Cheap 150 qt coolers at Walmart
 

$80 for a 42" long cooler at selected Wal-marts. Probably 1/3 the price of West Marine.

walmart's the devil! good find though...

What Walmart??? The devil?
 

Sometimes you wonder what God was thinking?? Welcome to WalMart!

A while back, I needed a cooler on short notice and bought one(smaller than above) from Walmart, without looking at it real close. Ok so that was dumb; I was in a hurry. Anyway it was an Igloo, can't be too sorry. But wait, its from Walmart. Guess what? the top had no, as in zero, insulation, collapses when you sit on it. The plastic sides are so thin that it wants to collapse when you put any weight in it. Keeps ice a little better than a cardboard box, but not much. Total and complete crap.

I bought a 142 qt. Igloo cooler from Walmart about 7 years ago, on clearance for only $35. I ordered the cushion for it from BassPro for $55. The cushion lasted less than 3 years, the cooler is in great condition, and has held my 200 lbs, and my friend's 320 lbs at the same time on several occassions. Go figure.

Fish - are these the coleman ones? or IGloo?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Igloo-Quic...ooler/16437963

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-Ma...Cooler/9222616

The Igloo is the one Connor is talking about. I have one like it and you don't want to stand on it if you weigh over 150 lbs. It's ok for a picnic, but it's not a boat cooler. I haven't used it in years.

I also have one of the coleman marine coolers in the 100qt. size. I've been very happy with it.
Dave

What discount houses do is suck suppliers in with promise of big volume. Once they gear up production and get hooked on the volume, Walmart starts cutting what they will pay, and cutting, and cutting. Pretty soon the supplier can't make a decent product for what Walmart pays, but still needs the volume, so they cut quality. Hence my Igloo and Blue Heron's. Maybe Fr Frank got one of the better quality ones.

Exactly what the "Discount" home builders do to their sub contractors. Looks great to begin with but in the end the subs darn near have to pay the builders to get the contracts.

High end custom builders are the only ones worth the time now days..

Igloo

But I didn't find mine THAT flimsy. Not great, but the first thing I did was sit on it. Probably a 190lb person.

I had to search a bit to find one.

I was going to glass a custom one up, but or $80, I couldn't resist.

Dave's right; the Igloo is pretty cheaply made. I bought a 70 qt Igloo Max Cold on sale from West Marine several years ago and I haven't been that impressed with it. Supposed to keep ice for 5 days, but that's a stretch, although it does keep ice better than the standard Igloo. Haven't used it that much and it's already got cracks in it, so it's my 3rd and last Igloo. I now just use it for a fish box! Later bought a 70 qt Coleman Extreme from Wal-Mart and it's a much better cooler - more rugged, keeps ice better than the Igloo and has a much better handle design.

However if you want a serious cooler that REALLY keeps ice, get an Engle http://www.engel-coolers.com/! PowerBoat Reports rated them better than the Yeti, although they did rate the Coleman Extreme as a Best Buy, good cooler for the $. The Engle isn't cheap, but very well made, tough as nails, and cheaper than buying a generator for power loss after hurricanes! I got the 65 qt model for my 2 wk. 700 mile So. Fl. circumnavigation trip a couple of years ago, and found that it'll hold ice for a week! Also found I could put more stuff in it than the 70 qt. Igloo because I didn't need so much ice! Now use the Coleman for waterproof storage of groceries and galley gear on trips!

And that's exactly what the big box home centers like Home Depot and Lowes do to their vendors.
I was a buyer for a large hardware wholesaler and when vendors tried to sell me a line,many would say "We don't sell to Home Depot".
My reply was "you mean Home depot won't give you an order"Eventually they all succumbed to the big box and mass merchant whores.The independent stores were put out of business by these mega retailers.
I never buy anything from Walmart,and try not to buy at Home depot,although it's hard not to as they in many cases are the only game around.I'd rather pay twenty bucks more at a local merchant.

AS for inexpensive coolers,I like Coleman much better than Igloo.Why does Igloo even bother putting the cheezy latches on their coolers?,they break off or don't work after two days anyway.

"Why does Igloo even bother putting the cheezy latches on their coolers?"

I have your answer....a smooth $8.99 at West Marine (asan example) for a lid snap.This for a piece of plastic that can be made in China, shipped to the US, wharehoused and retailed for an investment of about ninety five cents.....MAX!! They are making a killing on replacement parts!!!!!

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...classNum=50467

DonV,
Yeah I can see what you mean.To a slight degree,I look at all these coolers as a disposable product.I beat them up pretty bad,load em with fish,drag em up the dock to the cleaning station.I get a few years out of them, and chuck em and buy another.

I've always thought about making my own with some thick foam and glass.I would think if done right,a home built one could far outlast and have better cold retention than one of the el cheapo's.
I think the weight would be to much of a negative for my Tsunami however.It already sits low in the water.