# tips for packing coolers



## walterwhite (Jan 25, 2017)

Bought a nice 65qt cooler. Anyone have tips or suggestions for keeping the cooler cold? I plan on filling it with frozen food/ chugs to chill the cooler the day before. Anyone use NU / Yeti ice in addition to ice? Anyone regularly use dry ice for extended trips?


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## Powdawg (May 27, 2009)

Do a quick search of this forum and you'll find every option ever discussed on this topic. You should find about 232,876 posts on cooler management alone. Happy cooling.


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## GROH (Nov 10, 2013)

Tons of advice on here to say the least, but one thing I've found makes a huge difference is buying a sacrificial bag of ice the day before you plan on packing your cooler. The amount of energy a warm cooler sucks up is huge so taking the time to cool it down makes a massive difference. Good luck 


WYO


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## caverdan (Aug 27, 2004)

I use cooler blankets to cover the block ice with in the bottom of the cooler.


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## ranamafana (Jul 18, 2005)

There are all kinds of great cooler tricks, but in addition to covering the cooler ice with cooler blanket (cardboard works too for that, but eventually can get soggy) I recommend getting a piece of foil covered bubble wrap insulation & cutting it to the inside diameter size of your cooler & then using it as a top layer over your cooler items. Also, cover the cooler with a paco pad or other insulating material during the day, anything to keep it shaded & out of direct sunlight, especially if it won't be covered with dry bags or other rigged gear.


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## jaffy (Feb 4, 2004)

I got one of these evaporative dog pads and wrapped it around the outside of the cooler, and would periodically spray it down throughout the day:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007O5M08O/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You can get blankets, towels, etc all made from the same material, but the dog pad was the right size for my cooler and one of the cheapest options.

Of course, the most important thing is to minimize how often you open the cooler. I pre-bag my beers so each day I move a bag of beers from my main cooler to my day cooler. That lets me pop it open in the morning, grab a bag, and close it right back up really quickly. 

I froze half the beers in each bag pre-trip, and those were the ones I drank later in the day. Early in the trip that ended up being too many frozen beers (they were still frozen when I wanted them), and later in the trip there were not enough frozen beers (didn't stay cool all day). Next time I'll try freezing less beers in the early bags and more in the later bags.


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## walterwhite (Jan 25, 2017)

Thanks.

I'm looking at a RTIC 40 soft cooler for beers and other day items and leave all the food in the yeti. Might try and experiment with dry ice for extended trips.


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## Managan (Mar 9, 2015)

For extended trips I have been using the local ice sculpture guy. He custom cuts slabs to fit each cooler and the ice has little to no oxygen in it. The stuff lasts for weeks if you practice good cooler management. We opened our cooler on days 10-13 for cook crew and we were still giving away cocktail ice on day 15. Not nearly as expensive as you think either. We brought a dedicated ice cooler and we had cocktail ice on take out day (day 22) We did use foil backed bubble wrap to separate the food that could not come in contact with the ice.


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## Fumble (May 23, 2013)

some larger coolers could probably fit your cooler inside


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## yesimapirate (Oct 18, 2010)

jaffy said:


> Of course, the most important thing is to minimize how often you open the cooler. I pre-bag my beers so each day I move a bag of beers from my main cooler to my day cooler. That lets me pop it open in the morning, grab a bag, and close it right back up really quickly.
> 
> I froze half the beers in each bag pre-trip, and those were the ones I drank later in the day. Early in the trip that ended up being too many frozen beers (they were still frozen when I wanted them), and later in the trip there were not enough frozen beers (didn't stay cool all day). Next time I'll try freezing less beers in the early bags and more in the later bags.


I am not sure that freezing beers is something I want to do regularly. Would prefer not to have a freezer full of busted beers. ...unless you're drinking all high alcohol suds.

More importantly, what kind of maniac limits themselves to a specific amount of beer per day???


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## rubtheduck (Jun 20, 2016)

walterwhite said:


> Bought a nice 65qt cooler. Anyone have tips or suggestions for keeping the cooler cold? I plan on filling it with frozen food/ chugs to chill the cooler the day before. Anyone use NU / Yeti ice in addition to ice? Anyone regularly use dry ice for extended trips?


I would suggest starting with buying a larger cooler... I would not suggest using dry ice in a 65 qrt cooler but then again I only have experience with 110's or larger.


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## jaffy (Feb 4, 2004)

yesimapirate said:


> More importantly, what kind of maniac limits themselves to a specific amount of beer per day???


Last year was the first time I tried doing it that way, so there is definitely room to optimize the system. 

It worked pretty well though. I always had enough beers to get me to camp, and then when I finished them off I'd switch to cocktails.

I was also carrying a LOT of people's gear. I wouldn't spend the effort most trips - just bring more ice!



yesimapirate said:


> I am not sure that freezing beers is something I want to do regularly. Would prefer not to have a freezer full of busted beers. ...unless you're drinking all high alcohol suds.


I think I had frozen one case (out of 2 cases). IIRC I had two cans that split, but the beer was mostly frozen before the split so it didn't make much of a mess. Both cans were the same variety, but I don't remember which kind they were. I remember I attributed it to probably being cheaper/thinner cans, so I'd guess it was either Imperial or Tecate. Alcohol content didn't seem to matter, although the highest alcohol one I had would've been Sierra Pale Ale.

I also did a taste test prior to doing the mass freeze to see if we could tell the difference between a beer that had been frozen and thawed vs one that hadn't. We couldn't.


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## walterwhite (Jan 25, 2017)

My width is 36" for my raft so I'm somewhat limited. It's mostly my girlfriend and I and will be doing trips 3-4 nights max. So the 65 for food and a separate soft cooler for beers should work just fine I'm hoping.


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## Willie 1.5 (Jul 9, 2013)

I use a 65 for 2 people and 3 to 5 nights. Depending on all the variables.

I also use it just as a drink cooler, 2 people abusing it for 5 days cooks it. 

When used as a drink cooler and I'm not putting in the day it's packed. It gets filled with block ice and several pounds of dry ice. I then put beer in it, the morning of launch.


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## walterwhite (Jan 25, 2017)

Going grab 30 or 40 RTIC soft cooler for beer


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