Can I literally just freeze ocean water instead of buying salt ice?

Waste of time & end result is useless after a few hrs if that
I made my own using 2 & 4L containers as frozen blocks. As soon as it came out of the freezer, it thawed quickly. By the time I headed out, about 15mins from home, setup my kayak, already 1/2 L of water from the ice had thawed

Best to make it out of salt & tap water like MB suggested, its the same stuff that you buy commercially

Yep frozen bottles are great, after reading this just made some more.

I also find put one in chilly bin the night before going out, then in morning the bin has cooled down, find the ice and new frozen bottles last longer..

I usually just buy a couple of bags of normal ice  and tip in 1/2 a bucket of sea water once out  on the high seas .

yknot wrote: Yep frozen bottles are great, after reading this just made some more. I also find put one in chilly bin the night before going out, then in morning the bin has cooled down, find the ice and new frozen bottles last longer..

I too pre cool the chilly like that. I find the bottles don't do a good job with cooling the fish as they don't give up their coolness quick enough so I take flake ice.

Fish Addict wrote: If you have a spare 15 mins this is a good read. Slurry or Ice Only - The Fishing Website : Discussion Forums - Page 1

Just read all that thanks. Me thinks I'll give it a go freezing salt ice in ice cream containers or similar and using them like giant ice cubes.  

I prefer to just get a couple of $5 bags from servo , job done ! Last for 3 / 4 days in the Coleman esky

MB wrote: I bought some 2L silicone soap-making moulds for making large salt ice cubes.  In terms of fish storage, I think the best strategy I've come across is placing fish in a salt ice slurry, then once cooled down, packed in solid salt ice. Probably overkill for most of us and I'm not going to carry two chilly bins on my boat for this purpose, just putting it out there.

I thought the whole idea of salt ice is that fresh water  sped up  or initiated  decay ..... coz they reckon you shouldnt wash fish in fresh water...........but I dont have running salt water, like last night   wifie arrives home with 2 vacuum packed flounders ( packed yesterday , opened the packet , give it the suspicious sniff all very good , smelt of just about nothing , clear eyes  but it was a bit slimey  so a rinse under the tap pat dry with handy towel and into the pan ) .