# Cooler Management for Day Cooler



## Senor D (May 22, 2018)

My day cooler can fit inside my chest freezer, so I usually freeze a few inches of water in the bottom to start. I also freeze a few individual water bottles and keep them in the main cooler. The ice in the day cooler usually lasts a day or two. After that, I stock the day cooler first thing in the morning with a frozen bottle and drinks, lunch, etc. At the end of the day, there is usually some really cold water to drink, and possibly a chunk of ice to use for cocktails.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

^^^
You can also freeze sodas or beers (chill first, rest at fridge temperature, then freeze) and have them in your big cooler. Add a few each day to your day cooler.

Or if you're a "cooler drainer", drain your big cooler (every morning when the drained cold water gets replaced by cool morning air and not hot afternoon air) into your day cooler and the frigid water will cool your drinks.

If you're on a colder water river, use a drag bag for your drinks. Many lunches just need shade/cool and not cooler cold...so you could possibly even eliminate the day cooler for multidays.


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## seantana (Mar 5, 2015)

Jesus do not freeze beer unless you like flat beer. WTF.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Don't open it when it's frozen. It has to thaw first.
there's an equilibrium among the beer, the carbon dioxide dissolved in the beer, and the carbon dioxide in the airspace in the can above the beer.

If you chill it, more of the CO2 dissolves into the beer. If you then freeze it, there's less pressure above the beer and room for the beer to freeze.
then bring it slowly back to temp and the CO2 will come back out of solution and your beer will be fizzy again.

There's a science behind it, I'll try to find the post.


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## carvedog (May 11, 2005)

seantana said:


> Jesus do not freeze beer unless you like flat beer. WTF.


Yeah I have noticed that too. Takes the snap, crackle, pop right out of it.


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## cnalder (Jul 7, 2016)

Freezing beer works. I do it all the time, although some do better than others. I don’t use a day cooler but do partition my big cooler with one section for drinks and lunch. I place foam and a towel over the other sections.


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## T.O.Mac (Jun 6, 2015)

I will also precook many of the meals that I make for our group, and then block freeze and zipseal them. Depending on the air temps, I will then move them into my day cooler to thaw and keep drinks cold. I also make it a rule not to put warm beer into the day cooler, but either from the drag bag, or other cooling source to eliminate ice waste.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

watermonkey said:


> Shake the beer cans after they've thawed and give a half hour or so for the CO2 to reabsorb, then drink. The CO2 that has separated is still under pressure and the agitation aids in recarbonation. At least it works when kegging homebrews in corny kegs - same principle on a smaller scale.


oh yeah, I had forgot this tip. ^^^


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

I couldn't find the post. Someone more eloquent than me wrote it up, and it was in the same vein as the cooler drain experiement.


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## kengore (May 29, 2008)

I pre-freeze as much as I can. Beverages, meals, coffee creamer, juice paks, anything that can survive the expansion and thaw. All these extend the life of the big cooler. I take out a few frozen beverages and tonight's meal, put them in the day cooler with unfrozen drinks and get a days worth of cool refreshment. Dinner is nice and thawed at the end of the day, ready for the stove.

And as much as I hate to admit it, those obscenely priced super coolers really do work.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

kengore said:


> And as much as I hate to admit it, those obscenely priced super coolers really do work.


But the old school tech of opening it in the cool of the morning and keeping a towel over it still makes a difference with those unobtanium coolers.


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## kengore (May 29, 2008)

Another tip from a friend. Think about all the air space left in your cooler after you pack it. If you put everything in bomb proof bags (like vacuum seal) you can dump in several bags of ice cubes to fill in the gaps. You can feed the day cooler with the cubes.


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## kengore (May 29, 2008)

MTRunner is correct. You still want good cooler management. But since the upgrade I usually end up bringing ice home at the end of each trip. I have friends on a trip that went 3 days in the desert on just ice cubes, no block ice. That wouldn't have made it overnight in my old cooler.


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## codycleve (Mar 26, 2012)

I bought a cheap 32qt outsunny rotomolded cooler.. it fits in my chest freezer so I add 2 inches of water and freeze repeating until I can only fit about 8 beers in the top. I strapped it in the nose of my 156R and kept covered with a wet towel.. at the end of a 6 day July middle fork i still had a chunk of ice about the same size as a store bought block of ice.. No warm beers where added just ice cold beers from my large cooler.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

kengore said:


> Another tip from a friend. Think about all the air space left in your cooler after you pack it. If you put everything in bomb proof bags (like vacuum seal) you can dump in several bags of ice cubes to fill in the gaps. You can feed the day cooler with the cubes.


if you prefreeze everything...it's likely much colder than 32°F and you may find all those ice cubes frozen into the block until day 3. 
(not saying it's a problem, per se!)


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## Quiggle (Nov 18, 2012)

I love when I don't have to plan, buy or pack food and my cooler is a straight beer cooler. Rarely happens but man is it awesome! Cooler management? nah, Drain it? nah, Drag beers? nah, replenish with un chilled beers? sure, Have ice cold beers all trip? you know it. But honestly my wife normally plans the food for all of our trips and we are the food cooler with some beers down low for the last day. I have a soft cooler and I get as much block ice in my main cooler as possible, maybe a 10 lb bag of cubes for cocktails, kept in the bag of course. Ill get a block for my soft cooler and that will normally last about 2 days in there. Replenish beers in soft cooler first thing when you wake up, I honestly hate dragging beers but on hot summer trips I will chill them this way unless my main cooler is only a beer cooler. Once day cooler is out of Ice ill use drained cooler water or ill break one of my remaining blocks in half with a hatchet, in the morning of course, and put half in the soft cooler. I dont have a fancy cooler but we manage it well and have leftover ice after 8 day trips. I've also done a August lodore trip which was super hot and I had a beer only cooler that I managed like shit and still had Cold beers at the take out while other boats had rotten food in their Yetis and were drinking dragged beer for the last 2 days ( I don't think they bought block ice, and didn't manage what they had well).

Tips for good management:
Pre Chill your cooler with sacrificial ice
Open it as little as possible (never during the heat of the day)
keep the lid wet (towel of foam pad)
Don't put a dark colored Paco over it
If your cooler isn't full use a cheap piece of foam to cover contents inside


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## jwburdge (Apr 9, 2014)

I love rafting for many reasons. One of them is the never ending conversation about cooler management. It is simply awesome!


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## jwburdge (Apr 9, 2014)

One thing that I heard works well, is to pack it full of ice blocks and cubes (no food or drinks) and never ever open it. Don't open it for any reason whatsoever and you will have ice at the end of the trip. It helps to use a Yeti for this. Remember: never ever open the cooler! Not at night, not in the morning, not ever. Open it when you get home and you will have ice.


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## Will Amette (Jan 28, 2017)

MT4Runner said:


> I couldn't find the post. Someone more eloquent than me wrote it up, and it was in the same vein as the cooler drain experiement.


I bet you were NOT talking about my post about sensible and latent heat from 2019.


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## Bootboy (Aug 25, 2020)

If you have a butcher shop or meat locker nearby, and you ask nicely, sometimes they’ll let you pre-chill your packed cooler for a day before your trip. My extended family owns a large ice cream shop and we’ve used their walk-in freezers before to entomb beverages and popsicles in ice in the bottom half of the cooler and put other food items on top separated by a layer of closed-cell PEX foam. 6 days on the middle fork with frozen treats (otter pops) on the last day. Granted that this cooler doesn’t get opened for the first 3-4 days.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Will Amette said:


> I bet you were NOT talking about my post about sensible and latent heat from 2019.


Actually, it probably was your post!








Is frozen food as good as ice?


Ya man! 25 days in the big ditch, with just a 14’er, and I didn’t run out, even had a few to share, was awesome!:D




www.mountainbuzz.com


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## Chapmatterson31 (May 4, 2021)

New to boating as well but I have a thought/question.
I noticed no one has mentioned dry ice. Other than the burn/freeze risk is there a reason not to use it?


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

For a day cooler?

IMHO a smaller cooler doesn't have the mass to take advantage of dry ice. Dry ice doesn't last that long in an unsealed/unrefrigerated environment. It needs to be used to make your big block of ice COLDER which again IMHO is too cold a temp and too small a mass in a day cooler.


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## whip (Oct 23, 2003)

Well when i was a lad and used to boat with Adam and Eve...we would pack our coolers very full including block ice and put a few pounds of dry ice on top. Then duct tape the seal which we had lined with foam weather strip and then strap them shut. The dry ice sublimates driving out the oxygen. I've opened an old cooler day 14 in the Grand and still frozen.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

I do think there's a benefit to using dry ice in your main cooler.


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## Chapmatterson31 (May 4, 2021)

MT4Runner said:


> For a day cooler?
> 
> IMHO a smaller cooler doesn't have the mass to take advantage of dry ice. Dry ice doesn't last that long in an unsealed/unrefrigerated environment. It needs to be used to make your big block of ice COLDER which again IMHO is too cold a temp and too small a mass in a day cooler.


Oops, no. I meant in the main cooler.


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