Cold beer is essential. So is fresh, crisp lettuce, cheese that doesn’t smell like Uncle Arthur’s feet (unless it’s the fancy blue-vein stuff, of course) and milk that isn’t yet yoghurt. How do you achieve this while out bush? One way is with a portable refrigerator powered by 12V or gas, but that’s a story for another day. In this issue, we’re taking a look at iceboxes.

It’s more than 50 years since some smart fella invented the Esky, an insulated steel box with a handle for easy carrying. At the time, the supermarket was a new concept in shopping – the first in Australia was apparently at Sue City, a now dismantled Snowy Scheme town – and people needed a way of carrying frozen food home from the supermarket deep-freeze to their new Frigidaires. Picnics and family get-togethers were also made a lot more enjoyable with an Esky in the back of the Holden Special, and soon the brand became part of Aussie outdoor life.
These days, an icebox is an almost-essential part of a tourer’s equipment. The original Esky was manufactured from steel; these days one of several types of plastic (or fibreglass) is the preferred construction material.

In concept, an icebox is little more than an insulated box with a lid, but there’s plenty to look for when shopping and choosing. Sizes and features vary, but something all iceboxes need to be competent at is keeping your food cold for many days. The type of insulation used in most is something of a closely-guarded trade secret – and fair enough – but some are better than others. How much better is hard to say, but we’ve tested a few here and they all did the job with varying degrees of competence.

No matter what brand or type, keeping your icebox out of the sun is essential for making the most of its performance. Sitting your box on cool grass under a gum tree is better than on warm dirt. If you must park your vehicle in the sun with an icebox on board, do your best to cover the icebox with a towel and give it plenty of ventilation.

Our tests showed that regardless of exterior colour or construction material, the surface temperature of every icebox here approached 50°C on a 33°C day, and that is extra workload the icebox – and the ice within it – can do without.
Opening the lid more often than required will obviously shorten the life of your ice, so teach your kids to decide what they’re reaching for before they dive in.
There have been plenty of campsite arguments about drain plug in versus drain plug out, but any loss of coolth (cold energy) from the icebox will decrease its performance. Cold water draining out must be replaced by warm air – so keep that plug in tight.

You may not think about it much – or have any choice when you buy – but ice quality varies, too. It’s often difficult to tell the difference between ice at -2°C and -18°C, but it’s no secret the colder stuff will keep your food and drink chilly for longer. When it’s available, you will find that block ice lasts longer than bagged ice as with less surface area, it doesn’t give up its cold as quickly. Dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide) is the king of cool, but not readily available.

Few things suck the life from ice faster than warm cans. Whenever possible, buy your bevies cold and load them immediately.

Carrying meat and other fresh food over ice can be challenging; but hanging baskets, bagged meat and sealed plastic containers will keep the food from falling into the slush.

Ice bricks or cold packs are a better option than bagged ice as they don’t release water. But ice bricks can’t be replaced on the road like bagged ice. For shorter treks (such as a weekend) make your own ice bricks by filling plastic drink bottles with tap water and freezing them for several days in a deep freeze. Not only is this a cheap and effective way of keeping things cool, but you can drink the water, too.
How it packs into your vehicle is important, so your icebox should be chosen with an eye to its size. If you’re carrying lots of bevies, a bigger box has a better volume-to-surface area ratio than two smaller ones and so it will be more efficient, but it may not fit a smaller vehicle. On the flip side, a 100L box with almost nothing in it will quickly kill its ice due to the relatively larger volume of air and surface area the ice is exposed to. No matter what size, an icebox full of cold food and ice will do a better job than a half-empty one.

The rough and tumble of offroad driving (or boating) means an icebox needs to be tough. It will tend to be thrown around and need tying down to prevent damage to it, or the vehicle.

Most family-sized iceboxes have handles that double as tie-downs. Some handles are welded into place; others are screwed or riveted to the cabinet and have varying levels of strength. There’s no need to winch down an icebox too hard; just taut enough to prevent it being pushed sideways should be adequate. Larger iceboxes and those intended for commercial use often feature dedicated tie-downs.

Reinforced corners can reduce chipping or cracking; some boxes have skids on the underside that cope better with rough treatment than rubber feet. And having a lid that is strong enough to sit on – and most are – means one less chair to be carried, or the icebox can safely carry other gear stacked on it during transit.
A captive drain plug is a terrific feature as it means the plug can’t be dropped over the side of a boat or accidentally left back in the shed at home.

If the water must be drained (for instance, to keep fresh fish from being submerged in water when contained in a deck-mounted icebox), then drain holes that accept standard hose hardware are handy.

Lastly, as with any other cherished equipment, make sure your icebox is cleaned and dried at the end of each and every trek and then stored with the lid ajar. The manufacturer may have a recommendation for cleaning but a good hose-out and a wipe over with general-purpose kitchen cleaner should do the trick.

- Caravan World #477