good esky?

Hi there, Evakool are probably good but most of those ice type boxes have plastic hinges holding the lid on and are pop riveted on.. I checked out most of the ice boxes and ended up buying a Tropical brand, ice box. Its the ugly orange unit but it has a huge integral hinged lid.. I use it for weekends and BBQ's etc and saves lugging the 90 litre fridge for minor uses, I love it and it is well insulated. The only thing i hate about it is the colour, if only they made it in White, it would reflect the sun and heat and would be more efficient.. I bought a 55 litre unit, that and all sizes bigger that that are well insulated, Michael

Did you forget you asked this question already?

Look at ThreadID: 63737
Posted: 23 Nov 08 15:23

my 5c is get any esky with decent insulation and a tight fitting lid. Then the big difference will be in your ice.

If I buy ice from a bottle shop or supermarket it lasts in my evakool barely 24hrs on our SEQ coast trips.

If I freeze my own ice in largish ice cubes (largest I could buy at a kitchen shop) and freeze them for at least a few days, well on my last trip to Fraser 3 weeks ago I put the ice in on Friday morning with chilled beer on top, that went into the back of the non-air-conditioned dual cab. On fraser it stayed under a table and was in sun for a fair bit of each day. We returned after 2 nights, so on the morning of the 4th day I tipped out a 2L ice cream container size of ice chunks with the water.

The esky I reckon was 50% of that success rate, 50% is I reckon down to the quality of the ice (and bought ice is, incidentally, hollow).

No i don't remember the name of the brand but was the best of what I could buy at the time, had to actually put screws in the lid hinge cause one gave way. Very thick, dark blue, one bung each side. Cost on special was about $69 for a 40L job.

I have an Engel and a waeco and recently bought a Tropicool ice box for low power consumption situations.

It is far far better than I expected... keeps frozen milk containers frozen for longer than I would have believed. Worth considering.

JohnN

No matter which brand you buy, check the lid. Many "esky" type coolers do not have an insulated lid, just a hollow plastic lid and only the sides and base are insulated. These heat much quicker than fully insulated boxes. Some brands have cheaper models with non insulated lids and dearer models with insulated lids. But price isn't always a guide to this.

Hi Cookie11 - not sure what's going on here - I see you posted the same question yesterday in Post ID 63737 and have received replies.

Thanks so much for the replies everyone - yes I did post yesterday but it is my first time using the forum and I coudn't find it again - thought I did something wrong so reposted - sorry!!

EVAKOOL

I've got an old E65 Evakool esky and it is just brilliant. (I also have a 40L Waeco fridge/freezer). This is the best cooler I've ever used. (had a Tropical and sold it). All I do is freeze a 10L bottle of water for at least a month which makes the ice really solid. This will last for many days in the Evakool and then I try and find a freezer after 5 day to refreeze it. Many van parks have this facility.

I'm touring Tassie at Xmas for 5 weeks. I'll vac pack my own food. This will be all I'll need to keep my food cold and I'm using a variety of accommodation. I considered taking my Waeco but couldn't see the point as I'll not be doing the driving distances in Tas to keep the Waeco or its AGM battery going.

Check your local trade & exchange paper or the internet for a second hand Evakool esky. You won't be disappointed.

Check Ebay under Camping. I paid $60 delivered for a 40L job
identical to ones selling for over $200 in the shops. Ice lasted 5
days (Crushed). Sellers name is "ubelievablycool".....oldbaz.

Evakool suggests at least one third volume of ice . This is correct . If i put 9 x 3ltr frozen milk containers of water , then the ice will last a week over christmas .

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320320569818

Hi there Cookie, We bought a Techni Ice 50 litre esky off eBay new for under $100 to back up our 40 litre Engel for a 2 month trip in the Kimberley and Pilbara June/July this year, we got a white one, it was brilliant, for an Esky, it would hold ice for 4 days easily, very happy with it and would recommend to others. Cheers Cookie, Happy trails.

I got the 70 litre Techni Ice off ebay delivered for $111. Reason for this particular size was for fishing as it has an internal length of 750mm which is great for the longer fish such as mackerel and cobia etc.

While looking there were other bargains to be had on other sizes but I had my heart set on that particular one.... still heaps cheaper than a store bought one and the build quality is great for the money.

For me I wouldn't spend the cash on any of the others unless someone can give me a damned good reason.