Securing Coolers & Fish Boxes

General boating discussion
AlloyToy
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Securing Coolers & Fish Boxes

#1

Post by AlloyToy »

Guys,

First off what are you using for coolers/fish boxes in your boat?

How are you securing them from jumping all over the deck?

I didn't have the tie down cups installed in my floor, and not keen on drilling into the floor.

AT
longranger
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#2

Post by longranger »

If you don't have in deck fish boxes for have coolers that will be used as seating I am a big advocate of high quality kill bags. Unless you have an exceptionally well insulated box or cooler a good kill bag will provide more bang for the buck. Are great on a swimstep just tied to a cleat or two. Keeps fish almost as cold as refrigerated salt water holds. Helps if you add salt water too. Cools them down faster than straight ice.

Mike
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JETTYWOLF
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#3

Post by JETTYWOLF »

I have a cooler in front of my console extended box like you have and it goes no where, especially with some ice in it.

Maybe try one of those sticky mats. The thing is where are ya putting the cooler Alloy?
Tin Man
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#4

Post by Tin Man »

I have an SSI 200-qt cooler in front of my center console. Between the ice and the non-skid deck I've never had it shift. When fishing is good we put a 168-quart Igloo cooler in front of the SSI.

Mark
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#5

Post by AlloyToy »

Good quality fish bags made by who?

Capt. Dave, The cooler would go in front of the console closet. It's a standard 105 qt Igloo......nothing special. I want something.......the day is coming where I land that 150# BFT :D

Also something that will accommodate a box of cod three anglers jig up etc......
fishontop
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#6

Post by fishontop »

Alloy, I am in the process of adding a cooler and my plan is to use some non skid matting and use the tie down system offered by Yeti coolers. It's 39 bucks. I think it should work fine. I will drill and tap and screw in. Shouldn't go anywhere I hope. If you get a better system please keep me in mind. I would rather not drill holes in the deck either, but I don't see a way around it.


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AlloyToy
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#7

Post by AlloyToy »

fishontop....looks HD
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JETTYWOLF
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#8

Post by JETTYWOLF »

Alloy......Ya mean ya'll up yonder don't have fish bag makers around, with all them Tuna fishes?

Canyon Products (http://www.canyonproducts.com) makes them and some nice one's too. If I had a a BFT that size a bag is all that fish will fit in....on a 23' boat.

But, the caviot is you have to carry massive amounts of ice to put in the bag to cool that fish, espiecally a big whopper.

Here's what I've heard done.

Carry a big cooler, layer the bottom fish frozen blocks of ice, then put ice bags stacked on top of the blocks that line the cooler bottom.

BIG FISH...hanging off the side on a tail rope, you're tired but exilerated.

Open monster azz fish bag, lay fish in bag (susi grade fish mark which side is the side facing up.) Empty bagged ice in intervals, as fish cools into bag. When all that's about gone and melted.....drain in bag open.

Add the last ice that should still be perfect, "the blocks" when all ice cubes, or chipped is gone.

Get home, unload the bastard, clean boat, and clean that monster fish.
Have a cool beer and think, "man the bow was heavy with that SOB up there on the way in...But I likes that kinda bow load."
8) 8) 8) 8)
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longranger
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#9

Post by longranger »

I like Reliable kill bags. Come in sizes from 18x 36" up to 34x 90". Suspect they would make any size bag you need if you ask.

I am sure most people on this board are aware but for tuna getting them bled and cooled down fast is critical if you want sushi grade. Faster the better. Minutes matter!!! The best way I have found is to use a suitable size kill bag. You get the fastest cooling when you put the tuna in a slurry of ice and seawater. This cools the fish much quicker than ice alone. The salt in the seawater brings the temp below 32 degrees and water absorbs heat from the tuna much faster than solid ice. Think hypothermia for the fish on purpose. Cools literally in minutes. Fresh water ice works fine for the initial chill but if you have the freezer space make your own blocks from raw sea water. After the fresh ice is mostly gone drain some of the liquid and add blocks of sea ice. These keep the fish colder and will keep the water salty.

Ideally for cooling saltwater fish I would prefer all my ice at the salinity of seawater just don't have a source.

Mike B
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#10

Post by longranger »

One additional note. For tuna over 75 pounds or so it is a good idea to take the minute or two to gill and gut prior to chill. This increases the surface area being cooled and particularly helps cooling the core of the fish.
AlloyToy
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#11

Post by AlloyToy »

Great info!!!!

Now, I need to catch one of those bad boys!!!

I'll check the bags out. I've heard of them but never really paid any attention to them.
Thx.
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#12

Post by JETTYWOLF »

AlloyToy wrote:Great info!!!!

Now, I need to catch one of those bad boys!!!

I'll check the bags out. I've heard of them but never really paid any attention to them.
Thx.
Alloy...I think big Charlies and fish bags kinda go together.

Check em out.....I am, just for a summer Cobia or King Mackerel.
almaddog
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temporary solution

#13

Post by almaddog »

How about suction mounts to console?

http://www.seasucker.com/ProductCart/pc ... ategory=10

Tarp clip or stainless handle model?
I have never tried it myself. Just wanted to share a potentially helpful idea. However it was something I thinking of for the purposes of making a telphone booth enclosure without making holes

Albert
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#14

Post by Ironwoodtuna »

I have a 1500 Exacta box. it's feet are a tapered round shaped puck on the nottom of the legs. I mad PVC 6" x 6" x 1/2" plates, drilled a hile and tapered the holes with a router for the pucks to fit into. When i am running in real ruff stuff, I will use a rope and tie them box to my toe kick rails. Otherwise it has to be pretty rough to move the box. I drilled and through bolted most of the lats, in some areas I had to trill and tap the holes. 1/4" SS hardware. THe samller 220qu I have up against the cabin wall and I drilled and tapped four small 3-1/2" SS cleats and rope the cooler to the wall. Marty
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AlloyToy
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#15

Post by AlloyToy »

Marty the puck thing is a great idea.
Desert Dog
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#16

Post by Desert Dog »

This can be a more important issue than folks realize. What might seem heavy to me is a piece of flotsom to seawater. A couple of hundred pound cooler is a deadly battering ram once the water gets a hold of it.

A couple of years ago, a windshield boat with an open bow (Alumaweld Intruder or Formula Vee I think) was heading out over the Columbia River bar (notoriously rough and where the USCG Roughwater Boating School is located) when the conditions rapidly worsened. They had a cooler in the bow area to fill in some of the space (a common practice with open bow windshield boats in the NW). They took some, but not a lot of green water over the bow. The wave lifted the heavily loaded cooler just high enough that it smashed through the windshield knocking both occupants out of their seats. They were in short duration, cresting waves on a tide change and you really need your hands on the wheel and throttle to make it through. The next wave swamped the boat. One of the occupants (a father and adult son) died from hypothermia before the USCG could get there.

Anything that can be lifted by water or momentum should be tied down if you are going into rough water. I've seen full totes that I couldn't move on my own if my life depended on it, shift enough to break one of two heavy straps that was holding it when the water got ugly. When something that heavy starts to move, there's a good chance that your life may depend on it not going very far. Shift a few hundred pounds to the gunnel in rough water and your life will depend on moving it back.

Desert Dog
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#17

Post by AlloyToy »

WOW!!! Yeah, nothing to mess around especially with when it kicks.......that's for sure not the time to be trying to secure items

One pet peeve I have is loose items in a boat.

I see guys go offshore fishing bare foot with gaffs being thrown around, loose knives etc..........stuff "WIGS" me out
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#18

Post by wreckfisher »

I put mine in fron t of console, and wrap straps around the console. Works Great! I'm adding stainless loops to console so I don't have to wrap completely around.
The fish potters are killin me!
AlloyToy
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#19

Post by AlloyToy »

wreckfisher.......there you are!!! You've been MIA???

How did toggin this past go?
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Greg P
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#20

Post by Greg P »

I hate a back deck with iceboxes and crap everywhere so I went with storage under my seatboxes for icebox and reef anchor set up.


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JETTYWOLF
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#21

Post by JETTYWOLF »

Greg, lets see the rest O' the boat! :D
AlloyToy
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#22

Post by AlloyToy »

Capt. Dave,
Picked up this info from another site
http://www.pop-hawaii.com/store/index.php?cPath=28

Don't know the quality of the bag but the price looks attractive.....
skfmj
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#23

Post by skfmj »

Here is an idea. I found these while looking for replacement Armstrong hatches.

http://www.seasucker.com/index.asp
http://www.noreast.com/magazineIssues/a ... a=1187&p=1

Kinda of pricey and don't know how well they work, but the do claim to have tremendous holding power. You can stick them to your console and lash the cooler to the console, or use the back-to-back model.

Richard
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#24

Post by AlloyToy »

Nice find skfmj............
fishnchips
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#25

Post by fishnchips »

Hi i know this may seam silly, but has any one thought of suction cups. the big black ones, under chilly bins large alloy bins at all.. wet the suction cups and press down, holds em there and wont slip and easy to get off again.. i was thinking of doing the same with my alloy chilly bin.
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