Cooler Removal

[PaulyB]

Anyone ever cut the cooler out of the front storage area? I find the cooler to be totally useless as ice melts too fast and the water drains out. I'm just wondering if anyone has ever cut the cooler out and made it look decent after doing it? I feel like it could open up some useful storage area. Thanks.

 

[Scuba_ref]

Hhmmm, interesting! I'm going to have to watch this thread.

 

[Bruce]

It is carpeted underneath. I agree it is useless.

 

[OperationROL]

With our former SX230, we used a plug in the drain hole and that seemed to cause the ice to last. Try that first. You will be surprised how much of a difference it makes.

 

[bronze_10]

We put two bags of ice in there.. it lasts all day and when we park it we have to leave the seat cushion off so the ice will melt.. I wish the plug was in the bottom instead of the side...

 

[cozilla]

I would love to be able to use that storage space with the cooler gone.

 

[Zarrella]

We use it to store water shoes and flip flops

 

[Julian]

Never thought of putting shoes in there! We never use ours either...too much of a pain to move things from one cooler to the built in cooler. We have used it a few times when on the lake for a week at a time....other than that...it remains empty.

 

[txav8r]

Yes, a wine bottle cork will help keep ice and cold water longer. We carried out food to that cooler and drinks in an AO Cooler.

 

[PaulyB]

Uh oh...

 

[Julian]

Uh oh...
View attachment 24813

You big tease!

 

[PaulyB]

Gotta finish cleaning the wires up now that I can access them...

 

[biglar155]

Wow! No love for the bow-cooler huh? We use ours all the time.

We buy a big bag of ice in the morning and load the cooler with room-temperature water bottles. We've usually still got ice left at 10:00 p.m. after drinking said water and re-stocking the thing with room-temperature bottles all day long. A lot of times I'll even throw leftovers from the grill in a zip-lock bag and put them in there to keep them from going bad.

I DO wish it was just a little bit bigger, but I prefer it over hauling a big cooler along.

(Of course, the fact that water is our beverage of choice probably makes things a lot easier.)

I'm going to try the "plug the drain" thing and see if I like the results. As I said, I've usually got ice left over so it hasn't been a problem. It's kind of nice when the water bottles aren't so wet on the outside that the labels are falling off and floating in the cooler...

 

[PaulyB]

I always have a huge cooler regardless.... Id rather have the storage space.... If I have 8 people on board... There is no way the cooler would hold enough beverages for the people on the boat.... They like water too much....

 

[biglar155]

They like water too much....

Yes, it CAN be addictive!

 

[Julian]

@biglar155 I think you'll like using a plug in the cooler.....keeps the cooling depth much deeper and things much colder.

 

[Zarrella]

I might just remove the shoes and try using it as a cooler.

 

[cozilla]

Uh oh...
View attachment 24813

What was the process and how long did it take you? Tools used?

 

[PaulyB]

What was the process and how long did it take you? Tools used?

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I just took the seat off, and used one of these, http://www.sears.com/bosch-tools-mm40-01-2.5-amp-high-performance/p-00903326000P?sid=IDx01192011x000001&kpid=00903326000&pla=&kispla=00903326000P&mktRedirect=y , to cut the cooler out. I used a rotozip with the circular cutting attachment to cut it into sections to remove the cooler. The cooler does have a resin around it on the inside of the boat, so I just removed the pieces as I cut them out, then used the oscillating tool to cut the resin out. It came out really good and there are no rough edges to cut your arms on when you reach in. You want to reuse the carpet that comes off the cooler portion and glue it to the uncovered portion of the storage area. If you do this you will understand what I am talking about after you cut it out. It took me 45 minutes to an hour to get it completely out....

 

[cozilla]

@PaulyB that is awesome. Thanks for the explanation.