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Re: Yeti coolers: worth the $ or hype?

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 2:51 pm
by we66erno1
If you plan on being somewhere for a long period of time that would prevent you from buying ice, the yeti or similar cooler is the way to go. Remember the yeti is designed to hold dry ice, which will keep a cooler colder for longer then "wet ice".

The yeti is also way more sturdier then almost any normal cooler. That's why it weighs so much and because of all the extra insulation.

It's a piece of gear that most people don't need, but have because it is on the créme de la créme of level of coolers. And it's always nice to be "over-prepared"

Re: Yeti coolers: worth the $ or hype?

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 9:06 pm
by gannon311
As phill Roberson says.... It's roto-molded like a kayak!!!

That's why I will always have one.
My boss had one fall off the flat bed of his truck doing 80 mph interstate and still uses it every day!

Re: Yeti coolers: worth the $ or hype?

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 10:39 pm
by Cowper
fryingsquirrel wrote:If I recall correctly from my HVAC classes 1 BTU is the amount of thermal energy need to warm a pound of water one degree. I'm just going to pull a number out of my ear here and say what if a cooler absorbed 4 BTUs/hour on a 90* day, and you dumped one pound of water at 33*. That pound of 33* water would take roughly 40 BTUs to reach room temperature. In that cooler, that would take an additional 10 hours!
Now that the Engineering carrot has been lowered, we wait for the Elusive Cowperus Correctus to take the bait and see if my back of the napkin figuring is correct.
The fact that you would even attempt to solve such a complex thermodynamic problem with simple math, made up numbers, poorly defined controls and success criteria, and linear assumptions suggests to me that you are either on drugs, or destined for a future career in the engineering arts. Since I have good reasons to believe you are not on drugs, I refer you to our earlier conversations: Find a way to go back to school!

With a little more training, you could argue about it like these guys, fearlessly declaring the answer that you consider to be most correct, while at the same time recognizing that with both the variables and the success criteria not yet defined, the answer could quite easily be the exact opposite of whatever you just said.

http://eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=193500" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And yet, out of that discussion, something approaching a practical engineering answer emerged, when one poster realized that perhaps the best way to solve the problem was to obtain two ice chests, some ice, and a large quantity of cheap beer to be removed from the coolers in a semi-controlled fashion until the beer remaining in one cooler becomes too warm to drink. I’m pretty sure that is how it would be done at any respectable engineering school.

Re: Yeti coolers: worth the $ or hype?

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 10:46 am
by Tim Eubanks
And yet, out of that discussion, something approaching a practical engineering answer emerged, when one poster realized that perhaps the best way to solve the problem was to obtain two ice chests, some ice, and a large quantity of cheap beer to be removed from the coolers in a semi-controlled fashion until the beer remaining in one cooler becomes too warm to drink. I’m pretty sure that is how it would be done at any respectable engineering school.[/quote]

What if you trained 6 chimps to drink beer at a similar rate to that of an average rafting trip by your average rafter. Put 3 chimps in 2 room with one cooler per room, same amount of beer and ice. This way, no humans are harmed and the chimps have a good time. Have a remote thermometer in each. Monitor until temp reaches the "too warm for consumption" point.

Re: Yeti coolers: worth the $ or hype?

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 10:59 am
by Deuce
I've heard it said that if one were to lock a chimp in a room with a typewriter and an unlimited supply of paper he'd eventually type Macbeth in its entirety. I propose that we equip said beer drinking chimps with a typewriter (provided we can find one) and attempt to at once definitively dispose, with one result or the other, of both theories more or less simultaneously. Tim, can Central afford the beer, typewriter, ribbon and paper?

Re: Yeti coolers: worth the $ or hype?

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 12:53 pm
by Tim Eubanks
We'd have to bring it up for a vote, but being the progressive and knowledge-driven group that we are, can't see it getting voted down.

Wonder why the Coleman Xtreme doesn't have a more secure latch. ??

Re: Yeti coolers: worth the $ or hype?

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 4:39 pm
by Shark Attack
Volunteering for "Chimp Duty" here :beer2: I bought my Yeti for the durability issue & have found it to be a fantastic ice chest. In the summertime I haul a 5th wheel RV around the state & the bed of the truck gets super hot & there must be some wild wind issues going on back there. The Yeti has the only lid won't blow off. With the Igloo's & Coleman's after a day on the road, the ice is just about gone. With the Yeti, the ice lasts a couple of days. The only problem with the Yeti is the weight, my wife hates carrying that thing to the boat for me. :hammer2:

Re: Yeti coolers: worth the $ or hype?

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:20 pm
by Richard
At summer camp I took a 22lb laundry soap bucket (0¢) and gradually filled it with water and froze it till it was all ice. Did this in a -2º freezer. I let it freeze in layers to keep it from breaking the bucket during freezing. Also in the freezer was my 70qt ice chest, purchased several years ago at Big Lots. I placed the bucket with lid in the ice chest and put the items that needed to stay cold in the ice chest just before we headed to the Buffalo. The ice chest was covered by an old silver/blue space blanket. Scouts got into the ice chest way too often.
We did four trips of 50 miles each from Rush to near Calico Rock. 50 miles over five days. Left Monday morning and returned Friday afternoon. Once, there was still ice in the bucket. Always the things inside the ice chest were still cold. Melted ice water was contain In the bucket so the rest of the ice chest remained dry.

My overall solution when I am solo canoe camping is to bring things that do not require ice. No Yeti needed. No bother with ice or ice chest. No need to spend $$$ on keeping something cold. Drinking warm water is not a problem for me.
Also there are many things we think need to be kept cold that do just fine without refrigeration. Just keep them out of direct sun. Yogurt, margarine, pickles and mayo do not need refrigeration. Yes Mayo. Apples do fine as well. I stop at Serenity Farms and get their sourdough bread. It keeps very well. You don't need to worry about it getting smashed either.

Re: Yeti coolers: worth the $ or hype?

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 10:02 pm
by J P
Tim Eubanks wrote:We'd have to bring it up for a vote, but being the progressive and knowledge-driven group that we are, can't see it getting voted down.

Wonder why the Coleman Xtreme doesn't have a more secure latch. ??
FWIW, I found that this works quite well on my Coleman Xtreme cooler that lacks a secure latch:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007A2ZSZ8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Yeti coolers: worth the $ or hype?

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 10:04 pm
by okieboater
Dang it Richard!

Quit being reasonable!

Rafters and wanna be rafters will spend days discussing which cooler is best or if draining is better than not draining.

Next thing we know, some one will ask if glass oars are better than wood oars or which oar lock is better or worse if Aire is better than Maravia or SOTAR or Hyside and some brave soul will toss in Star.

Time to go to bed for me.

Dave

:confused:

Re: Yeti coolers: worth the $ or hype?

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 10:21 pm
by fryingsquirrel
Wow, that water vs. no water idea sure has opened a can of worms. I second the vote on a real world study. Any volunteers?
Jon Ellwood
Little Rock

P.S. Anyone know of a good and affordable engineering school?

Re: Yeti coolers: worth the $ or hype?

Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 2:28 am
by 737driver
Theses special made igloos from West Marine are what I keep outfitted in my 70' Hatteras (just kidding). I saw these this week while browsing West Marine in Ft. Myers and they looked like near Yeti quality and had heavy duty latches.
http://m.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... F_10393767" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Yeti coolers: worth the $ or hype?

Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 9:00 pm
by Shark Attack
Jon, my first degree came from Arkansas Tech. I highly recommend that school for any Engineering degree :thumbup:

Re: Yeti coolers: worth the $ or hype?

Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 9:15 pm
by gannon311
Look up engel coolers. Suppose to be better than yeti

Re: Yeti coolers: worth the $ or hype?

Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 9:22 pm
by sig
Tim,

We just had a come to Jesus meeting at our house about coolers because all we own are 10 year old cheap-o Wallyworld specials. We decided that we aren't heavy duty cooler users... we tend to take them somewhere a few times a year and carefully transport them in the truck and then let them sit in the shade until we leave.

So while the construction on the Yeti (and similar) coolers is top notch, we decided to go with the Coleman 58-Quart Ultimate Extreme Marine Cooler http://tinyurl.com/kzlxqxj. Stainless hinges, a spring to keep the lid from hyper-extending (and from slamming shut unexpectedly), and two inches of insulation.

The marine version is more UV resistant, has anti-bacterial properties, and seemed to be rated higher than the regular versions. We filled the cupholders on the lid with foam and taped over them... no need for thin spots in the insulation. We got some tips from Tom Burroughs on how to load the cooler and we used way less ice on our recent 9 day trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park than expected. I believe we only bought two 8-lb bags while we were out there but I'll have to look at my notes.

I can bring one to the meeting for you to look at if desired.

I was happy with them on our trip. I may buy the larger size to have on hand too.
panicman wrote:On draining the water I don't agree. I have read some experiments where your ice will last much longer if you do drain the water each day.
All the rafters we talked to told us to drain. All the literature from Yeti (http://www.yeticoolers.com/owners-manual)and Coleman (http://www.coleman.com/coolercare/) said to not drain. We drained... peer pressure I guess!