insulation for cooler and live-well lids

[JR19]

I read about this tip in a magazine and thought I would pass it along. The next time you buy a product and it is packed with flat styrofoam do not throw it away. Cut the sheets so it will fit under the lids of your cooler and live-well. It will be best if the sheet is about the thickness of a styrofoam cooler that you would buy.

The house I bought had part of the basement finished in 12"X 12" styrofoam squares. There was several sheets left over so I put them to use. If I had to guess I would say they were 1/4 or 3/8" thick. 12" was not long enough so I had to use 2 in order to get them long enough. I also double stacked them for extra thickness/extra insulation and then I cut them to the right length. Then I wrapped duct tape around them to hold them together. I used double sided sticky tape to attach it to the bottom side of my lids.

My lids already had insulation on them from the factory and it done a nice job of insulating my lids. I have owned my boat for 14 years so I know how well it holds ice in the summer. I added the extra insulation about 2-3 years ago and I have noticed that my cooler holds ice better now. I have never paid attention to the live-well temperature but I am sure it helps hold the heat away. If this is something you decide to do it will cost little to nothing and improve the function of your cooler and live-well...saw this forum and thought I would share.

[JR19]

With hot weather getting closer I thought I would bump this one time

[fishn2deep]

[Circletranch96]

I started doing something similar when I was running an aluminum Tracker. Everything under those aluminum lids with black carpet got HOT!

Buy the sheet insulation from a home store...get the green kind ($7-10) in 1/2". Cut to fit all the lids in your boat. I did it on my current Stratos too. Everything stays cooler and it cuts noise down too.

[Tarheel14]

Great idea

[TomBjr]

[Chisco]

Thanks for the tip...just completed.

[SC Bullet]

[OkieBud]

[cashion1]

Just ran across this thread. Will Styrofoam soak up water? Wanting to turn my front livewell into a cooler. Thinking of using Styrofoam for the lid on my rear livewell as well.

[britbasser]

the foil pressed bubble wrap works well too....bb.jpeg

[OkieLure]

Good to know. Just converted back livewell to cooler only.

[TimH]

I did the same thing with a sheet of polyisocyanurate insulation I had left over. It worked extremely well and makes a big temp difference.

[boat dreamin]

I know I am way late to the party, but here is an idea. When you shut your big motor off and take off your life jacket, place it over the lid of your livewell or cooler. It helps to keep the direct sunshine off of the lid and seems to help with the heat. Of course it isn't much help if that is where you need to stand to fish! My boat is an older layout with the livewell between the seats, so this works well for me.

[JR19]

Its getting close to the time when the heat of summer is getting ready to kick in so I thought I would bump my old post.

[JR19]

I noticed in the lounge there is a discussion about summertime live-well fish care. With the heat of summer here its time to bump this post back to the top of the page. I added a picture this time...

[tap_tap_boom]

I started doing something similar when I was running an aluminum Tracker. Everything under those aluminum lids with black carpet got HOT!

Buy the sheet insulation from a home store...get the green kind ($7-10) in 1/2". Cut to fit all the lids in your boat. I did it on my current Stratos too. Everything stays cooler and it cuts noise down too.

What glue did you use to install it?

[Fishysam]

Styrofoam, then vacuum seal it with a nice heavy bag. This will work for mower coolers not sure about livewells.

[fishon396]

You may not need glue if you cut the exact size mine all fit snug and have never fallen out. I did wrap the edges of mine with some aluminum silver like tape that air conditioning people use to keep that insulation from coming out. If you do need something I would use Velcro it won’t take much get some at Lowe’s or HD.