Marine coolers

I'm sick of replacing cheap ice chest coolers that cant keep ice for even a weekend. I have a pile of them now in my yard that have broken latches, hinges, warped, weathered and cracked etc. Ive been looking to buy a good one in the 60 to 75 quart size. So my question is- are the high end marine coolers really worth the money? Please post your reviews. I have been looking at:

Yeti
Orca
Icehole
Igloo Yukon
Engle
Pelican Elite Marine
K2
Frigid Rigid

There are others that I have not listed that fit this category but feel free to comment on those too.

I've thought about MAKING my own ice chest I get so frustrated sometimes by the inability to find one that I'm happy. That, along with the expense of the Yeti coolers have me ranting. Seriously, couldn't we just make a good one out of a Rubbermaid insert surrounded by thermal bubble wrap, foam, and an outer layer of 1/4" plywood or another Rubbermaid container? Who's going to pay $300 - $500 for an ice chest?

That said, I have a couple of 5 to 7 day rated Igloos that aren't all that bad. Got them at Costco for a song and a dance.

Fred "True" Trujillo

I think Bi-Mart is having a sale on the 5 - 7 day igloo coolers.

Plastic hinges on those suck! I have one of those and is broken. They don't keep ice 5-7 days either. Maybe if you never opened the lid to use it....

Plastic hinges on those suck! I have one of those and is broken. They don't keep ice 5-7 days either. Maybe if you never opened the lid to use it....

And it's not like they don't have stronger hinges and latches.  You can buy after market metal ones.

-Allen

Canyon Coolers are a little cheaper than Yeti and Orca.

Plastic hinges on those suck! I have one of those and is broken. They don't keep ice 5-7 days either. Maybe if you never opened the lid to use it....

And it's not like they don't have stronger hinges and latches.  You can buy after market metal ones.

-Allen

Well, yeah... I'm with you Allen. Thats already the plan with that one. I already have the metal hinges. I haven't put them on yet though.

I dont mind paying more for any quality product thats merits it. I'm just having a hard time seeing the value in the models I listed. Are they realy worth 3-5 times the price for a cooler? Not only is there the hinge latch quality issue, but the performance to keep ice from melting in only a couple days. I realize ice is cheap, but I have fishing to do instead of going to get more which is the case on a typical summer weekend -even with the 5-day coolers. I don't like my food items drowning in water either. That's not an issue if I'm using it for beverage containers. I hate it when egg cartons get soggy, or styrafoam packaged meat trays get water logged and contamintate everything else. I drain them, but the ice is melted just the same. I've tried the gel packs but they dont seem to last any longer than the ice. But I digress... They sell a lot of the cheap ones and are in nearly every household. I don't have 400 bucks burning a hole in my pocket either. But I'm wondering if its like a Wheeleez thing: you just dont know what your missing till you've paid your $$$ to have one then you wonder why you didn't buck up sooner.

I've used the Yeti before. It's awesome!
We've used the smaller and larger size. The largest size was able to keep ice for the 6 days we camped no problem.
I want to buy one  of the medium size ones at some point. They are  spendy, but the quality is definitely there. 

They don't keep ice 5-7 days either. Maybe if you never opened the lid to use it....

Try using frozen gallons...what melts faster? Cubes of ice or a block of ice? And you won't have a bunch of water sitting the bottom of your cooler. 4 frozen gallons will last 5-6 days in my 5 day cooler.

Dino
HOW - NWest

They don't keep ice 5-7 days either. Maybe if you never opened the lid to use it....

Try using frozen gallons...what melts faster? Cubes of ice or a block of ice? And you won't have a bunch of water sitting the bottom of your cooler. 4 frozen gallons will last 5-6 days in my 5 day cooler.

Dino
HOW - NWest

I made a cooler out of 1/2" plywood and lined it with SM board, the blue foam insulation. I used a piano hinge for the lid which was also clad in foam but I found it was not a good seal that way, so I removed the hinge and simply lift it up now. For the drain I used a brass transom plug, just screws in and out no rocket science here. Used 3m spray adhesive to glue the board on and filled any cracks with caulking. Cheap, easy, and keeps ice for ever. You can use cup racks for cupboards to keep stuff out of the melt water or just keep the plug out. The only draw back is it is kinda heavy. But hey I don't take it on the yak it stays at camp.


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I've been through the same process on my own. 

The first question you must ask yourself is.....What is my desired application?

If you are looking for something that will keep things cold for an extended weekend trip....a nice 7 day igloo cooler will do.

if you want to be able to drive nails with your food 4 days later ( because its still frozen) a higher end cooler is necessary.

I have used yetis (3 different sizes) with success.   Not only do they keep goodies frozen for long periods of time, but they can double as extra chairs, footrests, step ladders...etc.  and they are bear proof (important in AK).  I've moved my whole meat supply from Wyoming to AK in yetis without anything thawing and I've also been on 6 days hunts in the back country and still had frozen food.

The most important thing to remember about any ice chest is pre cooling.   Follow the directions on yetis website about pre cooling an ice chest and any cooler will keep ice a little longer.  Don't dump the water out and use frozen bottles/homemade ice bags (food saver) instead of cubes.

I have yetis because they were the only coolers of their kind when I purchased mine, but word on the street is engle coolers are good too. 

The Coleman Extreme gets best bang for buck rating.