Best Cooler Options for Hunter 26 / 260

Ian M

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Sep 22, 2016
10
Hunter 260 Central Coast, CA
All,


I have spent a lot of time and energy looking for the largest cooler I could put in the cooler space on my Hunter 260, without taking off the counter top (I like the countertop space). The largest cooler I could find, that did not require any modification to the space, was an Igloo Latitude 50. I have attached some pictures for people’s reference. I drilled some holes in the lid and sprayed expanding foam in the lid to help further insulate. However, even pre-chilling all my food, beverages, and the cooler, I found it only retained ice for around 3 days.

UPGRADED (ROTOMOLDED) COOLER
Anyways, I searched all over the internet for a nice roto-molded cooler that will fit in that space. I finally found one that is American made (that’s important to me) and that fits in the space with some slight modifications to the storage space. It is called the Kenai 45, and it is made by grizzly coolers. Just go to grizzly’s website, and you can find it on there on sale for $161 (with free shipping)...which is half the price of a Philippines made Yeti! Anyways, I had to drill some small holes and cut some small notches in the cooler area, but the end result is a nice rotomolded cooler that fits PERFECTLY in the storage space, and still leaves the countertop useable. I expect this cooler to retain ice for around 6 days based off my small use of it so far. Hope this helps someone, if not now, then sometime in the future.

If anyone else has some thoughts, suggestions, or things they have done with success on the cooler space, please feel free to comment on them below - as I am sure many people face the same issue - how to keep ice on the boat for extended periods of time.

Thanks,
 

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Mar 28, 2018
21
Hunter 260 Colorado
I have a Dometic CF-40 compressor fridge that fits perfectly in the spot though I had to remove the hinged cover. It does consume about 1ah/h but that is easily offset if you have a little solar. I have 100w of solar on the bimini, 75w on the mast crutch with 250ah of lifepo4 batteries so I run this 24/7 plus a smaller CF18 as a freezer stored under the table.
 

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Feb 5, 2016
9
Hunter 26 Phoenix, AZ
Ian - thanks for the tip on the Grizzly! I was about to make my own cooler out of desperation with finding a good one to fit in thay compartment.

I wonder if the compartment dimensions on my H-26 are the same as on your H260. It looks like a very snug fit. Are you still able to latch the rubber lid straps in the available space?

Have you had any more experience with the Grizzly Kenai 45 performance with keeping ice?
 
Aug 22, 2017
1,609
Hunter 26.5 West Palm Beach
I had trouble finding a cooler to fit well in my H212. My solution was to get a soft cooler from Igloo's marine line. I actually ended up getting two of them, one for down below, where the porta-head would normally have gone & a smaller one for under the port side seat in the cockpit.

They work pretty well, but I am not getting 3-day performance out of them unless I add a little dry ice to the mix. Dry ice really extends the ice holding capacity of any cooler.

I think that the small soft cooler was like $50-$75 & the big one was like $100-$150, but I don't remember fore sure. Both West Marine & Dick's sporting goods carried them.

I find the soft coolers much easier to handle. These ones from Igloo have good handles on them. They also stuff into small places when you crunch them down a little.

I have treated the soft igloo coolers gently & they have held up well for the last year or so. The little reach-in hatches in the tops of them are handy for grabbing a drink without opening the whole thing up.

I have also been using the cheap $5 insulated bags from Walmart as ice bags. They about double the shelf life of my ice. I often toss the insulated bags full of ice into a cooler to extend ice life further. The little bags hold more than 20# of ice each, so they make it easy to get loose ice from the bulk machines. I tried using one insulated bag as a fish bag. That didn't work as well as I would have hoped. A fin punctured the liner & let foul smelling water go places where it should not have been.

Thanks for the info on Yeti being an offshore brand. I didn't know that.
 
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Jun 8, 2004
10,024
-na -NA Anywhere USA
@Ian M
Can you post your photos,dementions, mfg,
And upgrades under hunter boat info for the 260 owner mods along with others. I would appreciate it sir
 

Ian M

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Sep 22, 2016
10
Hunter 260 Central Coast, CA
Cacus Sailor: The cooler is a VERY snug fit, as in, only a inch to spare width wise, and the counter top rests on top of the ice chest. I cannot reach in and latch the cooler lid closed due to the fit, HOWEVER, the wood countertop, as well as the lid weight itself, is heavy enough to keep the lid nice and snug. As far as ice performance, I have gotten about 7 days of ice retnetion when I filled it with ice and put it in a 90 degree room (which is how all the manufactors test it).

Here is a link to some gel that you mix with water, and really helps extend ice. In my experience, their advertising of "extends ice by 30-40%" is accurate.
If you were to include this, you could probably get 10+ days ice retention. I filled up several old water bottles with the stuff, and it really does work (and best of all, its cheap!).

As far as the dimensions of the H26 and H260 compartements, I would imagine they are the same. But just to be on the safe side, I have attached the dimensions of the cooler from the companies website to this post.

JimInPB: What I have also done, for cocktails, is have a second, smaller ice chest (my friend who has gone with me on several trip has a small Yeti 20), that we pack with just ice. This way, we are not opening the large ice chest several times throughout the day for cocktail ice. The smaller ice chest is really easy to move around and keep out of the way.

Crazy Dave: I will post this mod, as well as my other modifications, in the owner modification forumn. I will start working on that on next week.
 

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Feb 5, 2016
9
Hunter 26 Phoenix, AZ
Ian M: Thanks! That is the kind of cooler performance I need.

I measured the H26 compartment, and it seems like it will be a similarly tight fit. I went ahead and ordered a Kenai 45. I will let you know how it fits.

I wish there was a similar place aboard for another similarly sized high performance cooler, but placing it in the cavernous locker under the v-berth (with some mods to be able to get it in) is about the only decent option that I can think of. I don't recall seeing this mod anywhere, but it seems like it would not be difficult to put in a larger access hatch.
 

Ian M

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Sep 22, 2016
10
Hunter 260 Central Coast, CA
Cactus Sailor,

Here are some more pictures of the slight modifications I had to do in order for the cooler to fit. If you have a hole saw and oscillating saw, it will take about 5 minutes to make these changes. In addition, you can always put a smaller cooler in the that space, since you are not altering the space too much.

I agree with wishing there was more space for another cooler. I have had another cooler that size (50qt) on the boat, and found it wasn’t a big deal to move it around by hand when needed. But it is still inconvenient. As stated, I found the best solution, for my needs, has been to have a second, small 20 qt cooler just filled with ice. This is large enough to store quite a bit of ice, but small enough to easily move around and keep out of the way when not needed.


I keep my second anchor and rode, the rocker stoppers, and spare life vests in that forward compartment under the v berth. What I have thought about, is making some sort of mold that goes into the mold in the V birth (that was meant for a table) that I can attach to a cooler, so the cooler wont slide around. However, I found that the small second cooler with just ice suited my needed just fine.

Let me know how that cooler works out for you, or if you have any other questions.

Good luck!
cooler space 1.jpg
cooler space 2.jpg
cooler space 3.jpg
 
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Jimmy

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Jan 28, 2018
176
Hunter 26 lake Powell lake mead
I like your set up but I found the cooler hatch door to always hit me or smash kids fingers so I just removed it and found a taller cooler
 

Fred

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Sep 27, 2008
493
Catalina 28 mkii 745 Ottawa, Ontario, CA
The PO installed a small loop of string to the stock cooler space lid that loops over the knob on the port hole. This simple mod holds the lid up and prevents smashed knuckles.
 
Aug 27, 2018
6
Hunter 260 Trailer in Amarillo TX
Thank you for posting this info. I was in the market for a good quality ice chest that would retain ice longer than 2 days and fit my new to me H260. I just ordered one for myself on sale and with free shipping, thanks to you.
Cary
 
Feb 5, 2016
9
Hunter 26 Phoenix, AZ
I just used mine on an 8 day trip. The ice lasted five or six days. The ambient temperature ranged from high 50s to mid 80s.

I removed the hinged wooden lid, and the top of the cooler sat relatively flush with the galley countertop by removing the fwd rubber feet. I did not make the fiberglass mods that Ian M did. The only real drawback is that the hinged cooler lid will only open about 30 degrees for getting in and out of the cooler, because of interference at the outboard edge as it hinges open. You could possibly remove the cooler hinge to allow it to lift off.

It does not provide sufficient cooler space for such a long trip. I would like to figure out how to get some cooler capacity under the v-berth. I do not like to have coolers sitting on berths or on the cabin sole.
 
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