Home made Fish Box Cooler?

[Gringo Pescador]

My sled has a drainable in deck fish box. I would like to be able to use it and not need to take a fish cooler with me every time I am out (the more room the better). But ice doesn't last it the fish box nearly as long as I would need it to. I'd like to figure out a way to insulate it, basically make it a cooler.
In ordert to keep it from getting funky (smell), it would have to non pourus and be either removable or smooth & rinsable (easy to clean). I am a pretty handy guy, so am planning to make something on my own.

Has anybody ever done this? Any suggestions on a direction or materials?

[Steelheadin360]

my dad took a new plastic food grade container that allowed about 2" of room all around it, cut 2" foam to fit around it and set it inside of his, he even hooked it up to the drain, works slick and holds ice well.

What we use to do was freeze several 1 gallon jugs of water and let them float around in there with the fish, keeps it cold but not cold enough for me. I like to have fish-cicles

[Gringo Pescador]

my dad took a new plastic food grade container that allowed about 2" of room all around it, cut 2" foam to fit around it and set it inside of his, he even hooked it up to the drain, works slick and holds ice well.

What we use to do was freeze several 1 gallon jugs of water and let them float around in there with the fish, keeps it cold but not cold enough for me. I like to have fish-cicles

Hmm, somehting to start with - thanks! I need to take internal measurements to get an idea of the space I have to know what can fit in it. Do the re-usable (re-freezable) jugs as well because I am cheap and hate buying ice over and over again.

I'm with you - the sooner they are on ice and the colder you can keep em - the better!

[BentRod]

Gringo,
What's the accessability to the outside of the box? i.e. Could you add sheets of styrofoam to the outside of the box to increase insulation as well as to the lid? I know a little extra insulation can go a long ways. I don't buy ice either. I fill and freeze empty milk jugs and usually just throw a couple in the cooler to take along. It's not slush ice, but I've never been disappointed in how the meat seems to hold up. I bleed'em before I throw them in the cooler.
Additionally, how tight does the lid fit? A good seal (not the furry kind) will help too. Well, I guess the furry kind would help too as you wouldn't have to worry about keeping your fish cold after the seals get them.

[Gringo Pescador]

Gringo,
What's the accessability to the outside of the box? i.e. Could you add sheets of styrofoam to the outside of the box to increase insulation as well as to the lid? I know a little extra insulation can go a long ways. I don't buy ice either. I fill and freeze empty milk jugs and usually just throw a couple in the cooler to take along. It's not slush ice, but I've never been disappointed in how the meat seems to hold up. I bleed'em before I throw them in the cooler.
Additionally, how tight does the lid fit? A good seal (not the furry kind) will help too. Well, I guess the furry kind would help too as you wouldn't have to worry about keeping your fish cold after the seals get them.

It is in the front deck, gas tank and gear storage on three sides, the 4th side and bottom is the hull. Can't put anything on the top as it would get walked on. I did put a piece of 1/2" foiled insulation board in the lid (attached with double backed tape) already, I am sure it helps a little, but not much.

I have milk jugs I use sometimes but I mainly use my homemade ice bags. I sealed water in vacume sealer (seal-a-meal) bags and line the bottom & sides of my cooler with them, that way you aren't losing the width of the cooler space with the jugs. I've been using the same bags of ice for 2 years now. If you try it, just remember to allow for expansion when the water freezes or you will burst the bags the 1st time you freeze em. I also double bagged em just to be extra tough. The cool thing is you can make the bags any length you wish, so I made em the length of the inside of my cooler. Kinda like giant Otter Pops

[BentRod]

.... I sealed water in vacume sealer (seal-a-meal) bags and line the bottom & sides of my cooler with them, that way you aren't losing the width of the cooler space with the jugs. I've been using the same bags of ice for 2 years now. If you try it, just remember to allow for expansion when the water freezes or you will burst the bags the 1st time you freeze em. I also double bagged em just to be extra tough. The cool thing is you can make the bags any length you wish, so I made em the length of the inside of my cooler. Kinda like giant Otter Pops

That's a cool idea.

[Bodofish]

I just use mine to hold the anchor line. The sun on the diamond plate is too much to deal with. I never put a fish in there, I'm not really sure who thought it would be a good idea........

On another note you could always buy some ABS sheet and make your own. Very easy to work with and it glues, 100% with abs cement. If glues properly it will never come apart at a joint.

[Mike Carey]

Your boat is HUGE! I concur with the idea of using that space to store things and just going with a cooler on the bow area. Easy to take the cooler off the boat and remove the (many) fish all at once. My Seaswirl has a fish storage area under the floor with drain. I use it to store DR cans and sea anchor.

[G-Man]

Check out this link http://www.washingtonlakes.com/forum/vi ... nk#p144010 to a past forum post. I still have the pink foam board in my built in fishbox and though it may not look pretty, it doesn't stink. Just rinse it as best you can and leave the lid open to let it dry out. I have a plastic lid on my fishbox so I did not feel the need to insulate it. Metals, especially aluminum, conducts heat like mad so if your lid isn't plastic, you'll want to do something like what SkinneyRaven did. I did not glue my foam boards in place and they can be easily removed if need be.

[SoDakboy]

I just use mine to hold the anchor line. The sun on the diamond plate is too much to deal with. I never put a fish in there, I'm not really sure who thought it would be a good idea........

On another note you could always buy some ABS sheet and make your own. Very easy to work with and it glues, 100% with abs cement. If glues properly it will never come apart at a joint.

That's a good idea, line the fish box with the foam, and then build a liner out of abs. I would build a funnel into it for your drain so your foam doesn't soak up the water. To clean up all you would have to do is rinse it out with a hose.

Not knowing how big the lid is compared to the box, maybe you could make the liner with some handles so you could remove all the fish at once by lifting out the liner. Kinda like Mike's idea.

Mike don't you strap a cooler to your swim ladder, or whatever it's sitting on on the stern? Is that for fish or beverages?

I'm glad this site is around for someday when I upgrade boats and I need to think about these ideas.

[Gringo Pescador]

Ha! I forgot to update this post. What I ended up doing was going to Home Depot and looking at the foam board insulation. Each type had a water resistance rating on it and the pink board had the highest rating so I went with that. Then I measured my box to decide out much space I was willing to lose compared to how well it would insulate. I ended up going with 1.5" board (which has an R rating of 7.5). Now I already had some 1/2" foam board with the foil sheeting on 1 side leftover from another project, some of the 1" pink board from yet a all together different project and a roll of industrial strength double backed tape so I just had to buy a 2'X8' sheet of the 1.5" pink board (about $15) and I was set.

I cut out and stuck the 1/2" to the roof/lid
Cut out panels for all 4 sides, then pieced together the remainder of the 1.5" pink board and stuck it to the lid on top of the 1/2". I did it this way because I wanted to make sure I had whole pieces for the sides and bottom and since I was using the tape for the top I could just put it together like a jigsaw puzzle.
As it turned out I had just enough of the 1.5" for the sides and top but not the bottom, so I took the 1" and used it for the floor. I have enough of the 1" that I could have made two layers, but left it at 1 for the extra cooler depth (and as it turned out I think it is plenty).

The only part that is "permanent" is the top, all of the other pieces are held in by each other and easily removable to be hosed down if needed. I also cut a notch out so the drain hole is not blocked.

It is big enough I can get two frozen milk jugs and 4 bags of ice and still have room for plenty of fish. In my 1st outing I put the ice in at daybreak, fished all day in 80+ sunshine, then went home, pulled the milk jugs and the drain plug and still had 3/4 of my ice left. Out of curiosity I left the drain plug out, closed the top and let it sit in my driveway. I checked it the next evening after work (another 80+ day in full sun) and I still had about 2 cups of ice in it .

Now I can just pull the panels (30 seconds) hose em down, let em dry and put em back in. I do however leave the fish box lid cracked a little so it doesn't get stale in there and then open it up the night before to make sure it is cool by morning. But now the only cooler getting in my way is for food and drink!

[Steelheadin360]

perfect!

[Gringo Pescador]

Actually now that I think about it, When I got home I pulled the jugs and two bags of ice out (we had only opened up two bags out of the 4 for the fish we had). So that night and the 2nd day went from 2 bags to 2 cups - not 4 bags.

[racfish]

Nice looking work.What will you do with the seams at the bottom? will you leave as is or will you seal it up?

[Gringo Pescador]

Nice looking work.What will you do with the seams at the bottom? will you leave as is or will you seal it up?

Not planning to seal it. I will leave it as is. I want to be able to remove it as I don't want to seal up the seams and have fish blood seep into a missed spot somewhere (like between the drain hole and the foam) and spoil. As it is now I can pull it out and spray the panels and the fish box in about 2 minutes.

[Mike Carey]

nicely done!

[G-Man]

No need to seal the seams and I must admit that I don't pull out the panels to clean them off. Just a thorough rinse and leave the lid open to dry, I really like that it is self draining. I put in 24lbs of ice this morning at 6 AM and at 4 PM, when I got home, the fish and crab were still covered in plenty of ice.

[Gary Frost]

Good stuff here!! Gonna have to use this idea on my boat. Don't like using an ice chest. The sun is really hard on the plastics and I was always replacing parts. Last year I built a fishbox that is built into the swim step and insulating it is next on the list.

[Gwendylyn]

If you mix 2 parts water to 1 part rubbing alcohol, it doesn't freeze solid & remains pliable enough to squish it around & fit a little more in the cooler. Also works well for kiddos & bruised knees Double bagging definitely makes them last a lot longer

.... I sealed water in vacume sealer (seal-a-meal) bags and line the bottom & sides of my cooler with them, that way you aren't losing the width of the cooler space with the jugs. I've been using the same bags of ice for 2 years now. If you try it, just remember to allow for expansion when the water freezes or you will burst the bags the 1st time you freeze em. I also double bagged em just to be extra tough. The cool thing is you can make the bags any length you wish, so I made em the length of the inside of my cooler. Kinda like giant Otter Pops

That's a cool idea.