I find it easier to put food and drinks in a cooler, while towing run the refridgerator either on battery or propane, when you get to your destination transfer everything.
We use both the fridge and coolers. Soda's and beers in the cooler, and milk, condiments, meat, cheese, produce, eggs in the fridge. And for the times when you are traveling long distances between setups. I use a small cooler just for what I need for the day. I don't like my produce getting soaked with water from melted ice. And alot of times on the way home we can pack all the remaining items left from the fridge into the day cooler so we don't have to pop-up the unit when we get home. Our day cooler is a Igloo MaxCold 24 Quart Cooler and our soda/beer cooler is a Igloo Ice Cub Max Cold 70 Qt Cooler.
I have more problem with the fridge being to cold than ever being not cold enough. I always run my fridge with propane and I have to set it on the lowest setting or I get frozen milk or other items.
I would recommend pre-loading the fridge the night before and let the fridge run all night in propane mode. i never have any problems with that setup.
* This post was
edited 08/19/08 11:48pm by nick_hoff *
My fridge can only be accessed while the pup roof is cranked up. I don't use my fridge much anymore. I still have to use coolers anyway since the fridge is so small. I only use the pup for spring camping when the night time temps are in the 40's to low 50's and daytime is upper 60's to low 80's. Even with the flame turned at it's lowest setting I wind up freezing tomatoes and eggs by the second night. I switched to putting drinks only in the fridge, but got tired of running in and out to get drinks. If I do use the fridge now it is only for extra drinks that are precooled and then placed in the cooler when the cooler needs restocking.
We have a 1997 jayco 1207 we are able to access the fridge when it is not popped up. We plug in the fridge the morning before we leave for a trip and then the morning we leave we fill the fridge. Since there are only two of us the fridge is usually enough for a long weekend. Sometimes a cooler is needed for the beer.
Thanks everybody for your in-put. Monday I pick up my new Rockwood Preimer model 1907. It has an assecable refer just inside the door but I will still use a cooler for drinks and such. Anxious for that first trip. see you out there.
We precool the frig on AC the night before we pack, but don't put anything into it. All the perishibles go into an electronic cooler we keep in the TV, where things are accessible for the trip (lunch, refreshments, etc.). There's enough room in the 07 Niagara to crawl to the frig to switch it to DC for the drive, to keep it cool enough that once we arrive, we can load it without having to wait for it to chill. We still keep drinks and condiments in the electronic cooler while camping, and the frozen items and some other things we don't need often in the frig. This sytem has worked well for the nine trips we've taken in the Niagara since buying it a little over a year ago. We also have one of the Extreme Coleman coolers which we use sometimes in a pinch (lots of other family or friends on the trip). It's the best for conserving ice.
2006 Explorer EB V6 w/TP WDH (Picture is wishful)
2007 Fleetwood Niagara
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