For all you yeti haters. I bet whoever started this will do surprisingly well. I refuse to drop that kind of coin on a cooler but just because, I might drop $16 for an emblem? Very clever!
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<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>biggill wrote:</div>
When I’m fishing Lake Superior I just fill my livewell with lake water and put my beverages in it.I fill my livewell with fish out there
That’s what the cooler is for.
Ha, good one eyeguy.
Even got a sticker for the shiti butts! wait a minute…… 
I think people underestimate the usefulness of this technology. Sure, it comes at a cost, but let me throw a situation at you.
You’ve just got home from a long day of work and are really in need of a beer or two. You open up your fridge to discover that the temperature setting on your beverage drawer got set to ‘cheese’ instead of ‘beverage’. That’s right, you now have to drink a 38 degree beer instead of ~34.
This is where these coolers really shine, but not right out of the box, as the ice retention is just not really practical for this type of situation. I have a system that works great though, and always ensures I have frigid beers ready to be drank.
I initially bought a 350 quart yeti, not sure if I needed one that big, but it turns out I did. Here’s the genius part though, I then bought three 35 quart yetis, which fit perfectly inside the 350 quart. Inside each of the 35 quart yetis I put one ‘hopper flip 8’, which can hold 8 cans of beer with a little ice. I add more ice though and only put 4 in each.
The next step is the important one. I fill all of the coolers with that plant oil stuff that freezes at 0 degrees, open them up, and place them in my industrial walk in freezer for 1-2 days. This works much better than block ice because it fills all the open space with pure ice.
I think gingerly grab the mega-cooler(I’m 5’10”, 180 lbs of solid muscle, so it isn’t generally an issue) and walk it upstairs and out into my porch. I grab a large spade bit for my drill and drill beer-can sized holes in the ice in the yeti hopper flip 8(4 holes in each) and slide a beer in. This ensure a perfect fit. So perfect that I actually have to flip mega cooler upside down so they slide out!
The results are great, I get 46 days of ice retention, but I usually just re-do the process once I drink the 12 beers cause I don’t want to run out of ice.
Total cost of like ~$2800, not including the installation of an industrial walk in freezer in my basement. What’s that compared to the ‘cost’ of a potentially not ice cold beer?
June 25, 2018 at 11:23 pm
#1782469In order for a cooler to solve a problem, you have to HAVE that problem in the first place. For most people who use a cooler to keep drinks cold over the weekend and are never more than a block away from an ice refill, almost anything will work fine.
I totally agree, if you don’t have the problems a Yeti-style cooler will solve, they are a waste of money..
X2 Grouse completely nailed this one. Right tool for the right job.
I love/hate my Yeti. Just did 9 days in Canada with no option for resupply. 80-85 and full sun for days on end. Block ice, pre-chilling the cooler and had ice right up until the last morning. Secondary problem we solve is bear proofing. Couple bolts with wing nuts covers that. $50 coolers just can’t accomplish these two requirements.
For the rest of the year I hate my Yeti. Big, bulky, heavy, lack of relative capacity to size, and it did hurt the wallet.
Few years ago decided to spring for the cooler(@ 20% off) instead of newer electronics. In the grand scheme of trip costs, rods/reels/tackle, etc I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Well guys, I checked the cooler 24 hours after placing the standard ice jug and the wood/water filled jug in.
The cooler is holding steady at 32 degrees, and both Clamato jugs appear to be melting at similar rates.
My hypothesis as of now, is that by having the wood mixture in a container, the container itself is speeding up the energy transfer through evaporative cooling. (Sweating)
I expect both containers to last about the same time.
I believe had the wood mixture not been in a container, that it would outlast the standard ice. The problem with that though…..is you would have loose wood chips getting all over you beer and food 
I’ll keep you posted.
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I use coffee cans for “block ice”.
Keeps cooler dry.
Supplements as water when on a long trip.
Depending on the type of trip I may use 1/2 Gatorades as block ice as well as coffee cans, take one gatorade out each day to drink.
Pdogg hunting I’ll be 1.5 miles from camp in 90+° heat. Out a frozen Gatorade in your pack in the morning. When your coffee is gone Pull that 1/2 gallon slushy Gatorade from your back pack and just laugh at your sweating buddies drinking hot water 
Every pdog trip in the only one in the party that isn’t driving to town to get ice! Kind of like ice fishing trip… Bring enough beer so you don’t need to run to the store! I see running to the store as a total failure in planning.
My first “good cooler” was bought to keep sucker minnows alive on them Uber hot days. To this day that is the biggest use of my coolers. Bait temp regulation is the most important factor. Cooler water holds more oxygen also. A phenomenal aerator obviously a must in conjunction.
The % of expensive cooler owners who pdog hunt I’m sure is somewhere in the 1-2% range.
Of course there are exceptions to anything. But I’ve also taken Canada trips with normal coolers, and had ice last when taken care of properly. As did generations before me as well.
Some good comparative reviews. Interesting.
Going on 40 hours with the wood chips and normal ice Clamato jugs.
Both are melting at the same rate. It’s hard to tell which has more left (can’t see through the wood chips), but they’re both in their final 12 hours.
Cooler temp is up to 34.3 degrees. The blocks are running out of steam…..
Having a frozen block of Pykrete in a container provides zero benefit.
Perhaps a non-contained block would out perform, but as I stated earlier, having sawdust or wood chips floating around your cooler wouldn’t be ideal.
Case closed in my eyes for all practical purposes.
The only thing I would try different next time would be to tightly pack the shavings into the jug, but even then I think the evaporative cooling would negate any benefit…..
For long trips bring the best cooler you can afford, ice accordingly.
If going to Canada, sink the beers.
If all else fails, chug warm beers and don’t worry about it.
Well, call me what you want, but I can afford them and they work very well. I have a 105 Tundra that is my truck cooler. I have a flat fiberglass locking lid and it fits perfectly. I have a 45 Tundra for my river sled that doubles as a seat / standing platform. My reason for getting into these to begin with is cured salmon skein fishing our rivers in Michigan. Good skein is like gold and I have had skein spoil in lesser coolers due to temperature and melting ice water contaminating my bait when I was learning the ropes.
We have 2 Gen 1 Hopper 30’s, 1 for bait, 1 for food. Everything works extremely well if you prechill and don’t over open the coolers. These coolers get used now for extended trips in Canada, fishing. We just love the decreased hassle they bring us. Now our biggest complaint is making sure they are secured so they don’t get stolen.
2 big tips I have learned:
Salt ice has a lower freezing point, so it gets colder and lasts significantly longer than regular water ice. I use Tradewinds Unsweetened Iced Tea gallon jugs, 1-2 cups of ice cream rock salt dissolved, and freeze them in a deep freeze. I have had the salt ice freeze gas station ice cubes into a “block” in my cooler on a regular basis. I have also put a fresh frozen salt ice into my 45 with hose water and 20 bluegills over night to fillet after work the next day – I had to break 1/4” skim ice the next afternoon to get the bluegills out to fillet. This was about a month ago.
Cooler Defunk Wipes. Pretty self explanatory. Found them at Cabela’s in Dundee. Friggen wonderful!
I’m a Yeti addict and I fully admit it. Great stuff for me and my family!
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Thanks for the tip fishinguns. I don’t know why I have never tried salt with my ice jugs. I use to put salt in my ice to spin warm beer so it would be cold in a min. Sounds like it will work better than the saw dust.
Salt is a great way to super cool ice.
But it also shortens the life, since it’s giving up more of it’s energy at a faster rate.
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