Anyone experienced in using this type of cooler? Not the electric one of today. But the old one where you put the block ice in the bin and can use the cooler as a left/right top door opener. We just used our (new to us) this weekend. Got it Wednesday, just a quick wipe out as it was pretty darn clean inside, re-washed all trays and the ice tub just to be sure. Placed 2 frozen gallon jugs in it to condition it. Loaded it Friday with 2 frozen half gallon milk jugs, 1 bag of ice and the weekend food. Half gallon of milk, eggs, bacon, sausage, 2lb. hamburger, pkg of pork chops, cheeses and lunch meats.
We still had ice and each of the jugs were half frozen on Sunday when we returned from camping. That was Great. But I was not satisfied with the "cooling effects".
We all know that cool moves down/heat up. DH said that the tub would not stay up with the weight of the ice and that I should go down with it. So I listened, better safe then sorry. From bottom to top, ice tub with lid- milk-burger-chops, a tray with lunch meat, a tray with cheeses. The lunch meat and cheeses didn't get as "cool" as I would have liked them to or as cool and water logged as they could have been. Even the hamburger didn't get cool and it was a good thing it was planned for supper Saturday night. Was it totally wrong to go down with the ice or am I expecting to much from this ole thing?
I never had one. I have to think they are not as well insulated and can't work as well as a 5-day cooler. Personally I would use it for storage and bring my traditional cooler.
Matt O 2006 Skyline Nomad 27' travel trailer. Previously owned 1986 Coleman Columbia / 1992 Coleman Senecca / 1989 Born Free Class C RV.
We had one of these coolers with our old Coleman pup. A previous owner had removed the shelves and bin, so it was basically just an old cooler. We were never disappointed with its performance, but we only took short weekend trips.
When we camp, we keep our drinks and food in separate coolers (since we open the drink cooler more, this keeps our food colder). We never used the old cooler for food, but it kept our drinks VERY cold.
We have since sold the Coleman pup and the "cooler" went with it. We purcahsed a 5-day cooler and I was shocked at how much ice we still had left (compared to the old coleman). I guess the new coolers do have better insulation.
If you were not impressed with the performance of the old coleman cooler, I would just upgrade to a better one. They're not very expensive, especially since they're going out of season. I think we saw the 5-day coolers at Walmart for about $30.
I got one the week before last at a local bargain store for a whopping total of $4.00. It had two shelves and the ice bin. (I've just negotiated the top for the ice bin on a Coleman collectors' site.)
From everything I've heard or read about them, people love 'em. If you don't consider this, eBay routinely sells them for over $50.00. If you don't like it, put it up for auction. (Disclaimer: those are summer prices. Winter prices drop on summer items just as pop up prices drop during the winter.)
This is part of a PM I received on the Coleman Collectors' site:
BTW, from a topic on the CCF, you can get that piece back to white using bleach or RetroBright (whatever that is). The problem with these coolers can be that the ice tub may leak. I filled mine up with water and put it in the freezer. It leaked after a while, making quite a mess. The seal may not be as flexible as it used to be. There's not a lot of space sitting up with that big tub, but without it, they are a little bigger than a regular Coleman cooler. When it's laying on its back, the tub leaves a little space below that it kind of hard to get to, but otherwise there's plenty of room.
There's a little helpful information in there pertaining to your question. Other information is added at no additional charge to you. 😀
Thanks all for the replies, much appreciated.
The snippet is useful, SteveA. Yes, the ice bin did leak from the seal, had a small puddle each morning. DH said it was not tight enough. So he tightened it, of course that was Sunday morning after he had seen the puddle.
I'll check around and see if I can find some block ice, see how many bags it will hold, etc. and do some testing over the next couple of weeks. I don't think I'll try filling/freezing the tub though. I'm thinking that the expansion and contraction due to temps would be bad for the seal anyway.
I don't think this will be a week vacation cooler but I'm hoping for a weekender. Besides it does add to the nostalgia of the PUP even if it does turn into a storage container 🙂
[quote author=YSG and RedBeard link=topic=2006.msg17736#msg17736 date=1351164954]
Thanks all for the replies, much appreciated.
I'll check around and see if I can find some block ice, see how many bags it will hold, etc. and do some testing over the next couple of weeks.
Please don't buy block ice! I don"t know about your house but in mine, my kids go through 4 containers of minute maid OJ, fruit punch and lemonaide a week. You know the kind that comes in the wax coated cardboard traditional milk containers. I rinse them out, fill them about 80 % leaving room for frozen water to expand put the cap on and drop them in my freezer. poof you have instant ice blocks perfect size for camping and pup coolers. when its time to use them I simply remove from freezer let sit for about 5 minutes use a razor knife to cut of the top all the way around and slide out the nice big ice block. if i want smaller pieces I tap it with a hammer over the cooler. You could even leave them in the container no water to deal with and refreeze if you wanted to. But my last 3 trips I only used this block ice and I came home from every trip with original ice still in the cooler. It takes so much longer for block ice to melt then cube ice because of size and most commercial cubes are hollow or have holes in center. I currently have 20 containers of ice like this in my basement freezer and last year when we had a storm and black out I saved all the food in freezer with them and my camping cooler. The ice lasted 5 plus days.
Jon's right about making ice. I always do double duty. I'll freeze juices, Gatorade and water bottles I've filled at home and count that as both ice and beverage.
If I'm using a chest type cooler, I'll use square ice cream tubs from WallyWorld. The ice cream is $6.00 and every bit as good as the leading brands. In addition, you get those valuable tubs!
Before the larger fridge and freezer of the TT we use to re-use the plastic coffee "cans", wash them out, fill them with water, freeze them and use them in the coolers, once melted you have either water from home (if the local water has a taste/smell) or water for the dog.. What we use to do once they were empty again, is fill them with ice cubes (from the bags) and use them again, never had floating foods...
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