Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I have been thinking about buying a Extreme yeti type cooler they have other brands Engles grizzly but they are 250.00 to 350.00 for the larger sizes ?
I have a large Rubbermaid and it works OK for 2-3 days even though I freeze large blocks of water the bagged ice goes pretty fast, I have a smaller ice chest and it last only 2 day not long enough ?
I know that if anyone needs this type cooler it's me and others that camp for days, this past camping trip after 3 days I was out of ice, I had plenty of cold water but lucky for me the club I was at had a commercial ice machine and I got more ice but it made think it was time to invest in a better type cooler.
I may buy a smaller one and use the ice chest I have along with the new one.

jwhite, Howdy;

Have you tried dry ice?

hank

No not even sure where you get it ?

I have a Coleman Extreme cooler, and with the addition of a "cooler cozy" I got 5 days of 70+ ambient temps with ice cubes. Longer with block ice, but it's hard to find in some areas. Search this site for cooler cozy. It turns a 2 day cooler into a 3 day cooler.

You can find dry ice in large chain supermarkets, Alberson, Lucky, Safeway, etc. It's great for keeping frozen goods frozen, but not great for keeping a large volume cool.

<Chas>

You can pretty much double the lifespan of your ice in a cooler by simply wrapping the cooler in an aluminized 'space' emergency blanket, and opening it as little as possible, only as necessary.

The coolers that advertise 6 days on 20 lbs of ice (or, whatever) really do work. Maybe they are a little optimistic, but it's a helluva lot better than they used to be. Beware though, it's not magic, just more insulation. You lose a lot of interior space to that foam. Be sure to buy based on the interior volume you need, not the exterior dimensions.

I fill two 1-gal plastic milk jugs with water, and freeze them. If we run out of water before the end of the trip, we have these to drink. When we get home, I just throw them back in the freezer. No more sloshy ice getting your cheese all wet either.

Other tips:

-Keep the cooler off the ground. If you need to pull it out of the trailer, prop it up on a couple of sticks, so it's not in contact with the warm ground.
-Keep it in the shade!
-Freeze any food you can before you pack, and make sure the beer is already cold! Nothing will melt your ice (or your spirit) faster than warm beer!

Purchased a Yeti Cooler about 1 1/2 year ago. After the initial sticker shock, no regrets. We freeze bottled water in the freezer and place them in the bottom of the cooler. We only are out for 3 to 4 days at a time, but we have never thrown out any food when we get home cause of getting warm.

I think there was a thread on coolers, I'll have to search for it.

After reading the thread the first time, I got to thinking about making a home made super insulated one.

My idea is to get one of those 30+ gal storage tubs from Rubbermaid or any of the similar ones. Make a 4 sided thin plywood "box" around it. Place the tub upside down on a another piece of plywood with a release sheet (poly) under the tub and on the ply base. Put the 4 sided "box" around the tub.

Next, pour 2 part polyurethane foam between the tub and inner sides of the "box". Let it set up and cure. Trim foam from top of box of and glue on another thin plywood piece to make the 5th side of the box. Flip over and make the 6th side and lid from sheets of foam and more plywood. Finish with good paint or varnish.

Well, you get the idea.

By making your own, any thickness of insulation can be made. I believe the above mentioned thread said 2 inches was good but more is better if space is available. Personally, I think 3 inches of foam would be about right for travel in the desert SW. I plan on making one for my trailer.

Enhancements would be to add a pipe for a drain before pouring the foam. Standard pvc pipe and fittings would work with a screw plug into a suitable coupler on the outside. Adding gaskets to the lid could easily be done with standard door gasket strips found at the Borgs. Routing a groove (could even be done by hand into the foam with a suitable scraper) for the gasket in the foam would make a minimal gap. A double or even triple gasket would be better. The exposed foam could be coated with epoxy to add durability.

Well, that's my idea for what it's worth. It should cost a lot less than a Yeti cooler and be better. Maybe not as tough.

-- Teri

I have some Coleman Extremes, and they are darn near as effective as a Yeti and the Yeti copies, at a far lower price. Saltwater Sportsman magazine did a side-by-side controlled test a few years back when both were fairly new to the market, and also concluded the same thing. I can afford a Yeti or two, but just don't need them with my Extremes. I use one for drinks, and one for food in my CTC. The drink cooler gets opened and closed more. And on shorter, one-week trips, I also freeze a few jugs and water bottles to extend ice life. That, and block ice, and I don't need ice too often.

I'll second (or third, or fourth) the Coleman Xtreme. Inexpensive, and good performance. The coolers are one of the few items that Coleman should still be proud to put their name on.

TeriL wrote:
Next, pour 2 part polyurethane foam between the tub and inner sides of the "box". Let it set up and cure.
-- Teri

A friend of mine used this method to make a refrigerator in his yacht. Worked great, except the inner tub wanted to float in the foam--It took more than his body weight, some lumber and a lot of screws to hold the tub down until it cured. Nothing like a panic while you have $500 in materials on the line! Oh and also it made a huge mess.

http://www.campinglife.com/camping-gear ... t-shootout
http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=53035
I found a Waeco refrigerator used on Ebay for a bit more than the cost of a Yeti. My wife was a bit miffed at the cost but has come to love it. There have been a couple of us that have gone that route. Cold stratification means things at the bottom will stay frozen or you can set it for very frozen.

I've had 3 Coleman Extremes since 2007 and they have gotten a lot of hard use. Still work as good as new. The larger of the 3 seems to keep thing cold the longest, but even in out 90 degree + summer weather they will all keep things cold for 4 days before I have to buy more ice. The main trick is to put everything in good and cold to begin with.

I've got a Yeti. Unless we go for longer than two or three nighs it's going to stay home. It's heavy. Obviously better built and colder....

Tony

by dustboy » 13 May 2014, 09:40

TeriL wrote:
Next, pour 2 part polyurethane foam between the tub and inner sides of the "box". Let it set up and cure.
-- Teri

A friend of mine used this method to make a refrigerator in his yacht. Worked great, except the inner tub wanted to float in the foam--It took more than his body weight, some lumber and a lot of screws to hold the tub down until it cured. Nothing like a panic while you have $500 in materials on the line! Oh and also it made a huge mess.

Hi Dustboy,

I forgot about the buoyancy of the tub in my description. Yes it would really want to float.

Last night as I was drifting off to sleep, I thought a better way would be to do this with the tub upright sitting in the 5 sided box. Foam spacers would keep it off the bottom and the tub filled with sand or something like that. Sand, because I thought the expanding foam would press in on the tub sides making them convex. The sand would make them concave and this a little more volume. It would also keep it from floating in the expanding foam.

Excess foam coming over the top could be trimmed after curing.

Good to hear it worked well as a cooler.

Panic during build is not good.

-- Teri