Domestic refrigerators

I bought one and promptly returned it. They are heavy and I anticipated dragging it out of the truck and into my car for home-time. It was maybe 40 pounds when empty. Second, the food storage areas are not food friendly. It had one compartment you could stand up 2 or 3 2-liter coke bottles and a smaller area big enough for a home made sandwich near the top so it wouldn't freeze. Boaters and RVers say Dometic is a high-quality brand and reliable, I have no doubt. But they are expensive compared to Aplicool brand and heavy. The alpicool brand has more storage area, in a more convenient layout and is half te price or less. I think I paid $700 or at least $500.

 

No big cooler, but my CFX35 is the best money I've spent inside the truck

 

The downside to Dometics is they are very expensive. I am sure their quality is worth the $1,200 plus costs. I could not bring myself to spend that amount of money. The weight is not an issue if you leave it in your truck during home-time. The 55 qt model you saw weighs 47 pounds empty, plus any food/drinks inside. I know how crummy I felt when a $250 shortwave radio was stolen during home time. I would go on a rampage if my thousand dollar fridge was stolen. The cost of the fridge would suggest not leaving it in the company yard, for me. Some people feel differently about money and could easily trust the people in the shop or other drivers to not steal from them. YMMV.

A built-in fridge provided by the company or from the factory is the best option. More companies are equipping their trucks with them, they fit neatly inside the truck and work muich better than the igloo/coleman coolers.

 

During my last few years driving I was hauling so much bottled water, beer, and soda I was sometimes having to buy fuel 40 and 50 gallons at a time. I started to stop carrying a lot of things that while nice were in the end simple ballast. I used a small cooler. I used to carry a huge toolbox. If I did not need them I left my snow chains in my pickup.