I Love My Ice Box, but...

[Odeanne]

I love my camper's ice box.  When I use it with commercially made ice blocks (usually 2 at a time) it keeps everything nice and cold and dry!  But has anyone seen a camper with the ice box near the door so all you have to do is open the door, and swing open the ice box door to get to the stuff inside?  It would be so convienent not to have to actually go all the way inside to get to it when you are cooking outside.  And like coolers, the ice box food is the last thing to get packed the morning of leaving.  It would be nice not to have to crawl in to get to it or unload all the stuff stored in front of it when the camper is closed and ready to leave.

[flyfisherman]

At one time I had a camper that had it's very own access door for the ice box that could be used rather the top was up or down. This was a '96 Coleman/Fleetwood Yukon, and I thought it was a superb feature. Other than that particular camper, the only other set-up as you outlined it, was where someone with some wood-working skill modified the porta-potti cabinet (located to the right side of the camper entrance) for handling a portable ice chest.


Fly

[ForestCreature]

How about using a 5 day cooler (Coleman Extreme) for the food. You could keep it outside and handy during the day, putting it into the TV at night to keep the critters from getting at it.
 
 The ice boxes I have seen are fairly small, it could be turned it into a pantry or some other type of storage.
 
 
 

[Fishin BC]

Our Starcraft has an LP/Battery fridge that we use as a cabinet for bath and dish washing supplies.  It is so dinky and wouldn't begin to fit the food we take out on our week to 10 day jaunts.  I love the two extreme 5 days we got last year.  Where we camp all food has to be stored in a metal bear box anyway, so the loss of the fridge in no big deal there either.

[Trailblazer]

But has anyone seen a camper with the ice box near the door so all you have to do is open the door, and swing open the ice box door to get to the stuff inside?  

I previous camper had the setup that you described. It was a 1990 Starcraft Meteor. I found this to be a great feature of this trailer and when we purchased our present trailer, roof down fridge access was one of the top feature requirements on our list. In fact when we had the starcraft popup, the last thing we did before when packing for a trip was to load up the ice box with a block of ice and the food.

[tlhdoc]

My first PU had an ice box that sat on the counter.  I kick myself for not keeping it when I traded in that trailer for my current PU.  I really liked it too.  You put the ice in the ice pan and as it melted you could get cold water from the little spout on the ice pan.  Maybe you cold find a portable one like I had so that you cold put it where ever you wanted it.