YETI COOLER PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT, PART 2: OUTER LIMITS

In Part 1 of this post, I talked about a strategy to freeze food directly into solid masses of ice in order to extend the range of our Yeti cooler.

Here's the second of two, which I had referred to in Part 1 as the "straight" block.

But there's also additional insulation potential to be realized outside the cooler.  I don't have a vision for that yet, but here are a few initial pics of my stop-gap ideas.

By the way, I never proceed with elaborate plans unless there is a firm vision for the project in my head.  If the vision doesn't materialize, that's my brain trying to tell me something - that key elements have not occurred to my conscious mind just yet, and so it's better to wait for the idea to fully gestate.  I've learned through trial and error not to try to force a project when I get into this condition.

No, V are not there yet.  But V are currently making final preparations for the Long Journey.  

Having recently experimented with the insulating fabric product known as Insul-Bright (see my blog post on making a slider door window covering here), I'm wondering what could be done to fashion a jacket for the Yeti, to increase its effective R value.  In the pic above, I simply doubled over the fabric, and wrapped it around the cooler, holding it in place with pins and loops of clothing elastic.  This will do for testing purposes.

There's also the potential offered by closed-cell foam.

I had been placing these two pieces on top, but I cut one of them to form an interior pad, because the bottom of the cooler was not getting any additional insulation due to the way it sits on the hitch carrier. 

My existing tarp sleeve still fits over the Yeti with the extra insulation in place.  It looks a bit more bulky, but it does fine. 

So this is an idea for further development and refinement in the future. In the meantime, for this upcoming trip, I'm just going to try it as-is.