Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I have a couple of those 6 can 12v electric coolers, got them for $20 at home despot on clearance after fathers day one year, for traveling they are ok, my van has switched outlets so they shut off when the van is off (nice to not have to remember to unplug the cooler) they will make a room temp can of soda cold after an hour or two, for traveling with a baby they work great for bottles of milk. I gave one to my mom, she is a diabetic and she loves it for keeping her insulin cool, she got a wall adapter for it and loves to not have to worry about a fridge when staying on the road.
If your vehicle isn't air conditioned they won't work that good as they only cool 40 degrees below ambient, which is better than nothing but not as good as a real cooler and ice, in a/c they work well but slowly if what you put in isn't already cold.

I just finished my cooler fix up. Drilled holes to the inside, did not find any insulation. Added the spray in foam. Keep an eye on the inside walls, the foam will cause them to push out if too much is sprayed in. Added foam on all 4 sides along with the top. Planning a 5 day trip, using block ice for food and cubed for drinks. Hope this helps keeping ice longer, at least I know it can't hurt

Does anyone have experience with the Coleman "steel belted" cooler? They look like a rerelease of the older Coleman metal coolers. Cabelas website reviews are kind of mixed so I am curious about teardroppers actual useage. Thanks for any info.

Jerome, I use vintage coolers when we camp i have one of the large 1960 steel belted coolers that i use just for ice it holds about 8, 10 lb bags of ice. i transfer the ice to my other vintage coolers when needed, and i have had ice last up to 4+ days in the coleman cooler. i think opening a cooler all the time is what makes the ice melt IMHO

Mike

I've read complaints about the latch mechanism on this forum, but nothing else. Too small for my needs.

mvperini wrote:Does anyone have experience with the Coleman "steel belted" cooler? They look like a rerelease of the older Coleman metal coolers. Cabelas website reviews are kind of mixed so I am curious about teardroppers actual useage. Thanks for any info.


Mike

Regarding the 'new' steel belted Coleman coolers...
I have a stainless (Coleman) one and a Cabelas Green one. (Also about every size & color of the older steel Coleman colers) The Cabelas one has a 'bed-liner' finish on the exterior, so it resists scratching, etc. The s.s. one, if left in direct sun gets hotter (on the outside) than a pistol barrel. I'm kind of a 'cooler nazi' (from many 2+ week river trips in the desert s/w) so I try and open it as little as possible. I have found that a piece of refletix or rigid insulation cut-to-fit the inside opening does wonders to reduce the heat gain and extend the ice . Also, if you are around camp to monitor, keep a wet towel on top as well. Without the towel, my block ice (from the water & ice store, not the re-frozen slush type bocks from 7-Eleven) will keep about 7 days at 100f. I have had no issues with the latch on either. I like these coolers and have picked up each on craigslist locally for under $50. At full retail I would be less enthusiastic.

If retro or 'the look' is a non-issue, my vote would be for a Galaxy cooler - they will keep ice for 2-3 weeks in 110 degree heat (speaking from direct experience). http://galaxycoolers.blogspot.com/

There is also a company, tecni-ice, that makes long-duration coolers, but I have no direct experience with them - they ARE less expensive than Galaxy, though.

kurt

Hey Jerome...you rob ice out of my Steel Belted cooler all the time for your "apple juice"!! I like the size of them and they work well for me, I keep them covered with a towel, I do wish that they had a plastic tray to fit the upper inner lip though. Fully loaded it's an 85# cooler with ice and beverages. Still manageable, not too heavy and awkward. I suppose that others hold ice better, but I'm never in a situation that I need it to go 5 days. Ice is cheap, the really high efficiency coolers aren't. Doug

fpoole wrote:There's been some talk of these..
Yeti
http://www.yeticoolers.com/categories/Tundra-Series/

(sorry, I can never get those URL to work as a link)

I realize this is an old thread but as a new member I just came across it. We have Yeti coolers at work that we use from time to time and they are some of the toughest coolers I have ever seen. While we transport things in them that I am sure none of you ever do, they have always held up very well and are well constructed.

http://store.yeticoolers.com/

Since I posted originally I found and bought a Waeco refrigerator on Ebay for less than the price of a Yeti. Nancy was upset that I spent $300 dollars but is now a fan, of being able to pack it the night before and have it run on 120AC, not having to deal with things floating and being assured that it will absolutely keep things at 34 degrees and cool addition cans of... It is transported in the back of the car plugged into a 12V outlet, and plugged into the back of the tear for either 120AC if available or 12V if not.

hacksaw55 wrote:Has anyone tried to but expandable foam in?

A friend of mine (not a camper) tried adding that foam to the lid of his medium sized cooler ... and complained that it did not harden fully.

Because of this topic, I broke down and bought a Coleman Xtreme 5 day cooler for my trip to Michigan last week. I froze four 1/2 gallon milk/juice jugs, along with 2 plastic trail mix containers. I loaded the cooler on Monday morning, and unloaded it Saturday evening. Each jug still had about 1/2 of each frozen, as did the trail mix containers.

Everything that was on the bottom of the cooler with the frozen jugs stayed really cold, but the upper portion didn't feel cool (cold air falls, right?). So, I did buy a 7 lb bag of ice every day just to keep my wine, cokes and bottles of water super cold as I like them.

So much better than my 25 year old Coleman cooler that needed two + 7 lb bags of ice per day to keep my drinks cold.

Verna

I have one also, and have been very happy with it!

A few months back I picked up a Coleman Extreme cooler at an estate sale for $10. Also got 3 coleman stoves and a heater. Total bill was $46

I took the cooler to Burning Man and I felt it performed most excellent. Very glad I got it. I now plan to build an insulated cover for it to add 2 more inches of insulation for next years Burning Man. Will have a 2 inch base the size of the foot print of the cooler and the open box will then slip over the top and past the bottom hunk. This was with the top part off the drain came be used and no lifting of a heavy cooler out of a box if need be.

Just my nutty idea.

Randy

Randy, I kept the dog's fleece blanket and two sofa pillows on the top of the cooler. I really think it did help. So, it's not such a nutty idea to add more insulation to a really good cooler.

Verna

When I had mine in the vehicle I did keep my comforter sort of wrapped around it. But it spent about 6 days outside. During the day we would "Chase shade" moving the coolers around with the sun. With a 2 inch insulated box around it would not need to nearly as much.

Randy

Years ago we bought a cooler for our sailboat from a company called Fridge-Freeze. They're based out of Florida. Not cheap by any means, ($400 and this was 10+ years ago). We were living on a sailboat at the time though and due to lack of space down below we kept the thing outside in the cockpit 24/7. It was usually under a sun awning, but we didn't take any other measures to insulate it. It held ice for 5 days easy, sometimes a week if it wasn't really hot outside. This isn't a common "plastic" cooler. It is gelcoated fiberglass, built just like the hull of a boat, and the walls are a couple of inches thick and packed with insulation.

We still have it. I think it will last forever and we just move it from boat to boat. Next it will take up residence in the teardrop. I just went on their website and it doesn't look like they make the coolers like mine anymore, but if you run across one 2nd hand I would definitely grab it up.

Becky