Tips for Keeping Your Cooler Colder Longer!

Using these tips will help keep your critical items chilly:

• ALWAYS Pre-cool your cooler, preferably for 12 to 24 hours in advance.
• Always pre-cool your contents if possible.
• Always try to keep your cooler out of the direct sun light.
• Latch the cooler's lid shut promptly after opening. Do not overfill - it may damage the hinges of your cooler.
• Cover or Line your cooler with foil backed bubble wrap - the bubble wrap creates an extra insulation barrier within the cooler.
• Quickly take out what you need and seal it up right away. Less use means longer ice retention.
• Find high quality sculpture quality ice, usually the clearer the better
• Make sure you pack the cooler tight and as full as possible. Layering the ice will also increase the cold temperatures. 
• When your trips are more than one or two days, use larger blocks of ice instead of ice cubes - blocks of ice last longer and keep contents colder. 
• You may use dry ice directly in most of our coolers - dry ice requires special care and handling but will keep your food dry and your cooler contents cold the longest.
• Talk to your butcher, game processor or favorite restaurant about using their walk-in freezer prior to packing it. Freeze thin layers of ice and incorporate vacuum sealed food into the layers if possible. 
• Pack items in your cooler in chronological order based on when you plan to use the items, pack all items used first last.
• Keep a few plastic bottles of frozen water handy - the frozen water will act as ice and will keep the other items in the cooler colder. Nice for short or long trips.
• On short trips or when cooling warm items do not drain the water from the cooler - the cold ice melted transfers coldness to your fish, beverages and other items quicker. Cold is the name of the game. It don't have to be ice!
• On Longer trips drain the cooler of water to preserve your ice integrity. Covering your contents inside the larger coolers with a wet cloth will also help extend the coolness. 
• We have had people report back to us that their coolers have kept ice for 3 weeks or longer.

Important: Please do not overfill your cooler. The lid on several models goes down inside the cooler a bit when closed. Please take that into account or you can break any hinge.