Built in cooler

[GiMLit]

Hey guys
Looking at putting in a built in cooler under one of the seats in the bow. #1 for functionality and #2 because I am admittadly anal about tidyness/oragnization. I think of the idea of a cooler in the boat everytime we go out and wonder how I could make it have it's own space/place without looking like heck or being in the way.

I have the top lifted up still and figured if I was going to do this now was the time.

Looking for suggestions. I have seen a few older boats with liners under the bow seats and some of them made into a cooler. I want to use the space wisely. I want it to be like your average size cooler. 3 kids, 3 friends, wife and I. We will surely use it.

Thinking of using styrofoam or maybe that foil backed insulation? as my shell and glassing the inside and use spray foam around it for additional insulation.
Not sure how I am going to drain it yet, would have been great had I thought of this prior to laying the floor and glassing it in. I could have easily run a drain hose to the bilge area.
Any pics or ideas would be appreciated. I attached a few of the inside.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Built in cooler

I was thinking of adding a cooler on my 78 thunder craft tri hull ski boat myself. I can get to the space under the seat from the driver's console or the passenger's console on this boat. Can you do the same on your boat? It looks to be opened.

The problem I face with my boat because it's sloped in that area (by the way it's going to be a later project boat) is that the hull in that area starts to narrow down so I don't have a flat area to just slide an every day cooler in and fiberglass . Do you have the same problem?

My thoughts are to get an old used cooler or even a new one, something that you think will fit under the bow cap. If you have the ability to slide it under the driver's console or passenger's console even if you half to modify it cut the top of the cooler at an angle to be able to put it in the area your talking about, then fiberglass it in from there. Add a bilge pump to the newly added cooler to drain it then run a hose or pipe to a desired pump out point on the hull. You could leave it to were the cooler is removable and take it out to drain it also. Or like you mentioned adding sides to the compartment and fiberglassing it in would work, the insulation technique I'm not to sure of though. Hopefully I explained it well enough lol, just quote me on whatever you may have a question on.

 

[Zetman]

Re: Built in cooler

I would use a bilge pump to empty your cooler..no need to drain to the bilge

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Built in cooler

I don't see any aft seating there? Mine has built in cooler under the seat beside the engine cover. Do you have enough room in that area it's close to the bilge for a drain.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Built in cooler

A cooler doesn't contain very much water, in comparison to the capacity of your bilge pump. The water is also clean and fresh. Just let it drain into the cockpit. The bilge pump will pump it out in due course.

If you can find 1/2 - 3/4" urethane foam you can use poly resin to build the cooler. If not, you can use styrofoam, and epoxy resin. use some cloth/resin to seal the seams and figure out how to make a tight fitting cover.

 

[EJ3]

Re: Built in cooler

I am not sure how much room you have under the seats on the sides of the front, but...

What if you made a cut-out on the vertical sections under the side seats, or even hinged a panel to cover it, and equiped the empty space with a sliding platform, like a drawer, that you could put a standard cooler on. This would alow people to stay seated while accessing the cooler and be able to take it out for cleaning/maintanance. You would also be able to do it on both sides. Just a thought!!!

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Built in cooler

You could find some kind of plastic pan or metal pan or square bucket however deep you want it get one that has a lip around it or put some kind of lip there around the top were you can lift the seat up and place it in the hole the lip would not allow it to fall through, you would want a heavy plastic one nothing to flimsy. Then this would allow you to lift up the seat and remove the cooler.

 

[Lone Duck]

Re: Built in cooler

How cool do you want it? My front deck is 10" above the water line. I was thinking of using 2" styrofoam to build walls and lid under the floor(deck) and expanded metal in the bottom to drain it. the bilgepump would take care of thawed liquid after that. The bottom would be below the water line so your cooler would be close to the temp of the water would it not? Thats my theory . what do you guys think?

 

[salty87]

Re: Built in cooler

several inboard manufacturers make the open bow area what they call a playpen. the upholstered seating area extends even with the dash, no walkway to the frontmost seat. you have to scoot on your knees or butt, but it gives you considerably more seating & storage area in an open bow. makes another good spot for lounging when you've arrived wherever you wanted to go too since you're not limited to one side of the bow anymore...you can sprawl.

my built-in ice chest is under that extra seat cushion, that way the capn can keep an eye on provisions.

the bilge is also right under it for easy draining, just seal the whole you drill before you install drainage tube.

one last thing to add...i still carry an ice chest onboard for most trips. its already packed, i don't have to transfer everything from it to the boat ice chest. it's already cold too. sometimes a friend might have a better stocked ice chest. carrying trash off is easier in the ice chest it came in....all that said, you might consider just making a dedicated spot for an ice chest. easy on, easy off...out of the way, things stay cooler in the sun...use the area as storage when you're not taking the ice chest...

 

[GiMLit]

Re: Built in cooler

Many good points and suggestions.
salty87 you make a number of good points.

Loading and unloading are things I had thought of.
Using the storage space for a cooler rather than storage of other items had me questioning it also. (many things laying around making me mad or 1 consolidated item)
There is more space than I would ever use for a cooler under each side so I would be wasting usable space. In the Bow there is space for a smaller cooler but it would be a PIA shape. I will work something out. At this point I am going to look at things again when I go out to work on things next week and see what I think. I suspect I may just leave it and if I decide I really want to do it I will go for it at a later date. Remembering that I have never even had a chance to sit in this boat on the water. The closest I got was sitting in it while it was raining out.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Built in cooler

My old Welcraft had an in floor cooler, it was nothing more than a drop in fiberglass box which they insulated with spray foam and put a drain hole in the bottom to let the water drain into the bilge.

I would cut and make the box out of rigid foam panels, then form a liner out of fiberglass. A drain into the bilge should be fine. I did have an older trihull that had two cooler/bait wells up front on each side in lieu of seats, they both drained out through the hull since the bottoms were above the water line.

 

[wire2]

Re: Built in cooler

If you end up using the space under the bow seats, take some measurements and cut templates from cardboard.
Tape the bottom and 3 (or 4) sides together for 3D mockup, then fit 3/4 or 1" styro in it and a layer of fibreglass inside it.
Let the cloth extend out over the edges and it will sit on the existing storage area lip.

It will look an odd shape out of the boat but will utilize the available space very effectively. The seat cushion will provide some insulation for the top.

Genuine Styrofoam has a much higher R value than the cheap white stuff, pink is better than blue. You can glue/seal pieces of it with PL Premium adhesive.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: Built in cooler

I have a built-in cooler in my boat that I'm going to take out. Since it's built-in it's hard to get clean, even though it is convenient to have it automatically drain overboard.

I was given one of those coleman coolers with the built-in peltier chiller that runs on 12 volts, so I'm going to mount that in deck brackets and use that instead. It'll fit under a bench seat I'm planning. No drainage required.