Has anyone made Polar Tubes before?

Looks pretty nice for the cooler that stays in the car. Custom fit to cover the bottom of the cooler and would keep stuff out of the water if there ends up being any from condensation etc..

 http://www.wideopenspaces.com/make-polar-bear-tubes/

Those are pretty neat. I think I'll make some.

Really though... For the best quality, you want your fish to be packed IN ice with ice packed into its body cavity. You also want to be very sure the fish isn't sitting in a pool of ice melt in the bottom of your cooler. I don't think those tubes alone would be cold enough to store fish for more than an hour or two.

Here's my plan... Line the bottom of the cooler with Polar Tubes, then pack my fish in ice on top of the layer of tubes. The tubes should help keep the wet ice frozen longer, and they'll also hold the fish up and away from the pool of ice melt in the bottom.

Win win....

Looks like a solid idea.  I might have to throw some together tomorrow for this week's trip.

what's wrong w/ frozen water bottles?

If you really want to keep it cold, fill bottles/pipe with salt water.  I have a chamber vac and tried to make my own "Techni ice" by filling an 11 x 14 inch bag with concentrated salt water, vacuuming out the air, and freezing it.  It worked a little too well.  I put it in my kill bag with a coho and by the time I got home, the coho was partially frozen.  Now I put a towel between the fish and the bag.

I have never used PVC pipe, due to all the freely available water bottles which it in the door shelves in my upright freezer. Plus the water bottles will fit in my bait/beer cooler keeping those necessities cold.

what's wrong w/ frozen water bottles?

They bust open frequently,  and not from overfill either

what's wrong w/ frozen water bottles?

They bust open frequently,  and not from overfill either

I fill empty soda bottles with water and freeze them. I have never had on bust. I think water bottles are not as strong as soda bottles.

I use all the old Nalgene type bottles that my wife decided were no longer fit to use for drinking do to BPA.  I would still be using them, but I got so many stainless bottles from captains bags that I don't need to, so I freeze the plastic ones. They are much more durable than the thin plastic disposable bottles.

huh. i've been using frozen soda bottles for years, and never had one bust.

huh. i've been using frozen soda bottles for years, and never had one bust.

Same here. I also add salt as well to get the extra cold ice packs. Gatorade bottles also seem to function extremely well and can be found in most recycling bins.

That's my problem,  I always use water bottles

I took some big sponges and put them in a ziplock bag completely saturated them with water.  Froze them solid and trimmed off the sharp corners.  Then pulled them out of the ziplock and sealed them in Food Saver bags.  Then put them back in the ziplock bags to add a layer of protection from spiny fish. 

No leaks, stays frozen all day even in my kill bag.  I normally get 12+ hours easy out of them each time.  Longer if left in a real cooler instead of kill bag.  They lay flat, or stack nice like bricks.

I took some big sponges and put them in a ziplock bag completely saturated them with water.  Froze them solid and trimmed off the sharp corners.  Then pulled them out of the ziplock and sealed them in Food Saver bags.  Then put them back in the ziplock bags to add a layer of protection from spiny fish. 

No leaks, stays frozen all day even in my kill bag.  I normally get 12+ hours easy out of them each time.  Longer if left in a real cooler instead of kill bag.  They lay flat, or stack nice like bricks.

I may need to find some sponges.

huh. i've been using frozen soda bottles for years, and never had one bust.

Same here. I also add salt as well to get the extra cold ice packs. Gatorade bottles also seem to function extremely well and can be found in most recycling bins.

can you explain why you add salt to your (to-be) frozen soda bottles?

what's wrong w/ frozen water bottles?

What attracted me to these is that they're all uniform in size, would be sized just right for the cooler, and is a flat layer on the bottom of the cooler to put things on. I don't drink water/soda out of bottles so often so don't have access to them. Although re-using stuff opposed to using new materials is pretty cool.