just wondering which is more common in sportfishing boats for keeping fish cold. Which is less problems (prob plate refrig), which works better, etc? ALso cost difference between the two?
tom
Depend on your needs. Freezers will keep bait for long periods (trips to bahamas etc) or for guys who store bait on their boat. Dont need a freezer for day trip or overnighters.
Ice is much much better than freezer plate for keeping fish.
Most SF's will have both. Price is about 5 - 8k for aftermarket install for either, depending on plumbing, insulation etc.
If you use a cold plate, get a couple bags of ice in there with your fish and fill it with saltwater make a brine that will keep your fish much colder than ice alone
personally tom, I prefer icemakers. freezer plates are good, but depending on their location they are only good for keeping drinks and baits cold. Ice makers may be a hassle at times, but you can use ice for alot more than freezer plates. I'd rather have a small onboard freezer for bait storage in addition to a quality icemaker. Plus, I've never seen ice make a soft drink explode like a freezer plate will
We have a remote feed freezer and then our fish box is fed by an eskimo ice maker... In a year we have had to repair the freezer twice... She bottoms at about 20 degrees. A buddy has cold plates in his similar box and he runs 16 below zero!
The eskimo is nice but 25 pounds an hour adds up in transom weight not to mention the 3.5 gph of valuable fresh water she sucks down in a ten hour day... She also has a tendency to trip her pressure breakers which involves a couple trips a day to the engine room.
I understand that a replacement eskimo would be about $12,000... Thats a lot of whup... I priced plates at a whole lot less than that... If she ever gives up the ghost I plan on going to plate system... Same story if the freezer pukes...
I have seen open exposed plates in certain applications. I don't feel they would be right for a fish box application. I have seen mounted on the outside of the glass.This
preserves the plates but is not very efficient. THe other way is to glass them in. Most of the good ones have a barrier coat that will not be affected by salt or water...
I vote for the Ice on my Fish. I have an Eskimo machine on my boat now and in 8 years have only had to replace 1 capacitor, and rebuild the gear box(about $600). It runs every day and keeps my ice bin full. as for the pressure switches going off, I have heard of other boats having that problem but my install must be better because that does not happen to me. When the box is full it will shut down.
I see other boats with plates in their fish boxes and their fish does not look as good as mine when they are cleaning them. Lots of Ice and little salt water and you have a brine that does not need any help.
Yes, you will need the water capacity to keep up with the ice machine. I think $12K is a good number for a complete install now.
without doubt the eskimo is the only way to go! the biggest problem with the chill plates is that the fish get the crap kicked out of the sliding back and forth in the box! and if they dont slide around they wind up freezing to the plate, all the skin winds up rubbing off, at least with the shaved ice from the ice machine the fish are asleep in a bed of ice and cant get beat up! we run our machine for weeks at a time and never shut it off! in 8 years of owning eskimo machines we changed a few filter dryers and a capacitor or 2. we have a spare parts kit we bought 2 boats ago and have hardly ever used anything out of it!
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