I have had a Finch 3 way fridge for 25 years. Yes the same fridge. We have been avid 4WDers for this same 25 year period along with our 3 kids.

I have found the fridge fantastic. When driving, the fridge runs off 12v but barely keeps things cold enough. Two years ago I fitted a 100mm 12v computer power supply cooling fan which has helped to get a little cooler on 12v.

Switched to 240v, whenever we hit a motel or on-site van it works well, in fact by morning, some things will have started to freeze if left on high.

For all our camping we carry a 2Kg gas bottle. The first thing I do when camp is reached is connect the fridge to gas and turn up to high. During a hot day it will keep things pretty cold and in Victoria overnight it will mostly start to freeze things by morning.

Last year my wife and I did an outback trip late October, early November, so it was really hot, in fact on top of Big Red it was just under 50 degrees. I’ve got to admit that the fridge struggled in this heat, but then we carry food accordingly.

We started 4WDing when our youngest was just 9 months old. The kids were always fed around 6pm every night, so we made a decision then and there that we would always try and keep to this routine when camping. This meant that we often lived off tin and packaged food especially after the first few days. My wife would generally cook a couple of casseroles which were frozen before leaving home. This would do us the first two days (and because they were frozen would keep everything in the fridge extra cold), then we would start living off the packaged food.

For our outback trip we did exactly the same. So after the first couple of days the fridge only contained things like butter, desserts, drinks and plenty of water.

The beauty of the 3 way fridge is that you don’t need to keep it connected to your car battery and it doesn’t have to stay in the car when at camp. It is also probably the most reliable fridge on the market as there are no moving parts. In 25 years it has never broken down or stopped working. I can guarantee you will never get a compressor fridge to be this reliable. In fact I bet you have heard all the horror stories of compressor fridges breaking down while on trips and people losing all their food as well as having a costly repair on their hands.

The gas bottle lasts for about a week including the use of a 2 burner gas stove. We find now days that the gas stove gets a good work out. There’s not a lot of wood in the outback and in Victoria we seem to have a lot of total fire ban days.

The number of driven wheels You may not know this, but the average 4x4 is really only two wheel drive. Jack one rear wheel and one front wheel off the ground, and you will note that the wheels in the air are the ones to spin, not the ones on the ground. Even if your vehicle has a rear limited slip differential, the same scenario applies. So, what can be done to help in this situation? Well, this is the reason a lot of four wheel drivers fit diff locks. A diff lock fitted to just the rear diff, means that if you have three wheels in the air, the one rear wheel on the ground is enough to continue forward motion. The wheel in the air will spin at exactly the same rate as the one on the ground.