Who makes the best metal ice chest?

[LeeRevell]

That's why we caught them along the coast. They tended to school around the oyster beds, which meant constant net repairs. Sometimes once we had them corralled in the seine, Dad would practice with his cast nets. I used them sometimes too, but didn't really do it enough to get good with it.
Worst was getting seajellies caught in the net (stings! and netting by accident a huge school of little pinfish, that basically tangled the net up. We would just pack it onto the boat, return home and stretch the net out to get rid of the trash fish. Some of the useless trash fish we threw away are now high dollar menu items! Such is the seafood industry. There are excellent seafood restaurants all along the Gulf Coast. You can drive the coast and get some mighty good eating!
Dad's home built coolers were about 4 inches thick Styrofoam. Often we'd get back late in the day, tired as heck, so the fish remained in the coolers overnight. The blocks of ice made it frigid! Took awhile sometimes to get all the fish out, as I'd have to wait and warm my hands up before reaching in again! There would be some ice and cold water in there nearly a week later! No drain plugs, so I used a bilge pump to get the water out, then tipped the coolers on their sides in the boat and hosed them out.
After we quit fishing, those coolers got repurposed into "worm boxes", used to raise earthworms for lake and river fishing.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Ahem.  To get back to the subject at hand . . .

[video=youtube]

Based on this, I'd say the Coleman Marine Extreme might be your best bet.

Regards
John

 

[LeeRevell]

A few days ago at the grocery store, I saw a truck with four big coolers in the back. All were Yetis! He had more money than me....

 

[highdesertranger]

I thought a mullet was a bad 80's haircut. highdesertranger

 

[akrvbob]

Let's stay on topic. Any more off-topic posts will be deleted.
Bob

 

[Baloo]

I have a pelican 45qt in my ambo, it is a lot like a yeti. It takes a few days for the cooler to stop eating ice like a regular cooler, but once it is chilled, I only had to add ice once every six days. Also it is strong enough to stand or sit on and has the rack to keep food out of the water. I am very happy with it!

 

[BigT]

How about a compromise?  Instead of building an entire cooler, I was thinking about building a plywood box and lining the floor, walls and top with polyiso insulation, or something similar, making it a tight fit between the insulation and the inner cooler.  
That way I'd have a cooler within a cooler, or at least a double-insulated cooler.  
I know I've heard of people doing this.  

I would think an advantage of this system would be that if the plastic ice chest started to stink or got damaged, I could simply pull it out, toss it, and buy another one.  It would also guarantee that my cooler was well-built, leakproof, and had a drain already installed.  

If I used this double-insulation system, would a plastic ice chest still be better than a metal ice chest?  I recently found one of the old, metal Coleman coolers with the plastic interiors at a local thrift store.  At least I think it's the older design, I need to take another look next week to be sure.  
I've been reading Amazon reviews about the new(er) metal Coleman coolers, and the reviews aren't good.  Something about faulty, poorly designed latches, weak hinges, and drain plugs that are prone to coming off in the car.  

You could always build your own. A cooler is simply foam insulation sandwiched between a inner & outer skin. FRP would make a good inner and outer skin, glued to some 1" - 2" thick residential insulation sheathing (the pink or blue boards). Don't forget to put a drain on it to drain melted ice and spilled liquids out. Also helpful when cleaning it.

btw...  This is my existing ice chest.  My concern with this design, besides its peaked top taking up valuable real-estate, is the fact that not only is the lid not tightly sealed to the sides of the cooler, it isn't insulated either.   :s   This design seems perfectly suited for bringing beer and snacks to a ballgame, but completely useless for long-term storage of perishable items. 

 

[accrete]

Greetings BigT. I see you are still pondering a solution : )
Your most recent idea on building the wood/styro box is IMO sound. Just find a tupperwear/etc tote that is an appropriate size for the food you wish to cool and build a box around it.

We have two Engel Deep Blue coolers that are too tall for your use at ~18", but they fit perfect under our bed platform as designed and they hold ice for nearly 10 days at sub 40 temps on ~$2 of ice. One for dry food storage, the other for cold with ice. We had to go that way as many of the places we frequent in our PNW require "Bear Certification" in any kitchen related food container outside a vehicle. I can dream up a whole lotta other ways to spend ~$600 than on two "coolers", but they work well for our circumstances and wishes (no solar or need for power).

 

[BigT]

Greetings BigT. I see you are still pondering a solution : )

Those look like great coolers!  I just checked Amazon.....  Yike$!  Those are pricey.  Bet they're nice, though.  

Yeah, I'm still in the planning stages, and the more I think about it, the more I come to think my TC just isn't the right vehicle for full-timing in.  
It's just too darn small.  For that reason, and a few others, I've been stalled on my van project.  Not sure I want to build too much stuff for it if I'm not going to live in it.

 

[BigT]

As it turns out, and much to my surprise, my Igloo was able to keep two frozen bottles of water (I use for cooling) frozen for 4 days.
I wouldn't' have thought something with such a loose-fitting lid/top could do that.

Mostly frozen. After 5 days the water had completely thawed but was still keeping the food cool.

 

[LadyJo]

All the cooler info is great.
What I am thinking about is a regular good Colman cooler and putting ice in a Rubbermaid type container (tall & thin) around the walls inside it. The ice should last longer, no water in the bottom to make a mess. We sometimes used 2 & 1/2 gal frozen water jugs , one on each end of the cooler, camping and they lasted at least a week.

 

[rvpopeye]

I do that ice thing too.
If you add insulation on the outside it will amaze you !

 

[accrete]

we tested block ice for the first time in our Engle Deep Blue 80qt cooler. Two 10lb blocks kept the lowest area (next to blocks and under the first 3/4" closed cell foam matt) below 34f for 9 days, and the upper area below 40f (then we topped it off with one more layer of CCF then the lid). We were happy with the results. We could have kept going and just experimented since there was about ~1/2 of the original blocks still remaining, but we arrived back on the coast and had no use for it.

Thom

 

[LadyJo]

3/4" closed cell foam matt) below 34f for 9 days, and the upper area below 40f (then we topped it off with one more layer of CCF then the lid).
Thom

Great results. What is CCF?
Thanks.

 

[highdesertranger]

ccf = closed cell foam. highdesertranger

 

[BigT]

I was pleasantly surprised to find my little Igloo cooler with the peaked, plastic top, kept my food cold for 3 or 4 days with nothing more than a couple of 1 liter bottles of frozen water in the bottom. I still want to find something with a flat top, though, so I can slide it under the bunk.
A drain would be nice too, even thought I generally keep the ice contained inside plastic bottles.
Something rectangular with a flat top would also be easier to fit into an insulated box.

 

[BigT]

I just got home from a 3 week road trip through 5 western states, and I only averaged 1.5 - 2.0 days between ice replacements.  

(I'm using one of those plastic Igloo coolers with the top that hinges at the sides so the whole lid falls to either side)

In addition to having to replace the ice every other day, I had to deal with all my food, packaged in zip-lock bags and Tupperware containers, getting soggy and waterlogged as the ice melted.  I had to throw out a lot of deli meat and lettuce when it got soaked.  

I've thought about getting a compressor fridge, but the size, weight and cost always stops me.  It doesn't take much to overpower my tiny Transit Connect's feeble 4 cylinder engine.  

What I'd like to find is a small, efficient cooler, small enough to fit inside an insulated box to help with keeping the ice solid a bit longer.  
It would also be nice if folks had any tips about packaging I can use to help keep my food dry as the ice melts.  

My ancient Igloo doesn't have a bottom drain, so I have to empty it before I can get ride of any excess water.  

Btw...  It felt fantastic to get away and live out of my van for three weeks, but doing so definitely confirmed that the TC would never work, for me at least, for full-time living.  It's just too small and cramped, even with just enough gear to camp for a few weeks.

 

[BigT]

It was great for a road trip, but a bit too small for long term.

 

[MrNoodly]

You could always build your own. A cooler is simply foam insulation sandwiched between a inner & outer skin. ...

I built a "cooler" for my 25-qt Dometic ridge. A box of 2" poly-iso skinned in plywood with Reflectix glued to the outside to bounce sunlight off.

 

[tx2sturgis]

You will need to spend some money to get a good cooler.

It doesn't have to be a Yeti, there are cheaper brands that work about as well.

One alternative is the Ozark Trail at Walmart:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Trail-26-Quart-High-Performance-Cooler/55703255

Or if you have the room:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Tr...466001f5-47f4d1a0-113678a13db992f&athena=true

Roto-molded coolers are a lot sturdier than the cheap injection molded coolers, so they can actually be placed in your small camper and used for seating. 

They tend to have very sturdy latches and hinges, and a gasket around the lid. 

Plus, most will have pretty good insulation and ice-keeping ability.