Cold drinks on a boat? It takes some effort. But it is possible.
If you’re in a hot climate, drinks can take up half your refrigerator or more. And chilling them down puts a big load on your power supply. Where we cruised, it was 90+ degrees for 8 months of the year, and we learned 4 important things to keep us in cold drinks without totally draining the batteries.
Have a Plan
How long the refrigerator is open to get drinks out and put drinks in will have a definite effect on the power used. If you know right where the drink you want is located, you’ll save a lot of “open door” time — and yes, it’s important even with a top-loading refrigerator.
Designate specific places for each type of drink and stick to it. For us, we had one bin with Cokes and one with beer and didn’t mix them. We used small square wastebaskets and cut air holes in the sides with a Dremel (a word of advice if you’re thinking of buying a Dremel — get a corded one if you have a suitable inverter, the rechargeable ones don’t have enough power for most boat jobs).
We also went through a lot of cold water, iced tea and Gatorade. That’s three water-based drinks: I made Gatorade from powder and iced tea from concentrate that I brewed. I found three half-gallon juice bottles that perfectly fit along the edge of the refrigerator right below the lid opening, and kept the “in use” bottles there, always in the same order from left to right and marked on the screw top in case someone forget the order. (On our current boat — which has a smaller refrigerator — we use mostly quart bottles.)
I also usually had a bottle of juice for breakfast (or a couple of cans of V-8) and a bottle of milk and they also had their own “homes” so that we didn’t pick them up by mistake.
Have Some Drinks Ready for Use and Some In Waiting
In addition to the “ready for use” drinks, I kept two other half gallon bottles of water in the back corner of the refrigerator, chilling down. When I needed to refill the “in use” bottles, these were what I used. I didn’t have to get to them so often, so it didn’t matter that they were less accessible — and this way, I always had cold water to mix up whatever we needed, so a new supply was ready to drink immediately.
If you don’t have space for that many bottles, I still recommend having a rotational system with whatever size and how many bottles you do have room for.
If you haven’t yet been in a tropical summer without air conditioning, you’re probably wondering at the amount of drinks I’m talking about. When temperatures were over 100, we would each drink over 1-1/2 gallons of cold drinks a day; occasionally over 2 gallons apiece if we took particularly long hikes. Other boats in the same locales reported drinking about the same amount.
As you can see, having cold drinks on a boat isn’t just a luxury. It’s an important strategy for avoiding dehydration.
Re-Stock Before Going to Bed
Re-filling the refrigerator before going to bed does two things:
- It gives your warm drinks all night to chill down, so you’re got an adequate supply for the next day; and
- It allows the refrigerator to do the most work during the coolest time of day, as described more fully in How to Improve Refrigerator Efficiency.
Store the Drinks Low in the Refrigerator
If possible, store the drinks low in the refrigerator for three reasons:
- The lower sections are the coldest outside of the freezer;
- It’s best to have the weight lower, and your drinks probably are the heaviest things you have in the refrigerator; and
- If the drinks are on the bottom, they can’t fall onto “fragile” foods like lettuce (barring extremely rough conditions).
Conclusion
It may take a few tries to get your drink system perfect, but these tips will hopefully help you. I know for us that having plenty of cold drinks made the summers in the Sea of Cortez enjoyable instead of “something to get through” — and we did not have unlimited power. Solar panels provided 95% of our power aboard Que Tal (the other 5% came from the alternator when motoring). And having cold drinks on a boat was a reward for our efforts.
Simplify meal prep on board with proven strategies for provisioning, maximizing fridge space, and cooking delicious meals aboard your boat.

Carolyn Shearlock has lived aboard full-time for 17 years, splitting her time between a Tayana 37 monohull and a Gemini 105 catamaran. She’s cruised over 14,000 miles, from Pacific Mexico and Central America to Florida and the Bahamas, gaining firsthand experience with the joys and challenges of life on the water.
Through The Boat Galley, Carolyn has helped thousands of people explore, prepare for, and enjoy life afloat. She shares her expertise as an instructor at Cruisers University, in leading boating publications, and through her bestselling book, The Boat Galley Cookbook. She is passionate about helping others embark on their liveaboard journey—making life on the water simpler, safer, and more enjoyable.
Shawna says
I do hope you meant cans, not bottles.
Carolyn Shearlock says
I’m guessing she was using plastic bottles . . . I wouldn’t want to risk broken glass in a drink!
The Boat Galley says
Good way to have them nice, cold and handy!
Carolyn Shearlock says
You know, I haven’t — as you said, most boating locations have very high humidity.
The Jedi Fisherman says
Nice
Carolyn Shearlock says
As long as you’ve got a large enough battery bank, it’ll just fill up the next day . . . and since it’ll use less power at night, overall it’s an energy savings.
Carolyn Shearlock says
I was referring to a top loader in that article. We now have a front loader and while our placement is a little different, we still have designated spots for each type of drink, and drinks take up about half of the space.
Carolyn Shearlock says
Sounds like you’re using an airpot (see my article here on them) — great idea for not opening the fridge so often!
The Boat Galley says
Great tip if your freezer is big enough to do that!
Anonymous says
The Boat Galley full size fridge on a cruiser..freezer holds 24 bottles of water