To buy a new ice maker or not to buy a new ice maker that is the question.

You no doubt have heard of our ice maker "giving up the ghost". The captain has been doing some figuring on whether it is practical to continue to buy ice or to purchase a new ice maker. Here is the situation: (This may look very much like a high school word problem) a five pound bag of ice costs about $2.25 (US). We use one bag of ice every day and a half. A replacement ice maker costs about $1,100. Over the next twelve months we will use about 240 bags of ice, because we will be on the boat almost all the time. The cost of all this ice is about $540. However, after this year we will probably be on the boat about thirty days a year for an ice cost of $45. per year. The question is: how many years it will take to break even by buying the new ice maker (not counting inflation)? The answer is about 13 years. Since we may only keep the boat another few years, the answer is obvious - BUY A NEW ICE MAKER (I love my ice).