Yeti cooler vs 12v

So as some of you know I recently switched companies. I went from years in Cascadia to a Mack. Now, that took some changes and the one thing I quickly realized was that my cooler set up wasn't going to work. The Mack is just not as big. For years I have run two coolers. A Koolatron P20 and a P25. The 20 is the skinny white one and the 25 is the boxier one with the fans on top. They sell both at truckstops so I know all of you guys have seen them. I keep the 20 up front so I can access drinks or cold snacks while driving. The 25 worked as more of a storage.
Well the room limitations meant I had to make some changes, space was at a premium. I decided to drop the 25 and replace it with a Yeti hopper. The hopper is a soft sided cooler. I have the bigger one, can't remember the model number... 30 something I think.

The Yeti, like all of their products is built like a tank, excellent quality. It is a large capacity cooler that doesn't take up too much room. But I know what you really want to know, how long does it hold ice? Well, the max for me has been 3 days. That is sitting in my sleeper with the A/C on virtually all the time. Now the water will still be cold after 3 days but that only last a short while.

So how's life on the road with it? Not too well I'm afraid. First off, like all ice coolers you have to add ice. The soft sided coolers do not have a drain plug. This means that I have to manhandle the thing from the sleeper to the outside. Unzip it a bit and pour the water out while keeping all of my food and remaining ice in. Then I have to add the ice which is tough because the cooler doesn't open very wide. Now, since this is going in my sleeper it won't touch the ground so I do this all while supporting it. It has a nice shoulder strap and that helps.

Also, adding ice means I have to fish around in it to find things. Once the ice starts to melt it is easier to find stuff but it makes everything wet...obviously. This means that any paper based packaging becomes suspect. And that 3 days is the MAX that I've had. Usually it's two days for a 10 pound bag. Adding more ice means longer intervals but adds weight, reduces capacity and makes it very difficult to find stuff.

I own many Yeti coolers and they are amazing, the hard ones anyway. The soft sided cooler is just not working well for me. I think I am going to buy another 25 and set that up in the sleeper. It's just that Yeti's are not cheap and I feel like I need to make this work because I have no other use for it. Anyway, that is my, rather unnecessarily long review.

 

That is a good idea, I'll try it.

 

I had never heard of those. You have peeked my interest.