Ken's Campervan: August 2015

I have had the coolbox in for a couple of weeks now and I am very pleased with the results, during the day there is no drain on the batteries at all as the solar panels are putting back more than the coolbox is taking out.

Over night the batteries stayed fully charged as the insulation on the coolbox is very good and even on the warmest day it is very rare for the coolbox to switch on except when the lid is lifted to take something out.

I have the temperature set at 4C, which is the recommended temperature to keep milk, margarine etc cool and also to keep fresh foods at their best.

The coolbox can be made into a freezer by turning the temperature down to it's lowest -18C, but it is either one or the other as there is no separate freezer compartment, but I can live with that.

The verdict - it's a lot of money to spend on a coolbox, but it does the job perfectly; no battery drain with the solar panels so it can be left on permanently and anywhere I go now I have cold water for the boys and a cold drink for me, and when away overnight or longer everything that needs it is kept at the right temperature.

I must stress to anyone contemplating buying a coolbox, it must be a compressor type one if you wish to have it switched on all the time, any other type will drain the batteries and can only be switched on for a short time or when the engine is running.

When I converted the van I had anticipated just using it on sites that had hook up and therefore the small 240v fridge that I fitted worked well. I plugged in at home a couple of days before leaving to get the fridge cold and then as soon as I arrived on site I would hook up and the fridge was on again.

This worked quite well, but after fitting solar panels and reading more and more about wild camping on the various Facebook groups, I decided to try a few nights to see how the system worked.

I had fitted an inverter at the same time as the solar panels, this kept the fridge running during the day but it meant switching it off at night as the drain on the batteries was too much.

Another problem with the fridge being off when not away is that they get to smell a bit and need a good clean before switching on again

I needed something that could be left on all the time, mainly to keep drinks and water for my dogs cool as we do a lot of day trips.

To fit a 3 way fridge was out of the question now, in fact I sold the one out of my donor caravan due to the layout of the van it was just not suitable. The only suitable alternative is a 12v compressor fridge but these are very expensive to buy. But it looked like the only answer, so I started studying the different makes, sizes, prices etc; and of course the Waeco came out on top every time.

I also studied the Waeco cool boxes as they were looking to be a sensible alternative and big enough for my needs, so after an hour or so with the tape measure I had the perfect spot for the 21L cool box. So straight onto Ebay to order one, still very expensive for the compressor type ones (£395) but it had to be done, I also had £50 of Nectar points so that was deducted off the total.

To ease the pain a bit more I put the fridge on Ebay and was very pleased with the response, it went for £67 in the end, I was pleased with that as I only paid £59 for it new, although they are selling for £79 now.

The space where the fridge had been was now extra storage space, all I had to do was make 2 doors to match the others and put a shelf in.

The doors cut from the left over mdf that I used for the other doors, and the holes drilled for the hinges before painting, the edges shaped with the router.

Bailey guarding the new doors.

The 2 doors cut and primed.

The primer dried very quickly, but the gloss took quite a while and I had to wait a till the next day before I could turn them over and paint the other sides, and then another day before I could fit them.