New Trailer Fridge - First trip = Exploded beer cans??

[jd-santaclarita]

Hi All - I took my trailer and gear setup out for my first trip in it and it went pretty well but learned a lot. One thing I learned immediately is that if you are not careful your beer will explode in the fridge

I have the new all weather arb 63qt fridge (awesome btw) and I mounted it on some slides I fabricated. It was sitting on the slide tray (mounted to rails) and strapped down tight so it wasnt moving inside the trailer. I went up in the sierra nevadas and did about an hour of pretty bumpy backroads to get to the camp site. I admit it wasnt the gentlest ride and trailer was definitely bumpy at times. I packed the fridge pretty good I thought. Lots of food and soft stuff and a 12 pack of beer cans and misc stuff in one half of the fridge. When I opened it at least half of the cans were pretty mangled up and everything was soaking in a few inches of beer. I assume this is not an issue mounted in the back of the vehicle, but with a rough suspension axle/leafspring trailer I guess its an issue.

What do you guys do? I mostly bought this thing for cold drinks.

 

[indiedog]

Well exploding beer is never good. I gather it wasn't frozen so yes, bouncing around the culprit. Of course your suspension will make a difference to how well things ride so worth checking that out. Just make sure you pack everything so it is not likely to move. If boxes etc are not full (say with foodstuffs) then we pack the empty spaces with tea towels, cloths, anything to make it all stay in place better. You'll never stop learning......

 

[ottsville]

What do you guys do?

Drink bourbon.

 

[kdj]

You know that's a sure sign of alcohold abuse!

 

[jacobconroy]

You know that's a sure sign of alcohold abuse!

You get points for that sir.

This is probably a silly question, but were the beer cans swollen or punctured?

 

[tgreening]

I bought soda in Ohio and it exploded out in Colorado at 10,000 ft. No fridge required. Or bouncy roads.

 

[NatersXJ6]

Kegs are much thicker.

Or you could drink bottles.

You probably have a combination of bounce/abrasion and pressure change. I've had it happen outside of the fridge to soda cans. You can stack them with something soft between. Make sure they are standing, not laying down, etc.

Cans are shockingly thin.

 

[hemifoot]

had the same problem(sort of)since then i've found it just easier to put all my drinks in a cooler with frozen milk jugs full of water and just moved the cans into the fridge or the boat as space allowed.

 

[indiedog]

Something we don't need to contend with here is climbing in altitude much, so hadn't considered that as a possible factor. You'd think though that if the cans were well packed they would have a better chance of surviving.

 

[highdesertranger]

funny we have that problem with bottles. with bottles the cap fails. the failure rate with bottles was well over 10%. with cans the failure rate is well under 1%, just plain wears holes in the sides. highdesertranger

 

[alia176]

Move the cooler to the front, near the tongue for less bouncy bouncy, if you can. Otherwise, you're switching to cans mi amigo!

 

[Z61]

I would just leave the fridge in your truck. Trailers are typically just too stiff (inappropriate suspension ride rates) and that shock load is easily translated. If beer cans are being shook that much, I would be more concerned about the components of the fridge getting damaged.

 

[jwiereng]

Softer springs with shocks may help. Check out airbag suspension, it allows one to fine tune the spring rate to match the variable load.

 

[dstock]

I'm guessing this has way more to do with altitude then ride quality. However, I do keep my fridge in the vehicle.

We did do a trip in Death Valley with a cooler full of beer in the trailer on some of the worst washboard roads known to man with zero issues.