Cool or what?

We don't have a 'fridge on "Starcross". It was broken when we bought the boat and although the vendors offered to replace it, we told them not to bother. Up until then most of our boating had been done in the winter, when hire boats are cheaper and when keeping us warm was a higher priority than keeping food cold.

For a while we used the broken 'fridge as a coolstore - the insulation still worked - but the Boat Safety Scheme examiner wouldn't allow a non-functioning gas 'fridge to remain in situ. It was either repair or replace!

Fortuitously, the owners of a house in our road were having a clear out and Hilary salvaged from their skip some good-quality wood and some insulation material from which she made a cool box that fitted exactly into the space left by the 'fridge.

She painted it, and added some decoration. It may not pass muster on a traditional working boat but I think for someone with no knowledge or experience of boat decoration - and only a passing interest in the subject - its not at all bad. Certainly better than a broken-down 'fridge anyway.

If we are just away for a weekend's boating we bring some frozen plastic water containers that keep it cool and for longer periods we supplement it with a small 12v "beer fridge" decorated in the Eng-er-land football colours that was going cheap just after they'd been knocked out of some international competition or other.