Carrying a cooler? If so, what?
 

I know a lot of people get by without cold food, and I've considered going that route, but there are a couple of things that I'd just like to have in my food supplies that require refridgeration. I've tried a couple of things:
I used a bear cannister, and I cut up a sleeping pad and a space blanket to make an insulated area in the bottom half. That worked okay except that by having all the other food and kitchen items on top, getting to it during the day to refresh the ice was a pain, and the ice couldn't just be tossed in or the water would leak on to everything else in the cannister. Also the cannister itself was bulky and unneccessary given that I don't often camp in bear territory. I thought it would be multi-functional: cannister, cooler, stool. But since I don't need a cannister usually, and most campsites have a table or bench, then it's really just an awkward, bulky cooler.
Last little trip I tried a soft-sided cooler. As the ice melted, it was soaked up by the cooler, which doesn't seem like a good idea, and it didn't do that great of a job to begin with.
The other thing I've used is a small Igloo cooler. Does the job, but it's old with some of the insultation bulging a bit, a little bulky, and I feel like there might be better options. I'm ready to replace it, and before I go out and buy the same thing again, I wonder if anyone has anything they like better.

Pan-E-R's well thats how we say it .lol

Don't carry a cooler.
Buy at the nearest grocery/convenience store.

My left front pannier. I have fabricated a similar setup for my new (4-years old) panniers. This was made with a Wal-Mart sleeping pad, Swiss Army knife, and a roll of duct tape in Cody Wyoming on a very, very hot day! We were tired of eating slimy cheese.
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...nashbar3-2.jpg

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...nashbar2-3.jpg

The pannier on the right side of the picture has the same kind of liner. A bottle filled with ice keeps things cool, and provides cold water at the end of the day.
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...IMG_5105-2.jpg

Nice. Right now I'm down to two panniers with my sleeping gear up top on the rear rack. I'm thinking a small cooler could go on the front platform, but I'm also thinking of going back to four panniers. Then one could be the cooler pannier. I've actually seen a manufactures cooler pannier. Might have to dig that link up, but I have no idea how well it keeps things cool. Also thinking a small cooler could go in a grocery bag pannier. So many options.

Here it is:
http://www.stonecoldoutdoor.com/index.php
I think I like yous better, looks roomier. Stone Cold might actually be a reasonable size, but shape looks awkward to me.

I have not carried a cooler on bike tours, but I have carried frozen food when I traveled. I wrapped it in a thin sheet of flexible packing foam, I think that the foam is about an eighth of an inch thick and when wrapped with several layers is quite well insulated. And when wrapped, put that in a ziplock to limit convective losses. Worked quite well. But I would not depend on that to work for days, only for hours.

I have not gotten a package in the mail with that packing foam for several years, I am hoarding the remaining bit that I have for travel purposes.

Only the front and rear rack and the wire basket are attached (bolted) to my Windsor. The wire basket is a perfect fit with a soft side cooler the type with a removable thin plastic tub (water tight) I have placed frozen items in the bottom with ice and then I have a piece of foam I use as a divider then things I wish to keep cool on the top. For overnight or day trips this works fine or if commuting packing your lunch. Works with or without the panniers or in my case bins. The wire basket alone isn’t that heavy and is great to attach stuff to with bungees. I pack the tub up in the house and can keep it in the fridge till I’m ready to go. On a long tour I don’t know if I would want to mess with ice but then again if you stop to get supplies and they have an ice machine it will keep your frozen thing good and cold for a few hours till you get to camp and then you can use the ice and water as a cold drink.


http://inlinethumb61.webshots.com/36...600x600Q85.jpg

Here is another set up I have used on my day trip bike with a clamp on rack.


http://inlinethumb51.webshots.com/47...600x600Q85.jpg




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I like that top set up for local events/picnics. I looked at a similar cooler at REI, and thought it was nice, but maybe too big for a touring load. Size seems to be an issue. Most of the coolers I've looked at seem to be measured in cans, with 6 cans being the smallest, which is close to what I need, but I'd like to have just a little more flexibility, but it seems like the next size up is usually twice as big. Too big isn't just a problem due to extra weight and bulk, but in the amount of ice I need to keep it cool. With decent insulation and a small enough cooler, I feel like one large cup of ice a day at a soda fountain should do the trick. But too big, and it's going to be harder to keep cold.

The more I look at it, the more I like that Stone Cold pannier. I read some reviews that show the capacity as being a little higher than what I had originally thought, and probably just about right for me. So the question is how well it insulates. It looks more like a lunch/day cooler than something that was designed to keep stuff cold overnight, so I don't know.

Right now, other than Stone Cold, top of my list is Polar Bear Coolers, because they seem to have a great reputation for maintaining cold temps over time, but the 6 can version has some reviews saying it doesn't do as good a job as the larger ones, and that it really can't hold six cans of anything, so the 12 can cooler may be the way to go, but it looks rather large, although a good amount of that space seems to be insulation, which might be a good thing.

The walls on mine are about 1 inch thick at the most. It was just a cheap cooler though. The solid plastic ones were way too heavy. That’s why I went with the quilted side type with the inner tub. The first thing I do when I see one is give it the weight test. I then took an x-acto knife and took off everything not needed all the buckles and straps and pouches. And you are right it’s the larger one and the other on the clamp on rack is the 6 can. If I wanted to do it right and I still might I would cut some one inch thick close cell foam and build an inner box like the other poster made to fill the bottom half of the space in the tub and covered with a foam divider lid. That would reduce the space inside and add little weight and less ice would last much longer. Putting the ice in a zip lock bag would also make it better and keep the water clean. Really if you are going to have spare water on board why not start with ice?

Now that I’m thinking about it with making better foam liner on tour there would be no need for the plastic tub. I use it as a convenience more for commuting and keeping the ice water from leaking away.

Either way for about 10 bucks you can experiment.

Yeah, the last two coolers I tried, my bear cannister cooler and soft-sided cooler, had the "disadvantage" of not allowing me to just drop ice in. But i decided that their real disadvantage was that I didn't have a container that easily held the ice and allowed me to reclaim the water. For overnight trips, it works fine to freeze a water bottle, but the first time I tried that on a longer trip, I didn't think about getting more ice into the water bottle after my first supply of ice had melted. It became clear that I hadn't thought it through when I tried to replenish my ice supply and found the opening too narrow to get the cubes in. My hope now is to find something that will hold my wide-mouth nalgene bottle and still leave room for the actual food. Refilling that with ice should be easy, and yesterday's ice can be tomorrows hydration, or, if I'm worried about the cleanliness of the ice, I can boil it to warm up one of my heat-and-eat meals.

For an ice bag, I'd suggest using a DromLite.

I like the idea of a flexible bag. Seems like it'd be more versatile than a bottle when fitting it in around your other cooler items, as long as it had a wide enough mouth to pour some ice in.

I thought I've seen something like that before! It's an oval shape, has just enough room to put 2 12 oz. cans and a little ice.
I used to use mine when I played golf. There is also a larger size that holds a bit more; I think either one would fit into a front
pannier fairly easily. It really depends on how much you want to keep cool, and for how long... it's a good idea if you want to carry
a few eggs, some cheese or other perishable that's hard to buy in smaller quantities when on the road.

With my trailer I'm going to try a small soft sided 6 pack cooler the next time out just as a test; I like the fact that when you're not
using it it will collapse into a small package.

I just use one of these insulated grocery totes. Buy some frozen veggies and use them as the "Ice" to keep the rest cool. folds flat.
http://www.amazon.com/Giant-Hot-Cold.../dp/B003LIQJVW

Thanks for this thread. I was just thinking about how to carry a cooler. Using a trailer i have more room than some others might have, so looking at options.

Ice replenishment for those in fairly populated areas is as simple as stopping by your local fast food restaurant. Most have self serve drink counters with clean ice that will melt into clean drinkable water. I do this when hiking, using clean plastic self storage bags or sandwich bags.

Most rack trunks are foam lined. I'll dump some ice or frozen water bottles in there for day trips. I generally do not use a rack trunk on anything longer than a day trip though.

Yes, a bottle of ice water will stay cold for a while in my Topeak bag, but not likely overnight unless I added some insulation and the day wasn't too hot to begin with. Plus it's heavy for the amount that it holds. Perfect for my commute or a day trip, but I tend to leave it home if I'm traveling overnight.