I'm not talking who's is the best, All of the hi-end coolers are about equal . But what do you do to pack it and make the ice last as long as possible and what size is your go to for keeping bait,and do you keep Beer in with the bait or do you have a separate cooler for that and food.
Coolers
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Bait has bacteria, especially bait older than one day. Bait should go in its own cooler that has a drain opened in it.
Food should go in its own cooler and drained off.
Beer and Water and Drinks should go it another cooler that you open more often.
Block Ice in the Food Cooler will keep longer, cube ice keeps the beer colder.
The Yeti Roto-Mold folks recommend pre-chilling the cooler, I think if you pre-chill your entire Truck you can get by with a cheaper cooler.
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I freeze water in Gatorade bottles etc and throw a couple in my 40 qt igloo, beer/water/bait/ fish I catch/ everything goes in there. If you use bagged ice dump it in your cooler throw a good amount of kosher salt on it mix it in real good your ice will stay frozen twice as long. Those fancy coolers are nice but too heavy and expensive for my taste!
I usually travel light so I have a small bait cooler with 2 igloo ice packs that will stay frosty all day and a soft-side cooler for food and drinks. The frozen water bottle/drink trick works great. Just freeze a couple and they double as ice packs and you can drink them later in the day.
Soft side cooler with frozen drinks and food...I want the drinks to melt so soft works well.
Ratty blue cooler on wheels with a bag of ice for the days catch and transport from spot to house
Coleman xtreme with dry ice for one or 2 day trip home keeps stuff frozen, or just ice for a weekend camp out
Ratty blue cooler on wheels with a bag of ice for the days catch and transport from spot to house
Coleman xtreme with dry ice for one or 2 day trip home keeps stuff frozen, or just ice for a weekend camp out
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Ok, salt does not make ice last longer.
It melts ice causing the Refrieration Affect
When ice melts it is removing heat. Which takes the water temp below 32 degrees for a short amount of time. There is a 144 BTU difference between ice and water at 32 degrees.
Sorry for the rant.
I also use two coolers. Bait. Beer and water.
It melts ice causing the Refrieration Affect
When ice melts it is removing heat. Which takes the water temp below 32 degrees for a short amount of time. There is a 144 BTU difference between ice and water at 32 degrees.
Sorry for the rant.
I also use two coolers. Bait. Beer and water.
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488 Posts
Few tips that I have read about over the years......some others have probably already touched on some of these topics......
1. Always pre-chill the cooler. Best option is to put the cooler in a walk in freezer overnight, but a "sacrificial bag of ice" will do the trick.
2. Use block ice, when feasible and then fill in the "holes" with cubed ice
3. Limit opening the lid of the cooler as much as possible.
4. Keep your cooler as full as possible, b/c it takes more energy to cool empty space.......or when you open the lid, hot air gets in the gaps and then has to be recooled by your ice........
5. You can lay a wet towel over your cooler and evaporation will help keep the overall temperature of your cooler lower.
6. As Glenn said, all ice is not created equal. If you buy your ice and it looks "wet", then it will not be as cold or last as long as hard, "dry" looking ice.
7. Freeze any items that you can before you put them in the cooler.
IMO, you got to have 2 coolers. I would rather not have a fishy beer.
1. Always pre-chill the cooler. Best option is to put the cooler in a walk in freezer overnight, but a "sacrificial bag of ice" will do the trick.
2. Use block ice, when feasible and then fill in the "holes" with cubed ice
3. Limit opening the lid of the cooler as much as possible.
4. Keep your cooler as full as possible, b/c it takes more energy to cool empty space.......or when you open the lid, hot air gets in the gaps and then has to be recooled by your ice........
5. You can lay a wet towel over your cooler and evaporation will help keep the overall temperature of your cooler lower.
6. As Glenn said, all ice is not created equal. If you buy your ice and it looks "wet", then it will not be as cold or last as long as hard, "dry" looking ice.
7. Freeze any items that you can before you put them in the cooler.
IMO, you got to have 2 coolers. I would rather not have a fishy beer.
The reason I now have two coolers. Made that mistake my first beach trip: stored beer/water/soda in same cooler as bait....
(need a barfing smile) It was really bad and no amount of cleaning got that taste off.
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Yeti Roadie for bait and Orca 58 for food and drink.
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