DIY Yeti

[eastmont]

Even though it hit -25 this week here, for some reason I am thinking about coolers.

I saw a couple videos about making a Yeti style cooler out of just about any cooler. Essentially they just put a cooler in a spray foamed or syrofoam insulated box. Has anyone on here done something like that?

 

[kiddwinner]

if you do it, let me know how it works...

 

[Againstthewind]

We have made the styrofoam insulated box for kindof like you described. Stuff still gets pretty hot in the summer, but I haven't tried putting the cooler inside of the box, its a good idea. That big of a box would be kindof heavy, and the materials would probably run about $100 dollars. I should try it since I already have the box. I clicked on the topic because I thought it was a DIY Yeti hunt and I was curious. I know there are quite a few sasquatch hunters out there.

 

[libidilatimmy]

A friend of mine made one a couple years ago. He used an old coleman cooler with 2" R-board around it with a plywood shell. It worked pretty good, but the insulation factor, or R-value, is only as good as the seal in the system. The thing was on the heavier side

 

[lostriverproductions]

not a cooler, but we have a old deep freezer I glued 2" foam board all the way around the inside and made another piece that is a tight fit on the top when lid is closed, Use antifreeze jugs filled with water and frozen for my ice. I can keep jugs frozen for several days this way and keep meat cool on long trips. I use a ratchet strap to keep lid closed.

 

[buckbull]

not a cooler, but we have a old deep freezer I glued 2" foam board all the way around the inside and made another piece that is a tight fit on the top when lid is closed, Use antifreeze jugs filled with water and frozen for my ice. I can keep jugs frozen for several days this way and keep meat cool on long trips. I use a ratchet strap to keep lid closed.

We do the same thing but we use dry ice. My first trip out west we thought we had it all figured out and took a working chest freezer and planned to use the generator to keep things cold. By the time we made it to camp, the chest freezer compressor was locked up from all the bouncing in the trailer. We took the freezer and siliconed 2 inch insulation inside. We store 2 blocks of ice in a chest cooler inside the freezer until its time to use them. Works well and we don't have to worry about running to town for ice or the dampness, etc associated with ice. I think the jugs of ice would be the next best thing, at least the water would be contained.

 

[buckbull]

Another benefit of the chest freezer is that it can double as a large dry storage area.

 

[shootbrownelk]

About 30 years ago, I built a cooler out of 2" thick Urethane foam covered in Fiberglass. It was pretty small, I used leftover foam & fiberglass cloth and resin that I used to make Insulated 4'high, 4'wide x 8' long fiberglass tanks used to transport fish on a flat-bed Semi trailer. The little cooler would keep ice for a week or better in the shade. I still have it. If you built a comparable one today, it'd be insanely expensive for the materials, not to mention the labor involved. I see why Yeti coolers cost what they do. As far as coolers go, you certainly get what you pay for.

 

[NE69]

I spray foam for a living and have thought about making a cheap yeti. My thought was to just spray the outside of a cooler. Last week I sprayed 3 bases for a local taxi to make into landscapes. One for a grizzly, one for desert bighorn and last was a badger. Kind of curious how they turn out. Will post a pic when he gets them done.