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Any difference in performance with the color of cooler?

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#41 ·
Skitterbug said:
Thank you for taking the time for the explanation Mattoak. Everyone can agree that in theory white would be cooler, but reality can be different from the expected. But hey some are great at posting videos and star trek pics.

The rivers I'm on are too windy for biminis or umbrellas, covered with a pad, which ironically is blue in cooler!
Click to expand...
What kind of wind are we talking about here? I ran my bimini on the dreaded Snake lake in some pretty serious headwind, and it shed the wind really well, no real noticeable difference with it up compared to down. Sidewinds have a small tendency to catch a little, but the worst that will happen is you'll spin if you have your oars out of the water.
 
Discussion starter · #42 ·
Paul7 said:
I think it's a fair question and it makes me ponder why anyone would be bothered. I mean if the question annoys you then can't you just skip over it?? I see lots of stuff on here that I'm not interested in and I don't bother myself with such things. These coolers cost more than the last refrigerator I bought so I don't blame anyone asking.

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Click to expand...
Agreed. Thanks!
 
Discussion starter · #43 ·
seantana said:
What kind of wind are we talking about here? I ran my bimini on the dreaded Snake lake in some pretty serious headwind, and it shed the wind really well, no real noticeable difference with it up compared to down. Sidewinds have a small tendency to catch a little, but the worst that will happen is you'll spin if you have your oars out of the water.
Click to expand...
Having to row backwards downstream, if you stop, you get blown upstream!
 
Discussion starter · #45 ·
Schutzie said:
Back in the day ................. way back ..............like before "pure" ice and debates about draining VS not draining ..........
we used Gott coolers. We had white, and we had Dark red, and we had Dark blue.

We'd pack 5 day trips, pack the food two days before launch, and with notable exceptions always had ice at the end of the trip. Or, at least cold beer.

It didn't much matter the color of the cooler. What mattered was packing the thing properly, sealing it tight, and not ever, ever opening it until you were ready to use what was inside. One cooler a day for the food;
1st day dinner, 2nd day breakfast, and 2nd day lunch went in the first cooler. 2nd day dinner, 3rd day breakfast and 3rd day lunch in the second cooler. And so on.
When we hit camp on day one, out came dinner to defrost. The lunch cooler was repacked with 2nd day lunch. 2nd day breakfast stayed in the cooler with whatever ice was left. In the morning we'd empty out breakfast and if we had ice left over it went into (my) beer cooler.
The uninformed were welcome to keep their damn hands off of the food coolers. Uninformed who even looked at a food cooler were given strict instructions to get the fuck away. We'd pull knives to enforce the point.

It worked.

As I said, color was (is) irrelevant.
What mattered was the packing.

Tan VS white? It was me, I'd go for the cheaper one.
Same price?
Just pick one.
Just goddamn pick one.
Click to expand...
Hahahaha, thanks for the info! I've thought about multi-coolers, but to utilize space and have a seat for the family, I decided to go with one large one. I've already pick one! Will be ordering shortly, thanks!
 
#47 ·
Skitterbug said:
Geezus, more money to spend! Lol

Do you have a link? I don't recall seeing them for rafts.
Click to expand...
Riverboat Works sell the River Sombrero, which is supposedly designed with rafts in mind. A little spendy for my tastes, though: http://riverboatworks.com/river-sombreros/

I went with this one from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L7NROG2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

Added some slide tracks: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AY6XZ?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

And built sideboards to mount it. Nice and sturdy, ran every rapid with it (wasn't really worried about flipping), and rowed into the wind for 20 miles with no complaints. Definitely saved my ultra-pale ass from the sun, and I was still chipping ice for cocktails on day 6.
 
#52 ·
Schutzie said:
Back in the day ................. way back ..............like before "pure" ice and debates about draining VS not draining ..........
we used Gott coolers. We had white, and we had Dark red, and we had Dark blue.

We'd pack 5 day trips, pack the food two days before launch, and with notable exceptions always had ice at the end of the trip. Or, at least cold beer.

It didn't much matter the color of the cooler. What mattered was packing the thing properly, sealing it tight, and not ever, ever opening it until you were ready to use what was inside. One cooler a day for the food;
1st day dinner, 2nd day breakfast, and 2nd day lunch went in the first cooler. 2nd day dinner, 3rd day breakfast and 3rd day lunch in the second cooler. And so on.
When we hit camp on day one, out came dinner to defrost. The lunch cooler was repacked with 2nd day lunch. 2nd day breakfast stayed in the cooler with whatever ice was left. In the morning we'd empty out breakfast and if we had ice left over it went into (my) beer cooler.
The uninformed were welcome to keep their damn hands off of the food coolers. Uninformed who even looked at a food cooler were given strict instructions to get the fuck away. We'd pull knives to enforce the point.

It worked.

As I said, color was (is) irrelevant.
What mattered was the packing.

Tan VS white? It was me, I'd go for the cheaper one.
Same price?
Just pick one.
Just goddamn pick one.
Click to expand...

Brilliant!
Keep asking questions. Haters gonna hate.


Sent from my iPhone using Mountain Buzz
 
#58 ·
#59 ·
Solar Gain

wayne23 said:
I have always wondered why they made coolers in any color other than white,it's a cooler why attract heat?


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Click to expand...
The perfect color is a mirror. The least perfect color is black with a dull matte. The sun has a finite amount of energy at the contact surface...depending on several variables. You choose to accept or reflect it.
Back to the cooler though. Have one of these gents make you a big aluminum or stainless box. Line that box, lid, and floor with 5" of dense polystyrene, glass the inside to hold water. Your box will be twice as efficient as the aforementioned Engals cooler. The net effect is your ice burden is cut in half. Your money went to a us fabricator in lieu of melting off as water.
 
#60 ·
I have 2 white Engel coolers and my friend has 2 tan ones, all 4 are identical. But you can never see how the performance differs because we use them differently.

We pack them differently, open them with different frequency and carry different stuff.

Ultimately you should use a cooler cover most of the time, open it as little as possible and pack it wisely. Any decent cooler will get you more days than you will actually go for, if treated right.

I've used old igloos with cracked lids and duct taped pligs on the lower salmon at 110 degrees and by being a cooler NAZI 3/4 had ice at the end of 5 days. the one that failed had a guy throwing hot beer in it all the time.

New coolers give you slightly more margin of error for possible food illness, but all that advantage is blown by a drunk throwing 12 150 degree beers in when nobody is watching.
 
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