a 20 quart container. I pack cube ice on top of caught fish; let it all brine up and have excellent cold fish back at the dock 16-24 hr's later.

The blanket combined with the longer term chill of the large blocks seems to make a huge difference.

[TwinFin]

my boxes

have the original factory insulation (2004 model). I typically put 5 20 lb bags in the port box around 8 at night and a couple more in the stbd box and my helm cooler. We head out around midnight. When we catch our first fish the following morning I bust open 2-3 bags and sprinkle in a little rock salt and spray in a little sea water. As we add more fish to the box, we add more ice. Fish are filleted on the way home, bagged in zip locks, and returned to the brine/ice slush. I often am too tired when we get home in the dark to get my fish out of the box and move them up to my cooler in the truck so it will stay in the brine overnight. That's roughly 36 hours the ice has been on the boat and emptying the slush the following morning is still painful due to the cold.

The combination of my insulation and freezing point depression seems to work very well.

I have added a sheet of foil over my ice bags before and I agree with Larry that an insulating cover layer helps. I just don't do that regularly.

[Petty Cash]

I know what I need to do now. Thanks. We usually do the brine, but I think the block ice and the reinsulating of the fishboxes and the blanket will keep everything colder. Now, I have to catch some fish.

[Nutz]

Anybody had the spray type insulation applied to fish boxes? I found a guy who says he can do it, each pass is about 1/8 inch thick. I was thinking it would be a better insulator and permanent.

[katman]

That sounds like a pretty good idea. I think there are a couple different types of spray foam, though. One sucks up water and the other doesn't. You can shape the stuff, too, so if you have high spots you would be able to shave them.

[Petty Cash]

Only problem is you hit the side when pulling the box you get small pieces of foam in the bilge.

[Nutz]

I'll have to ask the guy how rigid the foam is. I'm sure it is waterproof as they use it to insulate foundation walls. He handed me a sample and my recollection was it was alot harder than the stuff that comes from those cans of stuff you get at the hardware store.

[JCJP]

ice

fiberglass a thin layer of divicell on the boxes then cover with a layer of cloth, henriques did this on one I owned and this alone would hold ice for 24 hours on a overnight trip..

[Over Billin]

Duct wrap

Thanks for the tips on utilizing duct wrap to cover the fish box ice, It worked great. Also cut pcs to cover inside of bait and drink cooler, it helped tremendously.

[backman]

3 in the box/block ice rules!

we did an overnight yesterday and ended up with 5 quality yellowfin, 60-80#, and a monster 62" wahoo, I ended up with 2 yellows and the wahoo in one fishbox and the other yellows rotated into coolers.

We carried 250# of ice, all block. The fish box started with 5 20# pieces and was turned into a brine tank to cool new fish after they were headed and gutted.

All fish started in the brine, spent 3 hr's there and went to a cooler to sleep afterwards. The wahoo and the last 2 yellows rode home in brine.

We came back with probably 250# of cold fish and 100# of block ice pieces. Heads and guts never made it to the fishbox and the brine tank never had to have additional ice added. We actually took pieces of of it to pack fish into the coolers the 2nd day. Most 20# chunks of ice were broken in 4 to fit around fish, but 2 remained whole in the brine tank throughout the trip. They probably were still a solid 12-14# at the end of 30 hr's in the tank!

[TwinFin]

Heck with the ice

lets see the fish!

Sounds like a great trip Larry.

[outriggers]

You might try some of the refrigeration sheet foam. Same type as that used on refrigerant return lines. My son told me the other day that he had been given some in sheet form from a job. It can be glued on the box which is what we're going to do to the 25CC. It's pretty expensive though. I don't know the cost.

[Valhalla]

Ice strategy

For those of you who have a swim platform a good quality fish bag tied on is a good option. I do not prefer the platform but it came with the boat so I use it to hold a fishbag. I also put block ice inside of those three dollar insulated bags found in the frozen food section at the grocery store. Lastly I fill a 72 quart igloo with 7 lb bags and put in the cabin on the floor. I have turned the fish boxes into storage as they do not store ice and I would like to have access to my bilge area racors etc. without moving a briny, heavy and bloody mess. I bought two cheap sofsided coolers from BPS and put them in the livewell and this becomes my drink box. (along with the fridge) The aforementioned fish bag folds up flat and I stow it behind the port side seat.