"MaxCold" coolers - 5 days of ice?

[unjonharley]

Great ideas on alternate use of coolers.. Hope they fly ....

I have a couple of vintage coolers.. On will be used as a pantry. The other will serve as a sound equipment container. Good for there ability to keep dust out

[junglesmacks]

FWIW, we found the best deal on that MaxCold cooler at Walmart and used the "Ship to store" option so it was waiting for us in Reno. ALSO... always get the cooler without the wheels for this application. The wheeled versions take away from the interior capacity of cooler and you are just leaving it in the truck anyway.

2 coolers.. one for food that you only open when it's mealtime.. and one for drinks. Pack the living bejeezus out of it with ice in Reno and bring as much as you can. For the drink cooler, we filled it with nothing but tight with ice and waited until playa to pack them. The ice will settle during the drive and leave enough room for when you get there.

Like I said before.. we went early arrival this year on Thursday.. and had ice until the following Saturday in the food cooler. Keeping them up in the truck is key.

[lucky420]

Good to know on the ice chests JS. I have always put ours outside up on 2x4's with dark heavy furniture blankets over them, but I can't get ice to last like you are.

Do you put the chests on 2x4s inside the truck?

[unjonharley]

I used a max cooler for 6 trips TTTITD. Always had ice at the end of the week.
They were kept in the van, on plywood, 2x4 and wrapped with windshield reflectors and moving blankets.. Very careful to keep it clean.. So I can use the ice water, by putting a drain valve on the bottom.. Going with a Iglo drink cooler this year.. Will freez ice to shape of the cooler and wrap as above.. Leaving a little space for meal left overs.

[lucky420]

I use an igloo drink cooler for our cold drinking water. The ice lasts in there for quite a few days. I'll add a bag or 2 later in the week when adding more water. I really really love this cooler

[junglesmacks]

No 2x4s for us.. just set on the wood floor of the box truck. Insulating blankets are a waste of time as there's minimal escape/radiance of any thermal energy. The main thing is to leave it closed as much as possible. You should know what you have in there and not need to stare into it like baked teenager gazing into an open fridge for an hour. Open, grab food for meal, close. We also had the aforementioned shit ton of ice in there and the food just set on top.

[lucky420]

Yes JS I should not have to stare at it like a baked teenager but...

Actually my food cooler is good, it's the beverage cooler that loses ice faster than it should.

[junglesmacks]

Yeah.. those specs were from the food cooler, not the drink cooler. We had a main community cooler that we shared between 6 people and would just take turns paying for ice that day as yeah.. it was a daily thing with that many people. We had our personal drink cooler that we kept just a few things on perma ice like that emergency bottle of 7AM champagne..

[unjonharley]

I'm going for the 10 gallon drink cooler this time.. Cutting a bucket to make block ice in the home freezer, Two buckets for two block. The freezer is not large enough to make it in one block.. Could add some insulation and steam punk it.. Add some iron bans and big rivets and a brass fossett.

[graidawg]

this year (and last for all i can remember) MDF put our ice in ziplock baggies then in the morning when we got new ice we filled our drinks containers with ice and melt water, then transfered what was left to the drinks cooler we wnet through a lot of ice but OH how nice it is to drink almost frozen water. also what is the point of drinking gin n tonic without ice?

[theCryptofishist]

this year (and last for all i can remember) MDF put our ice in ziplock baggies then in the morning when we got new ice we filled our drinks containers with ice and melt water, then transfered what was left to the drinks cooler we wnet through a lot of ice but OH how nice it is to drink almost frozen water. also what is the point of drinking gin n tonic without ice?

Um. Keep down the malaria?

[danibel]

Thanks for the all input on this thread. At the end of the burn 2012 I decided that I would invest in at least one new cooler for 2013. My "big green" is actually showing the insulation on some spots (plastic degradation). The main thing I liked about this cooler was the internal size. Even though it had wheels, it had a nice square shape inside that fit two blocks on the edges and then I could put a rack across and keep the foods out of the melt water. I will give up on the shape of the inside and just go for best performing for the new one. My smaller coleman is still useful as a drink cooler, but if I find a good deal I may replace it as well. I don't care much about the drink cooler. It lives in the van during the burn and rarely needs ice added, though I do put bags of ice in it for cocktail hour sometimes. It's performance is less important than the food cooler (which holds my fresh cream for coffee, milk, cheese, and veggies).

[Rice]

this year (and last for all i can remember) MDF put our ice in ziplock baggies then in the morning when we got new ice we filled our drinks containers with ice and melt water, then transfered what was left to the drinks cooler we wnet through a lot of ice but OH how nice it is to drink almost frozen water. also what is the point of drinking gin n tonic without ice?

Um. Keep down the malaria?

Malaria prevention?? I love it!!!

I knew that I had a good reason for drinking G&T...

Happy Next Year!

[junglesmacks]

For the record, I would highly recommend the Igloo MaxCold over the Coleman Xtreme primarily due to the handle construction. For long term use, the Igloo's are built much better. Their drawback is that they are slightly bulkier and more expensive over the Coleman. We went with the Coleman for TTITD because it was priced so right and readily available at WallyWorld for ship to store pickup..

Here at home for camping, I own the Igloo MaxCold 165 qt and it's amazing.

[TinkerMom]

I have an Igloo Marine 165 that is about 13 yrs old. I use this for dry ice, it lasted us 8 days.
I put in all big blocks of dry ice and shove frozen foods around them. Keep it in the back of the truck
under our shade with a blanket over it, along with all the other coolers.

I also have 2 Coleman Extreme 160's one is for drinks, that we keep topped up through the week with
ice.
The second Coleman Extreme, has 3 Tidy Cat litter boxes in it. With ice packed around the boxes. I keep
milk, cheese, fruit, veggies,eggs, tortillas, etc. This way I can have my ice for my drinks, and my dairy and
what-nots don't get soggy.

Drain the water to soak our feet or wash dishes with.

I have found that my Igloo beats out the Coleman hands down. Even when we go to the lake
and only use ice.

[edbrez]

I have an Igloo Marine 165 that is about 13 yrs old. I use this for dry ice, it lasted us 8 days.
I put in all big blocks of dry ice and shove frozen foods around them. Keep it in the back of the truck
under our shade with a blanket over it, along with all the other coolers.

I also have 2 Coleman Extreme 160's one is for drinks, that we keep topped up through the week with
ice.
The second Coleman Extreme, has 3 Tidy Cat litter boxes in it. With ice packed around the boxes. I keep
milk, cheese, fruit, veggies,eggs, tortillas, etc. This way I can have my ice for my drinks, and my dairy and
what-nots don't get soggy.

Drain the water to soak our feet or wash dishes with.

I have found that my Igloo beats out the Coleman hands down. Even when we go to the lake
and only use ice.

That is a great system you got there, Coleman will be my choice purely based on cost and convenience. Thanks for the detailed description of your post, food for thought. Never thought about how to make use of melted ice water. Now im thinking foot spa

[lucky420]

Your feet will love the ice cold foot baths...


And tink glad you keep your "what nots" from getting soggy.

[FIGJAM]

Do soggy whatnots get pruney?

[unjonharley]

Do soggy whatnots get pruney?

I'll prune your whatnots

[TinkerMom]

Oh, wow.....

my poor what-nots

[edbrez]

Your feet will love the ice cold foot baths...


And tink glad you keep your "what nots" from getting soggy.

Would not like my "what nots" getting soggy, but the occasional dip could be exhilarating

[BBadger]

For the record, I would highly recommend the Igloo MaxCold over the Coleman Xtreme primarily due to the handle construction. For long term use, the Igloo's are built much better. Their drawback is that they are slightly bulkier and more expensive over the Coleman. We went with the Coleman for TTITD because it was priced so right and readily available at WallyWorld for ship to store pickup..

Here at home for camping, I own the Igloo MaxCold 165 qt and it's amazing.

Yeah, we brought one of those and it worked great. We still ended up buying ice, but that was because we had other coolers as well and weren't being really miserly with opening and closing it. The shear size of the thing is great.

[Martiansky]

OK, I've been looking at the Igloo cooler and its a bluish color and then I saw a Coleman cooler and its silver.....
Has anyone noticed if cooler color is a contributing factor in how long the ice inside is lasting?

[FIGJAM]

The color did'nt seem to make a difference.

I went with the igloo because the top can latch closed and the hinges are better.

[junglesmacks]

The color did'nt seem to make a difference.

I went with the igloo because the top can latch closed and the hinges are better.

Yes.. AVOID the Coleman model and go for Igloo all the way. Coleman handle design sucks and they will break off with your first use. The Igloos are all around a better cooler and comparable in price.

We've used both and feel strongly about this

[zerzura]

Yes.. AVOID the Coleman model and go for Igloo all the way. Coleman handle design sucks and they will break off with your first use. The Igloos are all around a better cooler and comparable in price.

We've used both and feel strongly about this

Huh, I've had the opposite experience. We've had both of these models for 7 years, the Coleman wins out over the Igloo every time.

[Martiansky]

What do the handles that the Coleman coolers look like that break?
I've looked at both and they seem very similar....they both flip around and slide up and down.

[junglesmacks]

Hmm.. yeah. You can look at pictures of both coolers and see how much more flimsy the Coleman models are.. as well as read tons of complaints all over the internet. The thing is that the Coleman coolers use a thinner, more flexible handle that twists and rips the bumps right out of the notches. The Igloo handles are built a little heavier and therefore don't flex as much. The mounting points and notches also seem to be a little deeper.

Given.. what I'm comparing here is the Igloo MaxCold marine cooler.. which is the one that's on special @ Sam's all summer for $60-ish for a the 150 qt model. We have that unit and it's awesome.



vs.

[Martiansky]

Ah....good pics.....

Im pretty sure Coleman has "borrowed" the handle design now.
I will try to get a pic.

[zerzura]

We have a Coleman Xtreme that is silver and an Igloo Max Cold that is blue. The Coleman has it's original handles and no problems, but I have replaced hinges after 6 years; actually I have replaced the hinges on the Igloo also with Coleman hinges because the Coleman replacement parts were easier to find. The Coleman keeps block Ice at least a day and a half longer than the Igloo, and the lid fits better. If Junglesmaks has the marine version of the Igloo, I think that one is white and heavier duty-er. We also have a very large marine Igloo, but not a Max Cold version -- that one is only good for beer at a party in my opinion. Again, my coolers are 7 years old, so maybe they've changed.