2 minute read
Ebb & Flow
Fire and Ice
By Trey Leggett
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Your drinks are warm, sandwiches soggy, your fish is nearly spoiled, and what was once cold ice is nothing but water now … your cooler (or cooler prep) has issues.
It’s no secret that in the Southern U.S. it gets HOT, and when it does we count on our coolers more than ever to do their jobs on our outdoor outings. Even with today’s innovative cooler designs, a little extra effort goes a long way toward ensuring that your adult beverages, food, and caught fish stay cold. Today we have a plethora of brand named cooler manufacturers that have come out with rotomolded polyethylene coolers that are supposedly the cure-all for melting ice. Although they are better than the styrofoam coolers of the past, they still need help on those hot summer days.
Let’s talk about prepping your cooler. I’ll take you step-by-step to getting that cooler ready for optimal performance on those hot summer outings.
Step One – Whether sitting in your truck, trunk, boat, yard, or garage, coolers get hot when not being used for their intended purpose. Get the cooler out of the sun and heat; better yet, find a place to keep it in your air-conditioned house, out of the heat entirely.
Step Two – The night before your outdoor activity, or early the morning of, place some ice from your freezer inside the cooler and close the lid.
Step Three – Cool your drinks and food in the refrigerator overnight. Putting ice on warm items will make it melt faster.
Step Four – Having invested in some quality ice packs, place two or more frozen ice packs in your cooler (I use a 32-degree cooler pack and a 20-degree freezer pack in my 80-quart cooler).
Step Five – Load your consumables in the cooler.
Step Six – Pour in enough ice to fill half the cooler while covering your drinks completely.
Step Seven – Place bagged ice in the cooler to the top. Try to occupy all the space inside the cooler with your items, ice, and ice packs. Having too many air pockets initially promotes an excess of ice melt. Lastly, try to limit opening the cooler too much, or for too long.
I’ve heard many cooler manufacturer performance statements that assure their coolers can keep ice for anywhere from five to ten days. I contend that if your cooler isn’t prepped properly, you’ll have a hard time keeping ice for two days in our hot, sunny weather. Take that little bit of extra effort with your cooler and you’ll be surprised at how much better it performs.
Stay safe and tight lines.
Whether you prefer soft-sided or hard-sided coolers, some simple prep and planning will make it more efficient. Photo by Trey Leggett August 2019 Southern Tides Magazine 9 Reprinted from a previous issue. Trey will be back next month!
Trey Leggett is an outdoorsman sponsored by Engel Coolers and Hobie Polarized sunglasses. Email: info@southerntidesmagazine.com
