Ice chest magic

[MVZ944T]

I thought I would share this with all of you as it has worked so well. When we go to the races I usually stock up with some block ice for the cool suit. Especially in the summer it does not last all that long. Last year I took a normal fairly large ice chest and lined it with 3/4" styrofoam that is used in wall insulation and is available at most hardware stores. I made a bottom, top, and the four sides so they fit tight but can be removed.

Especially if you cool the chest first with a block or bag of ice first is it amazing how long they will last, especially if it is fairly full. At WSIR in the summer, if I can keep the ice chest in the understorage of the motorhome, the ice will last from Friday through the weekend. In the summer.

This past weekend, not knowing what the weather would do, I packed up eight 1/2 gallon plastic milk bottles that were well frozen. I put them in the ice chest on Thursday morning after cooling it for about 1 hour with a small ziplock bag full of ice.

I just unloaded it this evening (Monday), and would you beleive that all the blocks were still 80-90% frozen and even the small bag of ice still was partially frozen. Granted it was cool but I did open the ice chest on a couple of occassions just to check it out.

Give it a try if you use a cool suit.

[Tim Comeau]

Mike,
So you just placed a second wall of styrofoam inside the cooler? That's it?
I sure would be nice to have plenty of cool suit ice at the end of the day to make drinks!

[MVZ944T]

Tim,

Yes, I just lined the inside of the cooler with 3/4 styrofoam, the type used for wall insulation. You can also get it in 1" which would work better yet. Works best if the cooler has pretty square corners. I just made a bottom, 4 sides that are a tight fit and made the sides low enough that I could place a top section on it also. Works really good! If you cool if first with a bag or block of ice before placing your cool suit ice in the chest it works even better.

Mike