Yeti cooler? Anyone have one?

[lastgreatgeneration]

I know it's an absurd amount of money to spend on a cooler. However the cost and expense of marine refrigeration is out of the question. I have experience with your average cooler where ice doesn't last beyond 2 days.

I'm a live aboard on anchor and it's so hard to keep fresh vegetables from going moldy and forget about keeping meat. I was just wondering if it would make sense to get one of these so I can have a cold drink and fresh vegetables. Also I don't know much about it but could I use dry ice?

If these coolers are as good as they say they are it would make economical sense especially in the fall and winter months where the ice should last weeks.

Any thoughts?

[Norman]

Dry ice works in any cooler IF you wrap in paper or cloth, as if it is in contact with the plastic liner, the liner becomes very brittle and may be easily shattered. The wrapping also retards cold flow, reducing the chance of freezing the contents.  This is an issue that takes a while to work out, as the time between opening is a major factor in temperature.

Keeping vegetables is particularly difficult with dry ice.

3/4 of a century ago, I lived in a new house with no power lines in, due to the depression (timing is everything, sometimes, my dad finally paid all the cost of bringing the lines in across 10 unsold lots when I was 3).  We regularly had meat, but it was Hormel Spam, Armour canned corned beef, canned tuna and Libby's salmon, sardines.  All those are available today, ignoring the brands that I still remember!  A product that hardly exists anymore that we had frequently was dried salt cod!  Also, cured bacon, smoked sausage, and ham, all of which need no protection from heat if they are really cured the old way.  About once a week we had fresh beef or pork that dad picked up from the store on his way home, and was cooked for supper.

I have enjoyed all those meats in the last 3 months except the salt cod.  The last time that I found that in a grocery store was 50 years ago, and was in a wooden box similar to the ones I remember!  Our pantry has a good supply of canned goods for blizzard or hurricane power failures, which make the freezer off limits, as we have too much in there to risk letting any heat in by opening the door.

My "cruises" are 3 to 5 days, but I do not take any fresh meat in the cooler, all is canned, as above plus canned white meat chicken and Vienna sausage.

Availability of dry ice is not real good in many areas, but with the aid of Google, might be easy today.  I haven't used it in years.

[jotruk]

I have a yeti roadie cooler and really like it. I have have it in the back of my pickup for 3 days in the Texas heat and it kept ice good. The Manuel says that dry ice works great in it with no special precautions so far I really like it and plan on more use in the heat.

[CharlieJ]

Good post. Almost all of the meat used aboard Tehani was self canned, on board. MUCH less salt for one thing.  Never kept foods in the ice chest- water, beer, etc was all. In the Bahamas, it was used as a dry box for pasta.

Once got a plastic jar full of cracked eggs too close to dry ice- Had a solid lump of eggs :) Hard to use like that

[Godot]

Personally, I haven't used it. But I know one sailor (great guy who used to come here quite a bit; but doesn't now...I'll keep his name out of it) who really, really likes his.  In the shorter term, a cheaper cooler works. But the way he describes it (or at least how I remember it), as time goes on pieces of the cheaper cooler kept breaking, until the aggregate cost of all the replacement pieces plus the original cost of the cheaper cooler, exceeded the cost of the Yeti, which apparently doesn't keep breaking.

I dunno. Based on that third party anecdote, as a liveaboard, there is an excellent chance it will amortize out over time. Sometimes it pays to pay the extra money for a quality product.

But then, sometimes it doesn't. YMMV.

[SailorTom]

Well Yeti has a pretty web site but I couldn't find any specs. And only one reference to PERMAFROST? INSULATION. A polyurethane foam which has decent R, max about R6.5/inch.

I'm always leery of testimonials, especially of relatively expensive chic products. Many folks have a tendency to overlook deficiency when big money was spent.

If I were wanting a high performance icebox that stays on board, I'd build it. A polyurethane foam rigid R-5/inch 4ftx8ft boards can be had for 20 bucks. I've built boxes using polyisocyanurate foam with an R6.5/inch. Good stuff but must be kept dry or the R decreases. #mathmatters :)

[CharlieJ]

Link to a Duckworks article, showing the ice box I built for my previous boat. Pretty much what I did in Tehani also. Tehani's box will hold a 20 pound block of ice for around 8 days

http://duckworksmagazine.com/13/howto/icebox/index.htm#.V8gfzzWuHfZ

[lastgreatgeneration]

Thanks for the great replies. I was at cabelas today and had a chance to handle and play with all of the models, even cabelas brand knockoffs for almost the same price. The roadie model is just too small to be any use to anyone unless you have 1 sandwich and 1 bottle of water to keep on ice.

I would be looking at the "45" model it seems to be the right size without being too large. Well I'll shop around on a good price. I might buy it through REI because they have a great return policy. I think after trying it out I might decide to keep it.

I have tried everything, like dried meats salamis etc, hard cheese, canned meats. Not too impressed unless I was living off of this on a voyage. I often default to more carbs like rice and pasta, meats with salt, fat and preservatives... I would just like to have more variety and stop eating out so much. Ironically having an expensive cooler with a better variety of fresh foods would save me money in the long run having not gone to restaraunts.

I have tried to keep foods out in the cockpit etc, but even in the winter there are days that the temperature can fluctuate between almost freezing and then almost 60 degrees in the daytime. I would hope that even in the winter ice could last for weeks in one of those coolers. 

[CapnK]

My $0.02: You can spend that money a lot wiser.

Probably cheapest by doing what has been suggested already and DIY. For several years I had an icebox I made with 3 alternating sheets of pink foam and radiant heat barrier, and it worked as good as any cooler, for a fraction of the cost of even the cheapest cooler. You can use a "space blanket" for the radiant barrier material. Stagger your corner joins so that they form a zig-zag seam, and line the inner joins with adhesive tin tape to stop leaks. You can size it to fit best the area you have for it, too.

Besides that, their are cheaper coolers than the Yeti brand which are *made the same way* WRT insulation and construction, and they are cheaper (while still expensive). Check out this video for some info and alternatives:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-TE4RnqT0U
Also, check out the other comparison videos.

Last - for the cost of a Yeti, you are 2/3 the way to the cost of an Engel fridge/freezer of similar size yet with a built-in 12V/120V compressor, and I'll be the first to say (watch, others will chime in here... ;D ), Engel Fridge/freezers kick ass. :D If you wanna spend money - save a bit more and get one of these - you will not regret it. My boat has a built-in fridge/icebox with a commercial cold plate setup that is almost brand new, and I use the Engel instead, sitting on a bunk. :)

[Bob J (ex-misfits)]

Last - for the cost of a Yeti, you are 2/3 the way to the cost of an Engel fridge/freezer of similar size yet with a built-in 12V/120V compressor, and I'll be the first to
say (watch, others will chime in here... ;D ), Engel Fridge/freezers kick ass. :D If you wanna spend money - save a bit more and get one of these - you will not regret it. My boat has a built-in fridge/icebox with a commercial cold plate setup that is almost brand new, and I use the Engel instead, sitting on a bunk. :)

My brother in law has a yetti cooler that's like a small backpack,
he keeps beers in. The ice lasts for three days. It's pretty small & he paid $350.00 .

CapnK has some offered up some pretty sound advice.

[Frank]

Engels are extremely good....extremely efficient and yes...expensive







But worth it 😃

[lastgreatgeneration]

Last - for the cost of a Yeti, you are 2/3 the way to the cost of an Engel fridge/freezer of similar size yet with a built-in 12V/120V compressor, and I'll be the first to
say (watch, others will chime in here... ;D ), Engel Fridge/freezers kick ass. :D If you wanna spend money - save a bit more and get one of these - you will not regret it. My boat has a built-in fridge/icebox with a commercial cold plate setup that is almost brand new, and I use the Engel instead, sitting on a bunk. :)

My brother in law has a yetti cooler that's like a small backpack,
he keeps beers in. The ice lasts for three days. It's pretty small & he paid $350.00 .

CapnK has some offered up some pretty sound advice.

Are you referring to the engel that is about the size of a large cooler that plugs into 12 volt for portable travel?

[CapnK]

I was, yes - I have the size 35, IIRC it was around $700 delivered. It plugs in to both 120V AC and 12V DC, switching automatically to the 12V circuit when the 120 gets shut off.

[lastgreatgeneration]

Looks like based on the YouTube reviews that the engel cooler is the way to go. About $50 cheaper than the yeti. I'll study where I can get the best deal on one.