Best place for cooler in 26X

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ysayin
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Best place for cooler in 26X

Post by ysayin »

I was reading the discussion for cooler about 26X, and decided to post this topic.
May be I drink and eat too much but, It is a struggle openning and closing the cooler in 26X. For that reason I put my cooler on the left side of the battery, behind the stairs. Up to now I am happy with it since I also have a large storage under the seat where the cooler was before :wink:

Does anyone have any oppinion or a better location for the cooler :?:
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ALX357
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Post by ALX357 »

thats a good location, aft of the battery seat, or on top of it, with the cushion removed and use straps to hold it down. I hinged the cover of the settee aft seat, (the standard cooler location) so i could lift it easily and get to the storage cooler I have which fits into the insert. That way, i can get to drinks quickly and often in the "cube" cooler by the galley, and have a larger and removable cooler with handles, for keeping food and liquids cool for longer periods of time where we don't need to open it as often.
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Dullboy
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Post by Dullboy »

What works for us is to have an Extreme cooler in the aft dining seat cooler bin, and an IceCube cooler under the table for drinks.

What makes the larger cooler convenient is that we moved the plastic hinges from the back to the side. Now opening the cooler doesn't require so much manhandling of the cushion and cover.

Dave
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ysayin
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Post by ysayin »

Thanks for your replies and ideas, but in any case if the cooler stays under the seat and if you are eating inside the one sitting on the cooler has to stand up each time you need something from the cooler.
Imagine sitting on your refrigerator at home:)

I will test under the table option but I feel that filling the cooler will be a bit problem.
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Dullboy
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Post by Dullboy »

That's certainly one of the interesting parts of owning this boat (or any other I imagine) is what mods make sense for your own style and desires.

Our requirements are certainly different from a lot of the owners on this board. We sail in lakes only (so far), meaning relatively calm water. Only my two kids sit at the table. My wife and I prefer eating in the cockpit. We are usually out between 1-3 days max.

If (when) I decide to go out in the tidal waters, I would think having things a bit more secure would be important to me.

As others say, YMMV.
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Beam's Reach
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Post by Beam's Reach »

We use a 12V Koolatron strapped on the battery compartment. We put a Rubbermade bin in the cooler liner under the dinette seat and use that for drygoods and snacks. It' easy to remove and take home to repack. Another small cooler sits on the floor in front of the head door for drinks. It's easy to get to and we rarely use the head while underway.

This arrangement has worked well for us for weekend trips. The Koolatron is smaller than most coolers, but we save room by not needing ice other than a couple of small zip lock bags of cubes for drinks. We are a little concerned about it's power usage for longer trips and are thinking about a 4-5day cooler instead.
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Post by Moe »

For frequently accessed items, i.e. drinks, we use a 50 quart Igloo Ice Cube Cooler tied down on the aft galley seat with straps and hooks into 4 eyestraps mounted on the seat. As advertised, it holds 75 cans, with little to no room for ice, in 3 layers of a 5 x 5 array. You can remove the center 3 x 3 and fit four 1/2 gallon milk jugs, but they have to be frozen carefully, with no bulging or squeezing out of shape. Here are 25 cans and the four jugs. A total of 32 will fit around the milk jugs, which stick up about 1" above two layers of cans.

Image

As you can see from the cooler wall thickness in the picture, this isn't a 5-day cooler. Even with the top layer filled with frozen milk jugs or frozen bottles of water or Gatorade, even 4 days is pushing it, as is 3 days with cube ice.

For infrequently accessed items, i.e. food and milk, we use a 36 Quart Coleman Extreme 5-day cooler in the factory cooler tub under the dinette seat. This will almost exactly fit 10 frozen 1/2 gallon milk jugs, but as above, they have to be frozen carefully with no bulging or squeezing out of shape. We've managed to go for 5 days and still have ice in the jugs by using 7 jugs of frozen potable water, 1 jug of unfrozen milk, leaving two jugs' space for food, much of that frozen (i.e. the meat and one out of two cartons of EggBeaters). We didn't do as well with cube ice.

I believe it was Greg who said the 60 Quart Igloo Ultra Cooler will fit on the aft galley seat. I note that although they use the "Ultra" name they used to use on their 5-day coolers (before they renamed them MaxCold and painted them blue), Igloo does not designate this cooler as a 5-day on their website for it, nor do they note it has insulation in the lid, just the body, like the 50 quart cube. I'd also want to make sure it left room for tiedowns.

The "cube" coolers also don't have latches, so I've bought some to keep ours closed in case we get knocked down on the starboard side.
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Post by Catigale »

We put the drink cooler under the table on our :macx:

On 5 day trips, we keep a second cooler for food which goes aft of the battery seat

At night, we move them both up into the cockpit to make room for kids in aft berth.

First thing in the morning, we use them for cooking breakfast up top, so its a sensible move.
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Post by ronacarme »

1. Removed Macgregor tub from rear dinette seat cavity and replaced it with a 5 day, 50 (?) qt cooler. Removed cooler lid hinges. Cooler rests on the ballast tube and with lid on slides aft snugly under the aft ledge of the seat molding which immobilizes the cooler and holds the lid closed. Mac seat plank closely clears cooler top and supports cushion as before.
Removing cushion and plank and then sliding cooler forward of the aft seat ledge enables removal of cooler cover and access to cooler interior (or removal of cooler from cabin).
2. Small snack/drinks, between meals cooler seats on floor, snugly against aft face of vberth, between front dinette seat and port settee, and at night helps support cushion which extends aft the port side of the vberth.
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ysayin
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Post by ysayin »

Thanks for the posts, all are great ideas.
But I still believe that under the dinette seat is not a practical way:(
For two reasons
1-That is a very good storage place which is missing in X. Just take out the cooler and try putting other things there. You'll see it is a huge area.
2-Openning and closing is not easy

Penguen/Istanbul
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craiglaforce
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Post by craiglaforce »

Mr. Penguin.
I do the same as you. I have removed and disposed of the cooler liner and use this large area for storage. It is an ideal spot for storage of large havy items, since it is very low, secure on all sides and easy to access. Spare anchor and rode, batteries, rocker stoppers, water tank, bilge pump, all can be put down there very handily.

My cooler also sits on the aft port bunk behind the battery. No problems.
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Post by Moe »

You use the dinette seat for storage and put a cooler in the aft berth, or you can put a cooler over a water bladder in the dinette seat and store things in the aft berth. Six of one, half dozen of the other.

We find the cooler under the dinette seat to be ideal. It's easy for us to access by breaking free the velcro under the aft port side of the cushion and sliding the cushion and bilge cover together forward and down under the table. Like so many others here, I moved the lid hinges to the end by the starboard bulkhead.

Barb gets out whatever she needs for preparing a meal in one quick opening, and puts it back before we eat. She has the table top and galley right next to the cooler for food coming out or going back in. We don't make trips to the refrigerator after sitting down to eat at home, and that doesn't happen on the boat either, so sitting on it isn't an issue for us. YMMV.
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ALX357
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Post by ALX357 »

....what's that about half of one and six dozen of the other ?
:arrow: 71.5 is alot of difference, depending on what it is you are measuring. :wink:

as for the stock X cooler pan, i use a rectangular cooler that fits into it almost perfectly, is able to be opened without being removed or relocating the hinges, and can be lifted out readily for filling or draining.
I did put hinges on the access cover, the stock plywood potato-chip version which has been replaced with 3/8 " plexiglass, the hinges being along the aft edge at the head's wall. Like moe, i slide the cushion forward under the table, lift the access cover, and then lift the cooler lid to get to stuff in there, which is not a continual process but only once each meal. WIth that storage being kept cool and not opened constantly, i have a cube cooler which is kept either on the battery-seat (cushion removed and used against the hull for a backrest on the aft dinette seat) and if sailing that cube cooler can be strapped down, with the plastic battery-type hold-downs i installed, or just behind that box-seat on the aft berth floor. This cube cooler is the go-to cooler for drinks and stuff in its upper tray, being readily accessible at all times.
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Duane Dunn, Allegro
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Post by Duane Dunn, Allegro »

We carry two coolers, a 50 qt 5 day igloo under the aft dinnete seat. It fit's great with the liner removed. I built a small platform to keep it in place. This is our food cooler. We also have a cube cooler that sits on the seat aft of the galley above the batteries. It straps down with those quick release straps West Marine sells. This is the easy access drink cooler.

Before we bought the cube we kept a second 5 day 50 qt under the table, but this got to be in the way. With our current system we never have to re-arrange anything when going from sleeping, to eating, to just living in the boat. Everything has it's place any we move nothing around. This is the number one goal of all the storage solutions we use.

You can see pictures here

http://www.ddunn.org/ModsGalley.htm

The cooler pictures are down near the bottom.
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ALX357
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Post by ALX357 »

i like that method too, not having to re-arrange everything all the time.
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