Eskies

I own 2 Coleman eskys but I have seen with my own eyes the Willow to out perform my Coleman by days.

As for the ruggedness of them both I'd say I don't have a clue. If I wanted something good for the back of a ute I'd buy a Willow and wrap it somehow in House Batts. That'd keep it intact and cold.

iMusty

A mate of mine owns/runs a prawn farm and he uses only the UV stableised (sp?) plastic ice boxes to store his product when it's not suitable to freeze it or frieght it straight away. He has big 1000L ones which are a sky blue colour, they are out in the north qld sun and hold ice for days. He also uses 200-400L Tropical Ice Boxes (I don't think the brand is a big deal, that's just what he's able to get) again in the UV stableised plastic, these ones are orange colour. Again they're out in the sun and do the job well.

I've got a small 60L one and I've found it out performs the normal "Esky" or Willow type by a long shot. Mine's yellow and doesn't appear to attract heat at all. I think durability of the two types would be comparable.

Shop around for the best prices. Lots of places stock these now. Obviously the camping and fishing shops but I've also seen them at Supercheap and Repco. And there's a guy on ebay who auctions them pretty regularly, from memory.

matt

Athol

I agree the Evakool are a tad more efficient than the Tropicals, but if it's going in the back of a ute as you say, then there is only one answer ... Tropical.

I've had one for a while now and I'm quite happy with it, thought about an Evakool but went Troppo ... ;-)) , purely for the robustness of the unit.

Cheers

I have a bright blue Willow which really doesn't keep that cold, especially since a lot of the ice that you buy in bags nowadays has holes in it so it melts quicker.

Has anyone injected their esky with Polyurethane foam as suggested in Post 19885? I am considering doing this but am wondering if there are any disadvantages.

erekka

Recently bought an eva cool (blue plastic)for a trip (4days). The night before I left I dropped a bag of ice into it and let it sit with the lid closed. Just prior to leaving took the bag of ice out and loaded it with the goodies along with frozen plastic coke bottles. The bottles were still about 75% frozen when we got back home. I also made up a cover for it out the windscreen sun protectors (Super Cheap) shiny side out which sat over the ice box at camp.

I reckon would have got another 2-3 days out of the ice. The travelling did scuff the exterior of the ice box a fair bit so I reckon I'll use the cover when travelling as well, or be a bit more careful when packing the gear in the car.

Ren

Two replies in one here
First to erekka, go to your local hardware and you can buy pressure cans of expanding foam that set in a day then you can trim with a knife. A $7 can will contain enough foam to fill about 20 litres.Beware don't squirt much in a hole or inside a panel 'cause over the next 10 mins or so it will keep oozing out and expanding.

Athol, we went on a 5 day houseboat with a group back in the summer and the boat had two BIG eskies out front ( about 1200x500x500). One was evacool and other was made from coolroom 3"insulation panels. In the bottom of each we put 4 blocks of ice,then drinks then more loose ice. On day three the ice in the coolroom stuff had to be topped up from the evacool, and after the 5 days the 4 blocks in the evacool were still useable so we left them there for the next people. If I'm ever going to buy another eski, it will be Evacool. Rus.

Just bought 2 X 105L Tropical Ice Boxes (CampMart but available elsewhere). Tough as and cheap enough to double up for other purposes.

I'll use them in the boat as well for seat/icebox and seat/storage. The orange colour makes them useful survival floats at sea.

I like EvaKool products and their blue ones look nicer but I don't think the lighter colour would make much difference to performance and I was after durability in rough use.

Thanks for all the responses, I think I'll get a soft plastic type as I said brand dosn't matter , just have to find a lighter coloured one.

Thanks, Athol