Insulating a deck lid

[West6550]

So I was thinking about making a mat to stand on and of course that turned into doing something completely different lol

After watching the video of how Aaron Martins lines his lids I started looking into doing mine.

See my boat has two live wells and the one up front is a bait well. It has a drain plug and since it's a Ranger it is foam filled.. aka pretty much a cooler. So I decided to insulate the lid and make it into my cooler for fishing. I hope it is going to work well.

I searched the internet and found a few people doing the same thing and learned from what they did.. and the mistakes they made.

Supplies:
1: old cardboard box (free)
2: liquid nails (free.. already had some)
3: foil bubble insulation ($17)
4: fatigue mat from Harbor Frieght ($9)

Tools:
1: measuring tape
2: scissors and a razor blade
3: caulking gun
4: clamps

So to start out I made a template of my lid out of cardboard.

[West6550]

Then I cut the foil to match.

Added a layer of the mat in the area where the cooler is open.

Then another layer of foil on the mat. Hopefully this will help seal the cold in :-)

I clamped it down to hold it until it dried.

Fits snug.

I will report back with how well it worked after some use.
   

[West6550]

Tapatalk is being stupid and not letting me post the pictures... ugh

EDIT.

Posted them :-)

[Pferox]

Looks good West.  Keep an eye on the fumes because most construction adhesives stick almost immediately but take excessively long to fully cure.

[West6550]

Looks good West.  Keep an eye on the fumes because most construction adhesives stick almost immediately but take excessively long to fully cure.

Yea the package says several weeks.

[West6550]

I used my cooler again today and I have to say it works great! The water temp was 90 degress today and there was no clouds or wind. It was jusy plain hot hot hot.

I put 6 waters in the cooler 2 of which were hot and only a 7lb bag of ice.. it is still holding. I put it in there at 630am and it's 230pm now. I am very happy it worked perfectly.

This is after fishing... still 80% of what I started with.

[Capt. BassinLou]

I used my cooler again today and I have to say it works great! The water temp was 90 degress today and there was no clouds or wind. It was jusy plain hot hot hot.

I put 6 waters in the cooler 2 of which were hot and only a 7lb bag of ice.. it is still holding. I put it in there at 630am and it's 230pm now. I am very happy it worked perfectly.

This is after fishing... still 80% of what I started with.

That's awesome WEST!! This is going to be my next boat project.. changing the live well to a cooler. That will open up a little bit of space on the middle deck of my boat.

[West6550]

Mine was a bait well so it is a little smaller than a live well. It is working great.

[West6550]

Happy to report I put ice in my cooler yesterday at 3pm to go out for the afternoon. I put a 10lb bag in a few Gatorades and half a dozen waters.

I fished yesterday afternoon then again this morning and when I unloaded the boat this afternoon almost 24hours later what was left was still cold and I had maybe a cup of ice left.

[Oldfart9999]

Nice job West! Martens does it for his tackle also, sounds like a good idea.
Rodney

[West6550]

Nice job West! Martens does it for his tackle also, sounds like a good idea.
Rodney

Yea that where I got the idea from for the mat to use. I decided to make a bait bar instead and the foam I used for this :-)

[West6550]

Put Ice in the cooler Friday o yhe way into the FL BR Classic and it held ice for 3 days in the heat. Drinks were still cold this AM on Moday.

Also note my igloo cooler we used was inside the cabin in the AC and was melted away by Sunday.. lol

[cojab]

Sounds like it is working perfectly. Nice job!

[missbass]

Awesome!! We use one of our live wells on our Tracker for a cooler too, since we primarily just catch and release. But it's not insulated and when we get home in the warmer weather it's all melted. Might have to do something like this for next summer.