Back in the coal mining days, companies used canaries to determine if toxic gases were being emitted from the cave before they sent the employees in – not a great job if you were a canary. Nowadays, the term refers to someone who or something that acts as an early warning of danger or trouble.
It is not as prevalent during the summer months when you are using your boat every day however, if you leave your boat for a week there is no guarantee you won’t lose shore power or your freezer may fail. The challenge is that food in the freezer thaws, goes bad, and when shore power is restored, the food freezes again. There is a good chance the food would smell when you defrost it but you never know.
This is a very simple way to confirm that everything has remained frozen. Simply place a couple of ice cubes in a Ziploc bag and toss them in the freezer. Check them each time you return to your boat and confirm that they are still cubes. Here is a before and after:
