Best Cooler

[Island Time O25]

Forgot to mention in my previous post.

I found older Coleman's or Igloo to be much better in keeping cold. Especially real old (70s?) US made Coleman's, metal body with ss clasps on 3 sides. But mine was too rusty and beat up looking plus a bit on a heavy side so my g/f insisted that I ditch it in favor of a "new and improved" one. Bad choice as the new one is Chinese junk. So I'm back to just having the old standby Igloo for more than 1-2 day cold needs. I just can't bring myself to pay more than $100 for a piece of plastic, even if it's some fancy brand.

Also I was told of a trick by my marine pro buddy which he uses whenever he has to deliver or skipper a fridgeless vessel in warmer climes. He gets 2 coolers, one for first half of the trip and the other one for the second half. The 2nd one he wraps the lid where it meets the trunk with duct tape and wraps the whole thing in a heavy woolen blanket. He swears by it.

I did the blanket thing on my poorly insulated fridge top and noticed considerable difference in both the fridge keeping cold and the compressor doing much less cycling. Wool is supposed to be a great insulator.

[Hank Kivett]

Well with any luck at all headed out down the ditch in Nov and play around in the keys and islands...so yes warm conditions is the goal...

[brownoarsman]

Yeah-'real world' I think the performance difference 'melts away' quickly. Proper cooler technique probably plays a larger role: group foods together so they can be taken out at once, keep the cooler in the shade, minimize openings, etc.
I also found that sitting on mine was a bad idea. Measurable difference in ice melt. Opening it every evening to take an ice pick to an ice block for a cold dark and stormy probably didn't help either!
One more note. The sportsman is sturdily constructed and has been thrown around my cabin a few times without breaking. However, the seal gasket has a gap in it and it also has a drain plug, these probably affect its cold retention, but I have no idea to what degree.
I'd be surprised if you ever made back the extra investment in the more expensive coolers, unless you were spoiling a lot of food.
I also ran the numbers on the cooler, and concluded I should have bought an engel. $4 for ice every five days over a six month cruise is already $280 not to mention the hassle of finding ice. The $4 is an average price between US and Bahamas. If departing from home, the ice is free enough following the frozen gallon method, which I have also used.


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[RainDog]

Originally Posted by Island Time O25

The 2nd one he wraps the lid where it meets the trunk with duct tape and wraps the whole thing in a heavy woolen blanket. He swears by it.

I did the blanket thing on my poorly insulated fridge top and noticed considerable difference in both the fridge keeping cold and the compressor doing much less cycling. Wool is supposed to be a great insulator.

We made a "wrapper" for our cooler out of Reflectix. This for sure helps the ice last longer.

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by NewMoon

Hard to know - there are several more variables than shown or discussed in the video. Hard to believe that in a careful unbiased test the Engel would perform as much better than the Yeti as they say, or that the Yeti would be as little better than the cheapies as they say. Could it have anything to do with the fact that they sell Engle, and not Yeti?

Along with Yeti, I thoroughly checked out specs on Engle Pelican Grizzly and Igloo Yukon, and looked at them all in stores before buying. It seemed to me that there was probably relatively little difference in Engle Pelican Grizzly and Yeti's ability to keep things cold, and yet a great difference between them and the cheapies. So I bought the Yeti, which seemed very sturdy, and had the dimensions I wanted. Works great for me.

It looked to me like all variables were kept equal for all coolers. The ambient temp was the same, equal amounts of ice, equal number of sodas, equal number of times the lid was opened on each cooler.

After seeing all of the testimonials about how strong the Yeti cooler is, I'm convinced it is much stronger than either the Igloo or Coleman coolers, but in order to make it that strong they used a different material for the cooler and it's probably thicker as well. This material may very well transfer more heat from outside to inside via the lip of the cooler and the lid due to it's increased thickness. I've seen the same phenomena with stainless trough type coolers where the SS transfers heat from outside to inside regardless of the amount and type of insulation.

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by brownoarsman

Yeah-'real world' I think the performance difference 'melts away' quickly. Proper cooler technique probably plays a larger role: group foods together so they can be taken out at once, keep the cooler in the shade, minimize openings, etc.
I also found that sitting on mine was a bad idea. Measurable difference in ice melt. Opening it every evening to take an ice pick to an ice block for a cold dark and stormy probably didn't help either!
One more note. The sportsman is sturdily constructed and has been thrown around my cabin a few times without breaking. However, the seal gasket has a gap in it and it also has a drain plug, these probably affect its cold retention, but I have no idea to what degree.
I'd be surprised if you ever made back the extra investment in the more expensive coolers, unless you were spoiling a lot of food.
I also ran the numbers on the cooler, and concluded I should have bought an engel. $4 for ice every five days over a six month cruise is already $280 not to mention the hassle of finding ice. The $4 is an average price between US and Bahamas. If departing from home, the ice is free enough following the frozen gallon method, which I have also used.


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The following cost me a few $$ up front, but more than paid for itself.

After installing a solar panel system on my 40' trailer (475 watts) I found that my batteries were fully charged by 10 or 1030am. I had an inverter already in thr trailer which is on 24/7, so I bought a portable ice maker that's rated at 40lbs per day for $165 on Ebay. I run it from breakfast to dinner and it makes about 20-25 lbs per day.

Considering that where I camp a 20 lb bag of ice is $8 ea., it didn't take me too long to recoup my $165 investment, but I had to have the solar power and inverter to support it. I get a lot of friends who pop over in the evenings for fresh ice for their drinks or they need 5-10 lbs of ice to get them through the night, it's nice to have an excess of it!

[Dymaxion]

As a suggestion, get two coolers, one filled with block ice and sealed with duct tape. Put your food and drink in the other with a couple of blocks of ice. When you need ice go to the ice house and get a couple of blocks and reseal it. Or buy the Engel and let it make ice as you need it for your drinks.

[jeepbluetj]

Spent a lot of time camping in the California desert far far away from civilization. Even with a good cooler it was tough to get 3 days out of it. Packing with frozen food (meats, gatorade, etc... ) was a very good way to get it to last far longer.

Beyond that, 2 coolers and some dry ice.

Or an Engel.

[brownoarsman]

Originally Posted by socaldmax

it's nice to have an excess of it!

Spare power and spare ice, two things one can never have enough of!


I looked at an ice maker on my little boat as well, but the draw was going to be substantial as I think there was something about it needing one hour to cool down before it hit its stride. If I remember right, the average draw of the Engel worked out a little less over the two to three days the cubed ice would last, and didn't have the heavy peak loads, but there is the benefit of running the ice maker when one has one's engine on. That's also when I used my crockpot, well, until the engine blew!

Next boat will be bigger


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[Ocean Girl]

Originally Posted by RainDog

We made a "wrapper" for our cooler out of Reflectix. This for sure helps the ice last longer.

Plus, to add to my hubby's post, the cooler was on deck, in the summer months, cruising Bahamas.

[Bison Coolers]

We are a new sponsor here and I am happy to chime in this conversation. We offer an American made cooler that is superior to our competitors and less money out of your pocket. Our hard sided coolers have more insulation than the Y Brand, are true to size capacity, have a built in ruler on top, several ways to lock, are about $100 cheaper on average, and you can customize your cooler with your own lid graphic.

Check out our cooler line here: https://www.bisoncoolers.com/categories/coolers/

Please feel free to message me or reply with any questions. I would be happy to discuss more details about our coolers, accessories, gear, etc...

Thank you!
Emily

[wrwakefield]

One thing I forgot to mention is that several coolers use rope handles and a hard plastic grip. That works fine for carrying the cooler, but make enough noise to be irritating when on a moving vessel or vehicle. [Until I figured it out the first time, I was perusing lockers looking for that slightly loose can rolling around...]

Granted, that is easy to deal with, but demonstrates those designers have never used their products in close quarters while mobile...

This would not influence my decision about which cooler to buy, but does add after purchase modifications to the list...

Food for thought.

Cheers!

Bill

[Kestle]

A few tricks I've found:

1) I organize food in plastic containers, so the cooler isn't open long. Reach in, grab the stuff for the day, close. Under 7 seconds. You need to buy the containers to fit each section well with minimal air gaps.

2) I have a layer of that car reflector aluminized mylar stuff cut to fit between the layers and also two layers on the bottom, and one on the top

3) Before loading, I pre-cool the unit overnight with ice.

4) the cooler sits on a piece of backpack camping foam, for insulation and to keep it from sliding.

5) As a prior poster said, a blanket wrap works wonders, mostly to keep air circulation off of it. I use an insulated rain poncho, which is nylon on one side and fleece on the inside.

6) Air is your enemy. Fill the whole damn thing with precooled items. This means frozen milk bottles work better if they are very square in footprint.

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by Kestle

A few tricks I've found:

1) I organize food in plastic containers, so the cooler isn't open long. Reach in, grab the stuff for the day, close. Under 7 seconds. You need to buy the containers to fit each section well with minimal air gaps.

2) I have a layer of that car reflector aluminized mylar stuff cut to fit between the layers and also two layers on the bottom, and one on the top

3) Before loading, I pre-cool the unit overnight with ice.

4) the cooler sits on a piece of backpack camping foam, for insulation and to keep it from sliding.

5) As a prior poster said, a blanket wrap works wonders, mostly to keep air circulation off of it. I use an insulated rain poncho, which is nylon on one side and fleece on the inside.

6) Air is your enemy. Fill the whole damn thing with precooled items. This means frozen milk bottles work better if they are very square in footprint.

Excellent info!

I usually pack leftovers for easy reheating in the microwave, so I just freeze a lot of food and it acts like ice, keeping the fresh stuff and condiments cold.

I also use Techni-Ice with food instead of ice. It comes as a paper thin flat sheet, you soak it in hot water and it absorbs water and turns into a much thicker sheet of what looks like white charcoal briquets. The nice thing about TI is that unlike ice, which sits at 32*, TI will go down to whatever temp your freezer is at, like -10*F. I've used 2 or 3 sheets for a day trip, opened the cooler a lot, and had the TI (and most of the food) still below 32* at the end of the day.

I have a variety of coolers, depending on the purpose. For long term use, I use the Coleman Extreme. For 1 or 2 days, I'll use a soft sided cooler with amazing insulation made by American Outdoor. The nice thing about AO coolers is they don't scratch gelcoat, so all of my friends with performance boats insist that you only bring an AO cooler. I've been in Havasu in 115* heat, and the inside of the cooler is so cold I'm getting ice crystals in my Coronas even before opening the cap! Once the cap is opened, the crystals shoot all the way to the bottom of the bottle. This was with a little rock salt to help get it colder, but overnight all of the sodas froze and burst open (learned a lesson on that one) and all of the water bottles were frozen solid, with most of the ice left in the cooler after all day @ 115* and overnight temps of 90*.

The ease of stowing a soft cooler is also nice, I like them so much I have 4, 2 24 pack, 1 36 pack and 1 48 pack.

[JanetGroene]

Originally Posted by RainDog

When cruising we shop once every two weeks. One week of groceries goes in our Engel, the second week goes in our Yeti with 20 lbs of ice. We do not open it during the first five days. After five days we move the groceries from the Yeti to the Engel. The ice always lasted 5 days, sometime a bit longer. Have not tried with other coolers, but it works with the Yeti.

This is such an excellent tip! Half the victory in preserving ice is simply to leave it alone. Having two good coolers is a definite plus. In stocking food I also start with frozen foods as much as possible. Some meat managers will custom wrap and freeze for you, eliminating puffy plastic wrap. Boxed frozen foods such as spinach and cut broccoli are tightly packed and keep better than bags of loose pieces.