I’ve been thinking about building myself a cheap and round cooler “box” for the boat… want to keep baits and/or soft drinks. The 25 L Big Jim cooler box has been working hard for a while (since the good ol’ Micaela days) but it has a bit of a “funny” shape and I wasn’t happy with storing it in the central hatch…
So, took my thinking hat out of the closet and came up with the idea of using empty paint buckets lying around the house from my wife’s refurb projects… so here’s the cooler bucket!
What I used:1 x 20 L plastic bucket
1 x 15 L plastic bucket with lid
1 x can of Alcolin fill-a-foam polyurethane (750 ml)
1 x piece of old fuel hose (15 cm)
1 x 1 m of ski rope (7 mm)
Steps:1. Cleaned the two buckets (interior and exterior). Let them humid – this helps the curing of the foam;
2. Punched two opposite holes in the top section of the 20 L bucket;
3. Put some plastic gloves on – this stuff is sticky! I started by spraying the foam in the bottom of the 20 L bucket and then inserted the 15 L bucket whilst rotating it so as to spread the foam evenly;
4. Once the foam in the bottom was more or less evenly distributed, I sprayed the side spaces between the two buckets. This will not only provide thermal insulation but also secure the two buckets together. Held it there for 4-5 hours with some heavy weights on top (for the first half-hour). This kept the inner bucket leveled and in position, otherwise the foam would have expanded and lifted the inner bucket;
5. During the curing process the foam expands immensely
6. Once cured, I trimmed and sanded the excess foam;
7. I sprayed some foam in the lid of the 15 L bucket as well and on top of that I glued a piece of perspex. I have several bait stations on the boat but if the need ever arises, I can cut bait on top of the cooler bucket;
8. Then, I inserted the rope through the piece of fuel hose and then through each one of the holes in the 20 L bucket. Tied overhand knots in the tag ends and it’s done;
9. To make the cooler even coolest, I put some branding on!!!!!
Chuck some ice blocks in the cooler bucket, put some bait or refreshments and it’s good to go fishing!
Total cost: paid about 320,00 MT (~R90.00) for the fill-a-foam can.
Tested the insulation capabilities of the cooler bucket in comparison to a 25 L BigJim cooler box using 1 L ice block overnight (12 h). In the end the Big Jim had 765 g of water and my cooler bucket 550 g!
