In a thread earlier in the week, a discussion on extreme coolers brought out some good points on cooler construction. I have another to add.
DW and I gave ourselves a Coleman stainless steel cooler as an anniversary present. It came with a fabric cover with a padded top. We loved its performance, holding ice through a summer weekend. It was used as our food storage. When our older beverage cooler was totaled in a thunderstorm microburst, we ponyed up for another steel cooler (green). Although similar in construction, it didn't hold the ice as well as our original. The variable? The fabric cover. DW sewed together an insulated cover and voila!
Want that ice to last? Cover the cooler with an insulated fabric. Wrapping it with an insulated "space" blanket or a quilt will also work.
I've also seen people use Reflectix to make a cooler cover.
And for lazy people like me Bob over at PUG makes a cooler cover
http://www.popupgizmos.com/cooler%20cover%20page.htm (//%22http://www.popupgizmos.com/cooler%20cover%20page.htm%22)
Seems like a logical solution. Thanks for the tip.
CajunCamper
I have a couple of the PUG cooler covers and like them very much.:)
I have used Cabela's space blankets as cooler covers and had good results.
We made the Refectix cooler covers this year and they are a great mod/addition. They took all of 15 minutes to make for all 3 of our coolers.
The advantage over the PU Gizmos covers (and I have the PU Gizmos for the bunkends) is that they are stiff and keep their shape allowing you to lift off and set aside, then drop back over the cooler with one hand. I looked at the Gizmo covers but they looked like you'd have to tuck them on every time.
Quote from: Peter_MAWe made the Refectix cooler covers this year and they are a great mod/addition. They took all of 15 minutes to make for all 3 of our coolers.
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In 2004 I jumped onto the "Relectix" bandwagon and insulated under my bunks. With a bunch of Fall and Winter camping planned I finally got around to making the window insulation inserts for my PopUp, (I purchased several 10'x4' SpectraFoil rolls at Camping World about three years ago)!!
I too made a cover with the leftover SpectraFoil, with a lid, for my Coleman Cooler. It looks like a giant baked potato! But it should help the ice last longer, especially in sunny locations.
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