Looking to install a fridge/ freezer

Looking for recs on fridge/ freezers, as well as slides for a longbed, and family of 3. Anyone have solid recs? So far, had one advise on the iceco jp30, not sure if the size is big enough for myself, wife and kid for a multiday trip but don’t want to take up half the bed with this contraption.

Also, How are you all mounting it to the bed, drilling into it?

 

Last time I installed a Frig/Freezer the hardest thing was getting the 36" unit thru a door with 34" opening.

Ended up removing the doors.

Oh.....did you mean in the truck....... nevermind.

 

I have the Iceco VL60 for a family of 5 and it works great. I paired it with their fridge slide and haven't had any issues at all. Had it for over a year. Heres a code to get you 15% off. hope it helps.
Code: REVIEWSALE-RFMBIN

 

I have a 42 liter Snomaster for my wife and I (it sits behind the driver's seat in my Tacoma). Three people would be okay with this size, but I'd consider say a 50 liter, especially if cooking a lot. If you also have the battery power, a dual might be a nice option for more truly frozen items. I keep my fridge at 34 which stuff on the bottom stays mostly frozen but doesn't freeze otherwise.

I have a Tembo Tusk slide in the back of a Jeep, and it's very well built. I've mounted the slide on a false floor so that I can easily remove the slide if needed.

 

So I’m not running a dual battery set up, rather a single battery with a solar panel. I got a x2 24f with the 4 posts, and i have the cascadia 4x4 hood Panel and VSS installed already, hoping this is enough since it was recommended by a few other TW members as well as on expedition portal.
Thoughts?

 

I don't have any experience with solar, but sounds like that works fine as long as you have enough light. I have a dual battery in both my Tacoma and a Jeep for the same Snomaster fridge, and that is an added expense.

What I'd tell you is that you'll just have to figure out the power use for the fridge. Generally, fridge's don't use a lot of power at night just to being cooler temps, and assuming you drive every day, the fridge runs off of the alternator. I would carry one of those little battery boosters incase you drain the starter battery, and I'd also upgrade (it not already) to an AMG for the starter. Get the biggest you can (like a Group 31 at about 100 AH. (My Tacoma's auxiliary is a Group 35 at 64 AH).

A few tips about having a fridge: stock it when it's running off of the alternator (or items are already cold), keep it mostly full, if at home and in the garage, plug it into an outlet (I have an outlet hanging from my garage ceiling).

With all that being said, having ice cold beverages (water, soda, beer, deck wine), sandwiches, cheese sticks, even ice cream, along a road trip with no ice required is a game changer! One benefit is I have already noticed is that I'm just not eating fast food on trips. I'll never go back to a cooler.

P.S. Another tip for a fridge, I keep several frozen bottles of water inside to help with power use.

 

Thank you for your well written advice! I really appreciate any input like this

 

I have the jp30 and love it for my limited use. Only bought for and used so far on a couple 10ish hr one way trips (2 adults/2 kids). It is smaller capacity but that was one of the factors I had on my must list. I’m able to have cold water, sandwich supplies and fruit cups etc stocked up. Dry foods get packed in one of the soft sams club grocery bag/“cooler”. And we no longer need to spend money on fast food. The inside has a tray with a divider- 1 side I filled up with maybe 7 water bottles and the other side was sandwich meat/jelly/mustard and the fruit, salad. Less water bottles would give more room for food but depends on your personal intended use. Point being is if that doesn’t sound like enough for you go bigger.

I’m still on 3yr old stock battery and would leave it on overnight at the hotel. Never did I come out to a dead battery. It held the temp great throughout the trip and overnight (prior to loading up I would stock the frig and get it to temp in the house the night before so it’s cold and ready to go in the morning). I also have the

$100 noco gb40 1000A ultrasafe car battery jump starter, 12V battery pack, battery booster, jump box, portable charger and jumper cables for 6.0L gasoline and 3.0L diesel engines, gray

noco gb40 as my jumper in case I did have a dead battery and I fully expected to have to replace the battery during the trip but was surprised I didn’t.

 

Just wrapped a two week road trip with the wife and two boys. Dometic dual zone maiden voyage.

it was awesome and made things easy. Carry in to friends houses and plug into the wall and you are all set.

fitting it in the Tacoma will be a challenge. It’s a reasonable amount of space in our minivan.

 

Glad to hear you had a great first experience with the DZ!. They do take up a bit of room but taking out non-soggy food and a properly chilled drink make it worth the space

DOMETIC
mobile living made easy
dometic.com
Use promo code TacomaW20 for $25 off your order of $75+

 

Since you commented, I did manage to tear the 12v power cable when I removed the fridge at the end of our last drive home because, tired and forgetful...
I ordered a new cable already and re-purposed the existing one direct to the minivan rear fuse block so it'll be always on (which is nice) but I thought that it might be super cool to have some sort of breakaway feature for fools like me who might forget that it's plugged in when removing it.

 

Great feedback. I'll pass this along to the CFX3 product manager.

DOMETIC
mobile living made easy
dometic.com
Use promo code TacomaW20 for $25 off your order of $75+

 

ALL great responses, and I even got dometic offering discounts!
Thanks everyone!