www.iFourWinns.com

Anyone got an good tricks to keeping your food cold but dry in a cooler with ice?

We usually run two coolers...one with drinks and then one with the food we need to keep cool. The best I can do right now is wrap the ice bags in the store plastic bags and leave them on the bottom and pile food on top.

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2005 Horizon 210, 5.7L Volvo

Depending on how big your cooler is, you can freeze some 1 gallon plastic water bottles as block ice. They stay frozen for several days and can be used as drinking water when they thaw.

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2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

Bottles are doable....wonder what I could use that'd be larger and flatter.

Chemist question...is it better to have your food on top or below ice/ice packs.

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2005 Horizon 210, 5.7L Volvo

Two coolers... and a bigger boat.

Consider getting a collapsible or soft-sided cooler for the drinks. That way once they're consumed you can stow the cooler. The soft ones aren't as efficient at keeping things cold though. So it's a trade off. We bring along one that's a collapsible cylinder. Often times it's used just for 3 extra bags of ice for blender and other drinks. Works great and once we're done with the ice we can stow it away. The other reason for using two coolers is access. You really don't want the food constantly being shifted aside as people go digging for drinks. When the food is in it's own cooler it'll stay colder for a longer period of time. This is important from a food safety standpoint (aka ptomaine poisoning from spoiled mayonnaise on a hot day).

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

How long are you trying to keep the food cold for?

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2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

We did learn the two cooler lesson. And on top of that the drink cooler stays down in the ski locker. Got to be too big of a pain needing a beer when my kid fell asleep on the bench over the other cooler.

Just keeping it cold for the day. I'm probably a little over paranoid about food stuff staying at a safe temp.

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2005 Horizon 210, 5.7L Volvo

For a day trip, I would just get some of the plastic covered ice blocks which you can pick up at Target, etc.

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2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

Our refrigerator isn't that big so we have a 94 qt. marine cooler that we strap on our swim platform and it has food trays that keep the food high and dry. We also use zip-lock bags to keep food items dry. Call me old fashioned, but I just couldn't imagine not having my beer in ice.

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Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

When you're shopping for a cooler I've found you can't go wrong with the MaxCold line from Igloo. They do a phenomenal job of keeping things cold. I've had a cooler full of cans and ice stay cold for a WEEK when left sitting outside at the house. Had a party, topped off the ice and left it out there. The following weekend there was still a fair amount of ice in the cold water. Same luck on the boat. The more you open it, of course, the faster the ice will melt. So I've found it best to use one of their smaller coolers up in the cockpit for drinks. I keep a larger one down below for the food and extra drinks. I'd always prefer two smaller coolers over one larger one.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

We are day trippers who usually only bring perishable food for one meal and snacks that need to stay cold. We use zip lock bags and tupper-ware containers to store the food we want to keep cold and protect it from melting ice. I usually place the food in prior to the ice and leave room for oranges or other fruit on top of the ice as I usally grab for them first. I removed the porta potty from my boat. I have room for two ice chests in there. One is for dry goods and the other for our perishible food.

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Jeff
2006 H240 6.2 MX 320HP B3
La Habra, California

I use/re-use 2 liter soda bottles - just fill them 4/5 of the way full of water and throw them in the freezer. A couple of those in your 'dry' cooler should work well.

As to on top or below, heat rises, cold air sinks. Having said that, I don't know that it makes that much difference. I can say that chilling things down prior to placing into the cooler, and eliminating as much air space as possible in the cooler both help a great deal. Also, most coolers do not have much insulation in the lids. If your cooler will be in direct sun it's a good idea to cover it with a towel or some such. In another hobby we use coolers extensively with very hot water (home brewing beer - we use coolers as mash tuns) many will drill holes into the lid and fill the void with great stuff expanding insulation to prevent loss of heat through the lid. Same concept applies if your cooler will sit in the sun, and adding insulation would help prevent loss of chill to a hot lid.

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2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

Has anybody ever tried Dry Ice? They are starting to sell it at most stores now. I guess it's for more than making fog in the punch bowl.

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1992 Baja 38 Special Twin 502 Mags

03 Stingray 3.0
88 261 Liberator 460 King Cobras
95 Bayliner 1850 3.0
77 Fiber Form 20ft 350/385hp
70 Wescraft 1800 SS 455 Jet

Lead, Follow, or get the Hell out of the Way!

I'm with ya on liking my beer on ice. I thoroughly enjoyed grabbing my beer from UNDER the ice today. It just seemed colder on the pallate.

I like the 2 liter bottle idea. I think what brought this up was my wife yelling at me the day after from all the water in the fridge from the leftovers I put back in from the cooler one day.

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2005 Horizon 210, 5.7L Volvo

I have big enough space to carry 2 coolers in our boat (in the compartment) so we typically carry drinks and food separate if we get more than 4 people in the trip. When we anchor down we float our drink cooler with this thing so it will not take space on the boat.

http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colemanc ... ryid=10084

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08 H260 VP 8.1Gi DP.....Previous
2013 Crownline E6 Merc 8.2MAG BIIIX, DTS/SC

Good coolers for keeping things cold, shitty plastic hinges that break too easily.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy