best camp cooler

[tplife]

Re: best camp cooler

KCScout, removing the water makes the ice last longer as air and solids transfer heat at a slower rate, keeping the ice frozen longer to keep the air and solids in the cooler at a cold temp. The cold water makes your solids colder faster, but once they are ice cold, the water just rips you off by melting the ice at a faster rate. Yes, the ice lasts longer when you keep the water inside at a minimum. Lower the mesh bag of cubes into the lliquid water in a clear glass or jar, and notice after a couple of minutes that the ice melts faster under the water than it does in the air. The air insulates the outside surface of the cubes and makes them last longer.

[James.]

Re: best camp cooler

Typically they say don't pour out the water because the water should typically be much colder than the surrounding air which is warmer and melting the ice in the first place.. yes it is very true that you should pre-cool a cooler before hand, but I rarely ever do that and most people don't have time... instead if I am going to cook up some chicken (as an example) I take frozen chicken and may use that for a meal a day or two into camping and it is effectively free ice for the cooler.

I also like to get a gallon milk jug, clean it out, then fill with water and freeze. When it melts you have water to drink. I have seen some of the frozen containers at the stores that you can re-use / refreeze and one of the styles is more of a flat / gel like blanket so to speak so that would be an awesome way to put an additional insulation layer above all of your stuff.

I currently have 2 coolers. A cheapo soft sided one that is used for driving down the road with kids and keeping things cold for a day long trip and can fill up repeatedly in a motel, and an Igloo way way too big of a cooler but works great at keeping things cold for several days and if I ever run into an issue with power or freezer at home I can get most of my food into it or for parties with beer and pop it works great too Its a 110 quart cooler though. If I was smart I would have gotten 2 54 quart coleman coolers or something equivalent... I got the bigger one because it had wheels and some trips I go on there is a long ways to hike in with the cooler and it seemed like an easy way to carry all of the ice, food, etc. without breaking my back.

Speaking of the yeti coolers I agree way over priced, but I sometimes get bass pro gift cards, etc. and I have been stock piling them to hopefully use on a Yeti 45 quart cooler. It seems like the perfect middle ground and I want to see if it can live up to its hype or not.

Here is another one to consider... Styrofoam. They are dirt cheap and they have great insulation value for the price.. only problem I ever have is I have a tendency to destroy them... step on them back into them but they are cheap and efficient.

:diablo: I'm sorry man. I didn't want to be that guy but there needed to be some paragraph breaks in that post.

[hwc1954]

Re: best camp cooler

All of the cooler manufacturers -- Igloo, Coleman, Yeti, Engels, Pelican, etc. -- recommend leaving the melted water in the cooler (unless you are keeping salt water fish that will be degraded by sitting in fresh water). To be sure, water will melt ice faster than air will. It works as very effective heat sink -- lots of thermal mass. That's why they recommend leaving it. The goal is for the cooler (as a whole) to take as long as possible to warm up. It takes a LOT of heat to warm up a cooler full of nearly freezing water. A cooler full of air (which is what you get if you drain the water), is much easier to warm up.

Personally? I leave the water in the cooler until I:

a) need to free up some room for another bag of ice

or

b) carry the cooler to the car for the ride home.

[James.]

Re: best camp cooler

All of the cooler manufacturers -- Igloo, Coleman, Yeti, Engels, Pelican, etc. -- recommend leaving the melted water in the cooler (unless you are keeping salt water fish that will be degraded by sitting in fresh water). To be sure, water will melt ice faster than air will. It works as very effective heat sink -- lots of thermal mass. That's why they recommend leaving it. The goal is for the cooler (as a whole) to take as long as possible to warm up. It takes a LOT of heat to warm up a cooler full of nearly freezing water. A cooler full of air (which is what you get if you drain the water), is much easier to warm up.

Personally? I leave the water in the cooler until I:

a) need to free up some room for another bag of ice

or

b) carry the cooler to the car for the ride home.

Interesting. I think an experiment is in order.

[NYCgrrl]

Re: best camp cooler

All of the cooler manufacturers -- Igloo, Coleman, Yeti, Engels, Pelican, etc. -- recommend leaving the melted water in the cooler (unless you are keeping salt water fish that will be degraded by sitting in fresh water). To be sure, water will melt ice faster than air will. It works as very effective heat sink -- lots of thermal mass. That's why they recommend leaving it. The goal is for the cooler (as a whole) to take as long as possible to warm up. It takes a LOT of heat to warm up a cooler full of nearly freezing water. A cooler full of air (which is what you get if you drain the water), is much easier to warm up.

Personally? I leave the water in the cooler until I:

a) need to free up some room for another bag of ice

or

b) carry the cooler to the car for the ride home.

The leave water/remove water discussion rages up and down the 'net from camping to boating forums. Nice to know somethings never change:he:.

kcscout- I hear you on the bigger coolers. Picking up my filled 100 qt cooler reminds me whyyyy doing morning pushups is a good thing. Truth be known I cheat now. The car has wheels fer a reason and after the rest of the camp gear is unloaded it's time to drive directly up to the tree the coolers will spend the rest of the trip under:ange:. Assuming I reserved a site with a tree.....sigh for this year's long trip reservation.

[kcscout]

Re: best camp cooler

I see that there is a sale at basspro for an igloo Marine Breeze 48 cooler for $19.97 For that price you could buy 2 coolers and have your food and drinks covered in about a perfect size cooler and all for less than $50. They may not be the best cooler but they can't be that bad. Great price. (In store only though :-( )

[markkee]

Re: best camp cooler

I have used a Coleman xfreme for 7 years. For long trips I want to buy a 12 volt arb fridge freezer. I need to use it a secondary fridge in my home to justify $800.

[markkee]

Re: best camp cooler

I read a report years ago in the handy man magazine and cheap coolers like Coleman performed as well as the yeti for a fraction of the cost. However the yeti is supposed to be bear proof.

[hwc1954]

Re: best camp cooler

I think the Coleman Xtreme coolers come very close to matching the ice retention of the high end coolers. They are a real bargain. Having said that, I just ordered an Engel Deep Blue cooler for car camping. Biggest reason? The ability to latch it shut and make it certified bear proof. That in turn means that I don't have to drag the cooler back to the car. Between a bear cannister for coffee and stuff and a bear (squirrel, raccoon, etc) resistant cooler, I can leave the stuff out

Also, I love the dividers and basket trays. I think the trays are going to make things super convenient being able to separate stuff like fruit and bagged meat from the ice and liquids in the cooler. Save a lot of fishing around and trying to cram stuff back in.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9lzC-LyjH4





I have a bunch of Nalgene bottles -- both the round 32 ounce size and some 64 ounce rectangular jugs. I fill and freeze those and put them in the cooler, so get most of the cooling from block ice. Plus, I can pull them out for drinking water. Just a little bit of bag ice fills in the nooks and crannies.

I looked at the Peiican, but this size was 32 pounds EMPTY. Sheesh. Put 30 or 40 pounds of ice and stuff in that and I sure won't be picking many walk-in sites! I don't need the thing to survive falling of the back of a pickup truck.

The Yeti's and the Engel looked very similar, but the Engel was a little better form factor in the size I was looking at (a bit lower a bit longer) and significantly less ridiculously expensive (although still ridiculously expensive). I prefer the longer form factor because I carry the cooler on the back seat of the car and the longer cooler rests against the back of the front seat and keeps it from nose-diving!

Bang for the buck, though, it's hard to beat a Coleman Xtreme. They use close to the same 2 inches of insulation as the Engel and the Yeti, so excellent performance from a cooling standpoint.

[NYCgrrl]

Re: best camp cooler

I think the Coleman Xtreme coolers come very close to matching the ice retention of the high end coolers. They are a real bargain. Having said that, I just ordered an Engel Deep Blue cooler for car camping. Biggest reason? The ability to latch it shut and make it certified bear proof. That in turn means that I don't have to drag the cooler back to the car.

Also, I love the dividers and basket trays:

Niceeee accessories that should keep the cheese, eggs, fresh produce,etc from spending too much time on ice. I like the placement of the drain as well. Looks like it's set lower than the Coleman Extreme series. How many qts does it hold?

[hwc1954]

Re: best camp cooler

I got a 35 quart version. It's the one on the right in the video. I actually could get by with the 25 quart they make in the same style and was very tempted to go with that one. but it really doesn't save much room or money, so I might as well fill this one up with extra frozen drinking water. I don't need a big cooler for solo camping. If I ever need a ton of capacity, I have a Coleman Xtreme 36 qt that I bought on sale at the grocery store, so I'd just take two.

Engel makes the same style in 65qt, 80qt, 123qt, 240qt, and 320 qt. They don't make a 45qt, which is another popular size, but YETI and others do.

Honestly, I think all of the high end coolers are pretty much the same. It's just a matter of the price, size, and features for your particular purpose.

[05Kingquad700]

Re: best camp cooler

On the bear/animal proof. What do you guys think of wrapping a ratcheting strap around a cooler to keep it shut. The animal would then have to chew the strap in half.


I like the side to side divider. I made one out of the wire shelving. That way I can put the ice on bottom, put the wire shelf in and put the food on the top of the wire shelf. Keeps the food out of the water and ice.

[hwc1954]

Re: best camp cooler

As a practical matter, I think the webbing straps around the cooler would fend off most of the usual critters getting in your food -- raccoons, etc. -- and would probably be a smart practice. That would also help with my nightmare scenario of stopping really fast and having a full unlatched cooler dump in the back seat of the car....

I doubt that it would stop a grizzly bear, but there aren't many grizzly's in NH where I camp! A grizzly would just gnaw through a Coleman...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgwejaTNZmI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IfmtqCbOIc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDOJQpA2W1o

I use a bear cannister and now a bear-resistant cooler mostly to keep smaller critters out of my food. I saw some ferocious looking red squirrels in Acadia National Park last week!

[markkee]

Re: best camp cooler

I am really glad that someone mentioned Engel as they are top shelf when it comes to 12 volt fridge freezers. Having a divider is worth the expense.

My Coleman is at least 7 years old. I bang it, drag it, and abuse it. I never leave it outside as I don't like critters rummaging through my food. I have a space for it in my van or Subaru.

I am going to find a used Engel or Arb 12 vdc fridge/freezer. My 70 quart Coleman uses 20 quarts of ice to keep it cold. I can buy a 50 quart fridge freezer and have the same real estate space and no mess. These things run a just a few amps and have a cut off switch that will shut off your main or house battery if your battery ever gets too low. Something that a few solar panels and a charge controller would solve that problem.

Or I could buy Aspect Solar's Power Bar that will run the Engel for 40 hours! Check out this article on the Expedition Portal about using the Power Bar to run your electronics, fridges, etc on. This rocks! Here is Aspect Solar's website. I am not affiliated with them and I don't own the Power Bar yet. It's on my list.

I still like ice chest coolers for the weekend warrior trips. But when I am on the road for a month I am tired of the mess of ice and paying up to $5 for a block of ice!

[NYCgrrl]

Re: best camp cooler

Thank all of you for enlightening me on the Engel line. I'm thinking I'd like one for my anticipated RV purchase.

Hey markee. Good to see you!

Just read some of your blog and that was quite the camping trip you took in May. Picnicking areas, sharing campsites and and the tewwible mess you left behind:he:.