Best Ice Cooler Fit for 26M?

[FAAbaddog]

All,

Anybody have an exact fit ice cooler recommendation for the 26M cooler area?

Seems most of the ones I have seen are not wide or long enough to fit snuggly in that cooler gap.

Thanks!

BADDOG

[Québec 1]

I no longer use the cooler spot to keepn my cooler...to hard to get at. I either keep it bungeed to the back of the companionway ladder or to one of the stern rail seats. Very accessible when behind the ladder as you just lift the lid through the stairs and you can easily see whats in it. In the rear berth there is less light and its less easily accessible. Plus then there is room for beautiful women to sit just like in the 26M promotional video
Q1

[NiceAft]

BADDOG,

What year do you have. Q1 has a 2004 M and quite possibly has a different area for an ice chest.

It's not important for the chest to have a tight fit. Get the largest you can. Nice Aft is wrapped for the winter, but if I can, I will see what I have.

Ray

[parrothead]

Since we started keeping Blue Heaven in a slip, our rear berths have been permanently set up for sleeping, with a pair of twin mattress toppers & fitted sheets. Since the cooler is the heaviest single thing we take on board [excluding ourselves] I feel that it should be stored as low and as close to centerline as possible. We keep ours on the floor under the dinette, butted up to the daggerboard trunk. When we sit at the dinette for a meal, I move the cooler onto the port side seat ahead of the galley, so it somewhat balances our weight sitting to starboard. At bedtime, it goes back on the floor under the dinette.

[mdeane]

We have made a place for our cooler forward of the galley.

Marc

[Kittiwake]

We owned a Mac 26X some years back, and as I recall it came with a cooler under the starboard seat just in front of the stern berth. Our 26M did not come with a preordained cooler site; so we bravely innovated and purchased 2 smaller coolers - 20" x 13" x 14"high ... one in red and one in blue.

The colour coding can be very useful ... if you can manage to remember which objects you put in which colour (unfortunately we often have to toss a coin).

Two small coolers are much easier to manipulate than one great big sucker. And when your ice gets low after a few days in the wild, you can combine it with what's left of the real perishables in one cooler.

We keep them more or less behind the companionway steps (as does Q1) ... since the stern berth is one of our storage areas. Works very well. They slide relatively easily on the stock rear berth cushions when you grab one to drag it about; yet don't seem to slide with boat motion. I never liked the underseat location for coolers: I always found it very frustrating to have to prop up a seat cushion, and hold the locker cover in my teeth, while lifting the cooler lid with one hand and rifling through its contents with the other, every time the first mate calls for a cold drink or sandwhich makings.

Kittiwake

[FAAbaddog]

BADDOG,

What year do you have. Q1 has a 2004 M and quite possibly has a different area for an ice chest.

It's not important for the chest to have a tight fit. Get the largest you can. Nice Aft is wrapped for the winter, but if I can, I will see what I have.

Ray

NICEAFT,

We have a 2011 26M

Thanks!

BADDOG

[NiceAft]

We have an 05 M and unless MacGregor has changed the location, there should be a cut out in the aft berth starboard cushion. This is where the chest goes. The chest we have is a Coleman Xtreme, seventy quart capacity, or 98 cans.


http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m302 ... torage.jpg

We have heeled Nice Aft over forty degrees, and we have yet to topple the chest.

Here is what I found on line.

Coleman 6270A763 70Qt Marine Cooler

The Coleman 70-Quart Xtreme Marine Cooler was specially designed for boating and fishing trips. It holds 98 cans, and keeps its contents cold for a full five days. The Marine Cooler sports a white exterior with UVGuard sun protection to impede yellowing and cracking from prolonged sun exposure. It features a rustproof, leak-resistant drain for convenient no-tilt emptying and cleaning. Four convenient cupholders are built into the lid, to hold your beverage at the ready. Exterior measures 30.75-Inch x 15.75-Inch x 17.625-Inch. « less

Ray

[Kittiwake]

Aha, so that's what that little cushion cutout is for Ray!
Yes it still exists in the 2010 26M. But it is right where I like to be able to quickly climb through into the aft berth area to get at the steering mechanism and thru-hull if necessary (I leave at home the removable seat-back that would obstruct such access).
Best,
Kittiwake

[Russ]

We have made a place for our cooler forward of the galley.

Marc

That's exactly where we keep our 12v Edgstar fridge. Next to the galley is very convenient and nobody ever stat there.

That looks really nice. What is it made of and how do you secure it to the boat?

[mdeane]

The frame is made of 3/4" oak. It's held down with a couple of aluminum L brackets.

Marc

[Russ]

The frame is made of 3/4" oak. It's held down with a couple of aluminum L brackets.

Marc

Wow. That's so simple and elegant. When you are healed, does the cooler ever tilt out? My edgestar is pretty heavy and I would hate for it to tip over. I have it sort of tied down, but I like you solution much better.
I really like the way that looks. I think I'm going to make that same mod.

And your floorboards look fantastic. Did you glue them down? Our stupid factory carpet is getting old and I never liked it. I'm thinking of doing the wood floors. Easier to keep up.

[Oskar 26M]

Having tried and disliked the factory location for the cooler, we now have a similar set-up to Marc's, but not so elegantly executed.
Our Coleman is held in place by a pair of bungee loops around its handles from eye bolts on the locker surface. Our 52 litre Waeco fridge takes up the rest of the space forward of the Coleman (where Marc has his microwave). The cooler fits snugly between the galley and the Waeco and the combination greatly extends the galley's working surface.
A three burner propane camping stove sits nicely on top of the Coleman for cooking and is stowed in the gap between the Coleman and the cabin wall when not in use.

[Catigale]

Thread drift alert

I've gone full circle and gone back to using the stock tub and an upgraded cooler on my
I like the way the tub contains any condensation and or spillage

The kids are trained to dive in quickly and retrieve what they need... We get 5 days out of it on the Cape with crew of 6-7.

[mdeane]

The frame is made of 3/4" oak. It's held down with a couple of aluminum L brackets.

Marc

Wow. That's so simple and elegant. When you are healed, does the cooler ever tilt out? My edgestar is pretty heavy and I would hate for it to tip over. I have it sort of tied down, but I like you solution much better.
I really like the way that looks. I think I'm going to make that same mod.

And your floorboards look fantastic. Did you glue them down? Our stupid factory carpet is getting old and I never liked it. I'm thinking of doing the wood floors. Easier to keep up.

The frame is 5 3/4" high and is made for the cooler to fit snugly so it will stay put when healing; the Admirals limit is 25 degs. We did the bungee tie down thing for a while. This arrangement provides some organization to the space on the side and behind the cooler as well. I should mention we have access to the storage under the cooler and microwave through an access door below the galley, added in an earlier mod. We have five plastic bins lined up in the storage space with a pull cord attached to the bin closest to the bow. As you remove a bin, a pull on the cord brings the stack of bins back within reach.

The floor is inexpensive manufactured flooring. It's cut to fit the space and is not glued down. It has been in the boat for a couple of seasons and holding up ok. I'm thinking about replacing it with real wood flooring.


Marc