Built in Cooler for 24

[Rusty Griswold]

has anyone found a cooler that will fit into the built in cooler they have on the boat. Some days you don't want to fill up the built in or mess with getting the water out of it just for a few hours on the water.:cool::

[SupraTamu]

I had bought a couple of the soft coolers and put drinks and ice in those and they fit in the cooler on their sides with no problem. They only hold about 12 cans a piece. I do not even bother using the cooler itself with the exception of putting these two soft coolers in them. They have a zipper top so do leak a little. Bought them at Academy Sports. I was out a couple of weeks ago on a friends boat (Cobalt) it has a built in cooler and he puts in a little water in the cooler and then in his area they sell blocks of ice at the stores about 10"x10" and I was suprised how long it lasted and really kept the drinks cold, lasted about 24 hours. I have not seen the blocks of ice at any of the stores in the Austin area but if your convenience stores carry it give it a shot it works really well. There coolers also have a plug for the drain as well.

[jaywidhalm]

I use my built in cooler almost everytime I go out. I like it, but by the end of the day the ice is getting pretty low. I would like to have a drain plug for it to keep all the cold ice water in until I was ready to drain it totally. Anyone figured anything simple out for this?
I saw a wine cork in another post being used to plug a ballast drain. I wonder if that would work?

[KY Steve]

has anyone found a cooler that will fit into the built in cooler they have on the boat. Some days you don't want to fill up the built in or mess with getting the water out of it just for a few hours on the water.:cool::

I use a soft cooler for the short days on the water, the built-in does take several bags of ice just to fill it up. The other thing I did was insulate the built-in which helped out a lot when I do use it, works more like a cooler now than an ice melter.

Rusty - What part of Cumberland you on? I'm at Jamestown.

[tg0824SSVGG]

UNtil I find a rubber plug to put in there, I usually just stuff a grocery plastic bag in the hole. I do have to admit the "plastic tub" they call a cooler is pretty lame.

Most of the time I use a soft cooler - but one that won't fit in there, it will hold like 48 cans. So - it's in the way, but that thing ROCKS and keep stuff cold a LONG time.

Check these out -- they make several sizes and colors - I got the big one, I bet the little ones would fit in the cooler as Steve suggests.

http://www.polarbearcoolers.com/polarbearcoolersizescale/

http://www.polarbearcoolers.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/g1.jpg

[jonyb]

Hahaha, you wanna put a cooler in the melter.

A rubber drain plug will work in the drain hole of the melter. It's the kind that you put it, screw it in a little so it tightens, then turn it to make it tight. Hard to explain, but if works.

[jzelt]

Walmart sells/sold a cheap plastic transom plug (the kind that went into a brass fitting for bass boats/etc). They can screw down and then you push the tab over and it clamps. Stops most of the water from flowing. We don't tighten it down too much. Makes it easier to take out. Our Chap had 3 built-in coolers and so when we sold it, we took 1.

http://boats.wholesalemarine.com/index.jsp?D=transom+drain+plug&Ntt=transom+drain+plug&Dk=0&N=0&Nty=1

[jaywidhalm]

Yeah, I've seen those plugs at Wal-Mart. I'll have to pick one up. KY, how did you insulate the melter?

[KY Steve]

KY, how did you insulate the melter?

I took the melter out and bought a couple cheap styrofoam coolers, cut them up and glued the sections to the outside of the melter. Pretty basic but it definitely helps.

[Rusty Griswold]

Thanks for the feed back, the soft side looks like the way to go if you want to keep the thing dry. I don't like having to cover up the boat when things are wet. Have a great 4th.

[jaywidhalm]

I took the melter out and bought a couple cheap styrofoam coolers, cut them up and glued the sections to the outside of the melter. Pretty basic but it definitely helps.

Sweet...seems simple enough to me. I think I may do the same!!

[cwood]

We actually bring frozen water bottles too. 4 or 5 of them, along with all the ice, helps keep the ice from melting so fast. AZ heat, melts that ice pretty quickly, so the frozen water bottles help, believe it or not. We also use the rubber plug with the brass twist tightner thingy to plug the drain. works fine.

[dusty2221]

A cork also works great to plug the cooler hole.

[87SunSportMikeyD]

My 87 has a built in cooler/melter and it is very large. I bring out a large soft-side and it works great, holds 20lb ice and 36 beers. I mean waters.