$6.06 for Ice - You've got to be kidding

Status
Not open for further replies.
We will be way up the San Juan (paiute) for 7 days and will not want to go to DR. Besides fuel, ice is the determining factor for us to stay 7 days. The fuel is easy, we will be on a houseboat so can easily carry extra fuel. I am going to have a 165 qt. igloo magnacold cooler that will have the bottom and sides encased in 2" styrofoam with the top covered in a flexible reflective insulation. All on the outside of the cooler so as to not loose space inside. Fill it with block ice and maybe 4 lbs. of dry ice and that will be our ice "bank" that will not be opened until around the 3rd day. Don't really know how this will work but it looks good on paper. I know it's gonna weigh a ton when full but hopefully will be worth the effort. Will have to drain it occasionally.
 
birdsnest said:
We will be way up the San Juan (paiute) for 7 days and will not want to go to DR. Besides fuel, ice is the determining factor for us to stay 7 days. The fuel is easy, we will be on a houseboat so can easily carry extra fuel. I am going to have a 165 qt. igloo magnacold cooler that will have the bottom and sides encased in 2" styrofoam with the top covered in a flexible reflective insulation. All on the outside of the cooler so as to not loose space inside. Fill it with block ice and maybe 4 lbs. of dry ice and that will be our ice "bank" that will not be opened until around the 3rd day. Don't really know how this will work but it looks good on paper. I know it's gonna weigh a ton when full but hopefully will be worth the effort. Will have to drain it occasionally.
Click to expand...

In September we lined the insides (including top & bottom) of 5 - 100 Qt Igloo coolers with reflectix, each could hold about 12 blocks, of the not so solid blocks, of ice from Aramark. No dry ice. We probably had about 10% loss to melting at day 3 (first day I opened) by day 5-6, I had 1/2 block left in each bag, and by day 7-8 I had 1/4 block or less left of each bag. We did try to drain daily after day 3. We go through about 4 blocks a day loading up various speedboats and chilling beverages on the HB. I bought 65 blocks on our first day at Powell and headed to the SJ. I think I bought 2 more blocks our last day to pack leftovers and car coolers for the 2 vehicles headed home.

Day 1 is the killer, taking empty coolers to the marina, loading them from the ice storage at the marina for the ride back to the buoy field. Then unloading the ice, so we can carry the coolers to the front deck, and walking the blocks to the front deck and reloading the ice. But 8 full days on the SJ, with no ice run is a pretty good deal.
 
Offended? Nope. Defensive...yes haha. This is only a semi-hijack, and is pretty useful info for the original poster so I'll keep it going!

The way @Zman worded the reply, was like Canyon Coolers stacked the deck by providing a specific cooler. The sizing varies, throughout their whole lineup. I can't really say why, but I know there is a TON of thought put into production, and uses in the field. I know the owners, they use their own stuff, and there are no cost cutting techniques involved in thicknesses.

To further expand on that theory.....I have a coworker that has a Grizzly 20 quart cooler he uses for a lunchbox. That sucker is almost 4 inches thick! It has the metal carrying handle style, much like the Yeti's. It is SO thick, it actually whacks his knee when he carries it. Overkill? Definitely! My Canyon 22 quart holds more, and retains ice for days. I put frozen anchovies in a coffee can (trick learned from Wayne ) with a hunk of dry ice, and I have frozen bait for a 5 day trip.
Here's a picture of 75 quart on left, 55 quart on right, 22 quart on top of Canyon Coolers. All have various thickness, and in my personal uses, none perform any better than my others. Money I've spent on these, I have saved back over, and over by NOT burning fuel, to go buy overpriced ice at marinas :cool:
 
PowellBride said:
In September we lined the insides (including top & bottom) of 5 - 100 Qt Igloo coolers with reflectix, each could hold about 12 blocks, of the not so solid blocks, of ice from Aramark. No dry ice. We probably had about 10% loss to melting at day 3 (first day I opened) by day 5-6, I had 1/2 block left in each bag, and by day 7-8 I had 1/4 block or less left of each bag. We did try to drain daily after day 3. We go through about 4 blocks a day loading up various speedboats and chilling beverages on the HB. I bought 65 blocks on our first day at Powell and headed to the SJ. I think I bought 2 more blocks our last day to pack leftovers and car coolers for the 2 vehicles headed home.

Day 1 is the killer, taking empty coolers to the marina, loading them from the ice storage at the marina for the ride back to the buoy field. Then unloading the ice, so we can carry the coolers to the front deck, and walking the blocks to the front deck and reloading the ice. But 8 full days on the SJ, with no ice run is a pretty good deal.
Click to expand...
OMG does that meand $360 for ice? Yikes. I keep seeing references to the ice being different from different sources,some not as good. I never got a grasp on what is different...help?
 
birdsnest said:
OMG does that meand $360 for ice? Yikes. I keep seeing references to the ice being different from different sources,some not as good. I never got a grasp on what is different...help?
Click to expand...

Makes that $400 cooler more attractive don't it.
The cooler the ice is stored in at the vendor is the big difference. If its stored at 28* vs 10* you are buying "warm ice". Dangling Rope is the worst, that stuff is melting when you pick it up at the store. Does not help that they put it down a 100* slide during peak season.
 
Mass produced ice, often has oxygen injected into it, to freeze faster. The same thing happens on the thaw....

Walmart carries ice that is oxygen injected. I can't recall the exact brand, but that ice melts a LOT faster. I get mine at a local gas station here in Flagstaff, that ice lasts my whole trips :cool:
 
The ice we get at Hole in the Rock is about 5" thick and 8" to 10" wide, and about that high. It's almost clear as compared to ice with air injected (as Lake Bum says) or what looks like compressed cubes or crushed chunks with air space between. Sure, it weighs ten lbs. but when it melts it turns into chunks instead of still being a (smaller) chunk of solid ice.

GregC
 
Lake Bum said:
Mass produced ice, often has oxygen injected into it, to freeze faster. The same thing happens on the thaw....

Walmart carries ice that is oxygen injected. I can't recall the exact brand, but that ice melts a LOT faster. I get mine at a local gas station here in Flagstaff, that ice lasts my whole trips :cool:
Click to expand...

How do you know if its oxygen injected? I been icing at home and topping off at Maverik in Page.
 
Zman said:
How do you know if its oxygen injected? I been icing at home and topping off at Maverik in Page.
Click to expand...

I don't think there's every anything posted on it to know for sure. The company used to be called "Page Ice" but I'm not sure anymore. Reddy Ice is another one that isn't very good.

Trial and error, and others reccomendations is probably a better technique than anything else.
 
I have recently went to Orion coolers. Yes, they are not cheap....in all ways. Been very happy. As I said in another post, I tried to work with Rtic but their customer service was unbelievably bad and I could not get an order placed, so I tried the Orion. My formula for long term is pretty simple. All block(pure ice as mentioned), 10-12 lbs of dry ice on top, and I don’t open it till day four or so. During the day I wet a piece of canvas and keep it over the whole cooler and keep it in the shade. I wet the canvas whenever I can. Whole blocks come out even when it is over a hundred. To be fair I think a Coleman would probably have about the same results or thereabouts if taken care of like that, I just seem to beat them up and they don’t last, so I have a Yeti and an Orion which are bomproof.

TR
 
Dungee Fishing said:
Many differences but the biggest single difference in the upper end coolers is the lids, the thickness of foam in the lid and how the lids seal. Big difference.
Click to expand...
Agreed. When I used Coleman’s I would duct tape around the seal a number of times to keep warm air out. Then duct tape around the cooler to keep it from opening. Then take 1 inch webbing and replace the crappy hinges with it. No need for any of that with the more expensive brands.
 
birdsnest said:
OMG does that meand $360 for ice? Yikes. I keep seeing references to the ice being different from different sources,some not as good. I never got a grasp on what is different...help?
Click to expand...
Yep, our ice budget is $300 - $350 a trip. The freezer, solar panels, inverter and batteries are starting to look like a good investment. Our opinion, humble though it may be, is that the blocks from Aramark are not solid. Whether there is air in the ice or the storage freezers at the marinas don’t keep them solid.....if you put a block from Hanksvillve in 5he same cooler with a block from Bullfrog, we feel like the Hanksville block, even having been in the cooler 2 hours longer.

I bet Endurance can give us the technical specs
 
I just recently purchased a new Otter Box cooler. I can't wait to give it a shot and see how it does.Will give it a run in July
 
I don't think I've seen this mentioned but what we do is freeze as many water bottles as we can and use them for a good portion of our cooler ice. They don't let off water, so there's no water to drain out of the cooler and you can eventually drink them. They're straight water so we freeze them hard in our freezer before the trip.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TR.
DeepVee said:
I don't think I've seen this mentioned but what we do is freeze as many water bottles as we can and use them for a good portion of our cooler ice. They don't let off water, so there's no water to drain out of the cooler and you can eventually drink them. They're straight water so we freeze them hard in our freezer before the trip.
Click to expand...

We do the same. In the "old days" we would have to drain some of the water out before freezing or they would rupture. The new super-thin material bottles allow freezing without any draining and so far no ruptures.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TR.
I stay at Defiance House, put on dry clothes at night, eat in the restaurant, buy fuel on land, and fill coolers with so much hotel ice that some even spills out. I'm sure I overpay somehow.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top