Coleman stainless cooler

[Box Rocket]

Alright, well I'll post up some feedback in my own thread. My wife suprised me with one of these steel belted Coleman coolers last week as part of our anniversary. I have the 54 qt version. This weekend was my first trip to try out my homemade trailer and the night before we left I added a little rack for the cooler to the tongue of the trailer.

Overall the cooler is ok. I had it full of soda and water and everything stayed nice and cold. I used 3 bags of cubed ice in it and there was still a lot of ice left after 24 hrs of frequent opening/closing. The case of the cooler seems quite durable and it is well insulated.

My complaints are that the lid did not close tightly. I was worried that it would not seal and ice would melt quickly and not keep things cold very long. In spite of the lid not closing tightly it worked just fine. Additionally, the latch is weak at best. So those that have commented about that already are correct. This cooler would be outstanding if it had a better latch. I wanted to test it so even after crossing several cattle guards at ~60 mph which caused the trailer to catch air a few times, and several miles of washboard roads over the weekend the latch stayed closed even though it's weak. I just don't know how long it will continue to do that.

If anyone has found a way to modify the latch on this cooler I'd be interested to see/hear what you did.

 

[86cj]

Hey Adam,
I have one now at the advice of my shop mates Damon and Scott who have both been using them for years and swear by them. They seem to be absolutely worth their weight. If concerned by costs the plastic Coleman "Extreme" 7 day coolers have also worked well and held frozen blocks 7 days in as well, if it helps, and they are less than half as much... They both work so well with frozen bottles that I have no plans of ever investing in a fridge personally...

I have had a stainless Coleman since around 2000 and love it. I have to buy gas long before I run out of ice, 3 or 4 days is common. This cooler is used side by side with many different coolers for almost five days in August and only the Extreme coolers do better and only slightly. It has a thin skin that will dent but mine still looks OK. My cooler latch is easy to force open if you forget to open it, Yea it is weak but I have never relied on it to keep my Sustenance secure and use a 1" nylon pull strap. I just have not felt the need for a fridge yet but may someday.

 

[OverlandZJ]

I have one as well as all my buds i camp with. Dont know why but it seems my Green one holds ice better than the stainless ones in the group.

After seeing this thread earlier i was surfing Craigslist, came across this. Sent my son to pick it up, it was in original box and dated 12/82. Although not as stout as the later Steel Belteds it'll allow me to keep food in one and beverages in this.

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/hsh/1187633640.html

 

[bj70_guy]

I believe the lame latch is a child safety measure. I wish it were better too.
I'm still happy with mine, I bought it when they first came out with the snazzy stainless model. I always use blocks instead of cubes.
One of these days I'll get a fridge, but for now this will do nicely.

 

[Mike S]

I bought one when they were first re-introduced - perhaps siz or seven years ago. It has held up well - much better than plastic coolers - and is still inservice. A bit dented and banged up, but holds ice pretty well.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Just a general question about making coolers better to use. I'm still currently suffering with the "cooler soup syndrome". Fill it with ice, which melts, and you end up with everything floating around in the water. I don't like draining it, because you end up dumping a whole bunch of 0°C water, which could be helping keep things cooler.

I guess putting water in bottles is one solution, but doesn't work if you need to buy more ice while on a trip.

Has anybody put a rack on the bottom of the cooler, that will leave a space underneath? Put the ice on the bottom, put the food on top of the rack.

 

[IggyB]

Put the ice cubes in wide mouth bottles, like Nalgene or large mouth juice containers. That will keep it contained and give you cold drinking water.

 

[evldave]

I've had 3 of the stainless + a green one (I got the stainless on clearance for $60!). I'm down to 1 stainless and the green one (gave the other two away as gifts). I've had the latch issue for both and fixed it to work just fine.

On the bottom of the lid handle, you can unscrew the female? part of the latch, then bend in the side things so it grips the turn thingy better, then screw it back into the lid handle. Not sure how to explain this better, but once I did that, it gripped tight, and has never come loose since then (a couple years ago). I imagine you might have to redo this over time, but I've been ok w/it.

And as for keeping things cold, over memorial day weekend, we used 1 cooler for beer, with just ice, and another for food, w/dry ice covered by regular ice. After 3 days of sitting in the hot sun, the regular ice had melted about 1/2way (lots of open/close for beer ). The other had zero water in it, and the 3 dry ice chunks hadn't evaporated much. When we got home, I set out the dry ice cooler, open, in the sun and it still took a day and a half to melt out. As long as you cover the dry ice w/regular ice, it works really good at keeping things cold (and if a refrigerator is too spendy, this is a good way for extended trips for keeping things cold).

 

[ntsqd]

IME water should not be drained out except to make room for more ice. Aside from the whole Latent Heat of Liquification thing, it provides "suspension" for everything in the cooler that could otherwise get detrimentally shaken up (like beer, sodas, & eggs).

Just plan on there being an ice-water slurry in the cooler from the beginning and package things accordingly. At a minimum, things like doubled Ziplocks for the cheese & similar.

Burying the dry ice under a bunch of regular ice is something I need to try. Sounds like an excellent idea!

 

[THATSALEXUS?]

I have 3 chests that I use regularly depending on my requirements at the time. This is one of them (the smallest). It's a nice chest but my 70 qt. extreme does keep the ice longer, noticeably so. Overall, I recommend it but if you have the room for the 70 qt. extreme, it's a better cooler IMO.

To avoid soggy food I keep everything I want to keep dry in the gigantic, rectangular snap lock containers. I start out with just enough ice under the containers to keep their tops flush with the top of the ice.

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

We were looking at my new cooler versus the old. They are still aren't perfect but the hingles and handles have been improved. I hope it helps, Andre

 

[Box Rocket]

Good thought everyone. Overall this seems to be a pretty darn good cooler. I'm happy with mine. Just need to work on that latch.

 

[FettsWay]

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...exId=cat604411

marked down, in case anyone is interested.

 

[bj70_guy]

Check out the Cabelas Steel Belted Cooler - it sure looks just like the Coleman.... for $69.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...ct&cmCat=Related_IPL_514723&id=0070443519033a

 

[cruisertoy]

The best thing you can do when packing your cooler for a multi day trip is to start with a cold cooler. It's like a car using most of it's gas to get moving, it doesn't take near as much to keep it moving. I usually have extra ice bottle that I keep in the cofin freezer so I toss them in for 3-4 hours prior to loading the cooler with food and the ice I am taking on my trip. Also make sure your food is already cold. Nothing melts the ice like a bunch of warm or hot soda cans. Freeze stuff that can be frozen if your not going to use it for a few days as well. The Dry ice thing works, but you want to make sure you protect both your food and your cooler from direct contact with it. Wrap it in a towel or something.