Don’t fear the Yeti

Pricey ice chest is one cool customer


State-of-the-art items for the modern sportsman include a high-performance cooler, solar chargers for your electronic devices and a high-performance, protective case for your iPhone.
State-of-the-art items for the modern sportsman include a high-performance cooler, solar chargers for your electronic devices and a high-performance, protective case for your iPhone.

Although she practically choked on them, my wife uttered the words that every man longs to hear.

“You were right,” she said, “the Yeti does keep ice a lot longer than these other ice chests.”

This is no small admission. The 50-quart Yeti cooler that I bought last summer has been the source of considerable friction between me and my bride of 26 years.

“You could have bought a new refrigerator for what that thing costs,” she said at the time.

That’s overstating it a bit - it’ll run you about $360 - but I do believe one should invest wisely in one’s lifestyle. Our family camps out a lot, and we rely on coolers to keep meats, milk and other perishables fresh. Unfortunately, traditional coolers don’t hold ice very long in hot weather. Either you consume your perishables quickly,or you make frequent trips to a store to replenish your ice. That gets expensive. It’s also expensive to throw away lunch meats that spoil in a sweltering cooler when you don’t have access to fresh ice. That happened two years ago on the Spring Break float on the Buffalo River with my children.

You must have equipment that works. Ultimately, it pays for itself.

Enter the Yeti. The 50-quart model is the perfect size to fit in a canoe. On our last multi-day float trip, we filled it with steaks, lunch meats and fruit. We put 10 pounds of dry ice over a towel and covered it with another towel, covered by 10 more pounds of regular ice. It froze everything solid for the duration of the trip except for the fruits. They rode in the metal basket that hangs above the ice.

Dry ice is overkill. Without it, the Yeti kept our milk ice cold for three days. Our old blue Igloo, meanwhile, neared room temperature in about 48 hours.

“We opened it more often,” Laura said.

This summer has reportedly brought even better coolers to the market, including the new Igloo Yukon. Igloo doesn’t call it a cooler, by the way. It’s a “cold locker.” A head-to-head test between a 50-quart Yukon and a 50-quart Yeti is coming to these pages soon.

There is also Orca, Engel and Brute, but none of them has accepted the invitation toparticipate in the Ice Chest Smackdown.

If you spend a lot of time outdoors, upgrading from your old style cooler is worthwhile, whichever brand you choose.

PORTABLE SKINNING POST

Squirrel season is open, and the Hunters Helper skinning frame makes skinning squirrels a snap.

The straight frame requires mounting on a solid structure, like a barn or a post on a metal building. I attached mine to a board, which I strap to a tree with ratcheting straps, but a newadaptation makes it easier than ever.

The Field Dressing Skinning Post is a skinning frame bolted to a steel post that slides into a two-inch trailer hitch receiver. You can bolt any of the critter skinners to the post, as well as the Hunter’s Helper Catfish Skinner. It’s rock-solid, and it allows you to skin squirrels, raccoons, rabbits and catfish on your truck without having to hunt a place to hang the skinner.

It costs $49.95. More information is available by e-mailing [email protected]SOLAR CHARGERS

Most of us take our cell phones and smart phones afield, but they can run out of juice on multi-day outings like float fishing trips or at deer camp.

A new generation of portable solar chargers solves that problem.

I am very impressed with the new Eton Boost Solar. It’s a solar rechargeable lithium ion battery pack, featuring a five-inch solar panel that packs enough energy to charge most smart phones at least twice. It is splash-proof and impact resistant from 3.3 feet.

It takes 10 hours in the sun for a full charge, which is possible in a canoe if you lash it down to the top of a cooler or gear box. Integrated loops in the housing allow you to do that. It is about 6 inches square and about a half-inch thick, so it packs well. It costs about $100.

If space and weight are more serious considerations,as they are for backpackers, the Brunton Solaris 4 is a good alternative. It consists of four flexible solar cells that fold into a neat, flat wallet that measures 9 inches long and about 4 inches wide. When arrayed, its dimensions are 9x25 inches, and it weighs just 6.3 ounces.

Built-in steel grommets allow you to stake the unit to the ground, strap it to a pack or hang it from a tent. It costs about $200.

Both units are USB compatible, allowing you to charge phones, digital cameras, GPS units, iPads, AA battery chargers and other small electronic devices.

LIFEPROOF CASE

Most iPhone owners use OtterBox to protect their phones, but a Lifeproof case goes a step farther.

It is shockproof from drops up to 6.6 feet, waterproof to depths of up to 6.6 feet, dirt proof, sand proof, grit proof and snow proof. You can even shoot photos and videos underwater.

I’ve used one for a year and am impressed. A friend shot underwater video through his Lifeproof case in Hawaii. Back at his hotel room, he watched a movie on Netflix and listened with his headphones.

Unfortunately, he forgot to reinstall the headphone port plug before taking it back to the ocean the following day. He trashed his phone.

Each Lifeproof case is guaranteed, unless you do something like that.

At about $80, it’s cheap insurance.

Sports, Pages 29 on 06/09/2013

Upcoming Events