Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

[marktwainsonic]

We are trying to use the season and the economy to upgrade our boat. Our 17 foot Mark Twain is getting too small. We are a family of 6...and sometimes a cousin or in-law will go along with us.

I had hoped to upgrade a couple of feet and have found a few bowriders that are in a reasonable price range (I have read the posts that the bowrider is perhaps not the best layout for a family boat, but so far that's what I'm confined to).

However, one of the limitations we face is not how many people a boat seats, but where all their "stuff" goes.

With the four kids, we have at least three bags of snacks and towels and extra clothes. And a full size cooler.

Although a couple of bags stuff under the passenger side console, by the time you get the life jackets out there's crap scattered all over the boat, and it is very difficult to move around the cooler.

The reason I ask is, looking at 19 and 20 footers, I don't see that they're considerably better than what I have now. When you get up to a 21 foot boat (BR), I can see that you could set a cooler on the floor and it would still be fairly roomy.

So, my questions are:

1. Why aren't bowriders built with more storage (I know that some of the newer models have a built in cooler spot)?

2. And more importantly, how do you overcome this situation? Where do you put your cooler and gear so that the floorplan of the boat is still usable?

Looking forward to your wisdom. Thanks!

 

[veritas honus]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

Marktwainsonic,

My boat has an integrated swim platform with the ladder on the port side. The starboard side is the perfect place to strap my cooler. When I take the 72qt. cooler, it takes up 1/2 the swim platform, but that's OK for my family and I. Hope this helps.

 

[mikeneal]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

Every boat is different. I have a 20' CC bowrider and has dedicated cooler space under one side of the back seat. For times when I need more space then the igloo 72 qt that fits there I use a second cooler and a piece of anti skid drawer liner to keep it in one place in the bow. IMO full on integrated coolers are a pain in the butt to load/unload.

 

[mike343]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

You will find a lot more room for "stuff" and coolers on a deck boat. Lots of room under the seats. My Glastron DX235 (probably bigger than you need) even has qa cooler under one of the bow seat cushions.

 

[scipper77]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

Get a pontoon.

But if you must have a bowrider then many have a built in cooler under one of the bow seats. These coolers are a pain to clean out however. I have a full swim deck on my boat so I just bungee the "big" cooler to the swim deck when I bring it. If I only bring the "small" cooler then I put it in place of one of the stern seats. I don't like people sitting there anyways as it effects the boats ability to plane out.

 

[642mx]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

My Hammer has a spot in the floor which is super nice! My previous boat (Baja 180 Islander) had an area under the helm to slide the cooler in and the straps kept it from moving around. (it limited my leg room, but freed up space for everyone else).

FWIW, I also have a soft sided cooler (Polar Bear brand) that could fit under seats and in tight area's that a plastic cooler won't fit. You might look into one, they are not cheap, but work well.

 

[gjm700]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

Storage varies from boat to boat. Some makes of Bowriders have terrific storage. Under front seats, back seats, infloor & console. Plenty of room for coolers.

 

[timdan94]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

My boats is built right into the boat up front. I'm seeing more and more boat manufacturers doing this.

 

[bajabuddy]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

Under the helm. That way it is always in reach and out of the way. When we are beached, it goes to the bow where it stays at reach all the time!

 

[5150abf]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

Have you ever though of a pontoon?

Seems like it would be the perfect boat for you, set up right you could ski or tube and there is a ton of room even on a smaller boat like a 20'er, heck you can even have a changin room.

Just a thought.

 

[paultjohnson]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

My cooler goes right in front of the engine cover, dead center. I can set my throwable cushon on it and it makes an ok extra seat. I try to keep my personnal gear under the drivers dash and everybody elses under the passengers dash. I have a built in cooler with an overboard drain under the port bow seat. but its a non insulated ice eater. So I use that to store my garbage bag and cleaning supplies/rags and such. And if the water is rough at all, everything bounces around up front. Back by the engine is much smoother.

 

[aspeck]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

My 19' CC Bowrider doesn't have any rear seating, so my coolers are padded and used as rear seating. I have gotten deck hatches that I am going to be installing in place of the front seat pads so I have storage under the front seats (will probably put some plastic storage chests under the hatches to keep stuff dry and out of the under deck fumes and smells). Storage is the worst thing about my SeaMaster. I am doing the best I can to recoup storage space. Be creative ... you will find room.

 

[scipper77]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

You could turn your port seating into a bench with cooler storage underneath.

I think something with a full swim deck will give you the best option for additional storage. As your kids grow do you think you will quickly outgrow the new boat??

I'm guessing you trailer, making a pontoon less desirable, but I would really recommend you consider this option.

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

IMO I don't understand where people come off that a bow rider isn't the perfect family boat. It may be that its just not perfect for your family but for mine, we wouldn't dream of anything else. I think that the real possibility is that the OP's main issue is that your looking at boats that are simply too small for the load you wish to be able to carry, and this can be due to several reasons most likely price. I have a 248 BR thats roughly 25' I have myself, wife one son three daughters and a Lab. Plenty of room, add friends for kids still fine a cooler no problem, we used to carry ours next to the motor under the engine cover behind the back lounge but this quickly moved since the kids are always in the cooler so accessability became the priority, so we place it in front of the back lounge and place a towel over it now passengers just use it for a leg rest. The inflatables are deflated and placed in either insulated storage compartment next to the motor, and I carry a 110v air compressor/deflater which I plug into an inverter I installed. Skiis and wakeboards are in the belly storage. We have a Crownline which is known for its wide open floor plan and wide selection of motors for sport or fuel savings. I can't speak highly enough about our boat we absolutely love it, so to the OP I would just say look deeper, into the immense pool of available boats today for what is the perfect boat for you, if thats a pontoon thats fine, for me I didn't want to be limited to 25 mph and I simply cannot afford a 60 mph pontoon but I found my boat for $25,000 in perfect shape, it was more then I wanted to spend but it was absolutely worth it. Look around and be patient, your boat is out there, sit down with your wife and figure out your main priorities in the perfect boat, then secondary priorities and so on. Then post or search for those priorities. Leave the kids out of it at first because they just dilute and confuse everything and you pretty much already know what they want!!

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

One more thing if you have daughters make sure they know in advance that the inverter simply does not have enough power to handle hair dryers curling irons and hair straighteners just a little advise from someone who knows from experience! also all of my safety vests are under the front seats, we carry 14 PFD's of various sizes, I tend to keep most of the PFD's that the kids grow out of in case we have little ones join us but they stay at home until needed.

 

[ziggy]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

I think that the real possibility is that the OP's main issue is that your looking at boats that are simply too small for the load you wish to be able to carry

that's where i think the op is at too...

my 19' closed bow is rated at 6 persons. i find it works well with 2. me and the sweety.

my cooler always goes here...

i can still get 3 or 4 onboard with this configuration. but it starts to get tight with 4. specially if one is a child.

 

[bear_69cuda]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

Ziggy,

What a killer boat!

I'd love to see more pics! It looks mint!

My deck boat has two built-in coolers, and one that stores under where my crazy friend Patrick is resting his arm. Hurricane boats have insane amounts of storage. We store food and ice for drinks in that cooler...

 

[ziggy]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

Ziggy,

What a killer boat!

I'd love to see more pics!

hopefully w/o jacking the op's thread, ya can see a few more here. http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=369598 i got over a hundred pics in my photobucket album. most have been posted up here on iboats in one place or another.

It looks mint!

it's unrestored so it's not mint, i assure you. used and serviceable would be a better description...

thanks for the compliment on my boat. it is a unique boat for sure... i just wanted to show the op where i put my cooler on a old boat that don't have a lot of cubby stash type places...
actually, my nineteen is advertised as a boat that has a built in cooler. which it does. right behind the closed bow and between the helm and passenger seats. http://www.aristocraftboats.com/fiberglassbrochures/1971CompareSheet.pdf i use that area for storage.

 

[marktwainsonic]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

Thanks to everyone who posted. There's some good stuff in here. Most of the assumptions made about our limitations are correct: we are a bit limited by price and availability in our area.

We're being patient, but want to try to take advantage of the season and economy to save money on a purchase that we might not be able to make at another time.

I'll also pitch in our #1 priority: reliability. While we have occasionally run across boats that would serve our layout purposes better, I am aiming for a boat that is in the best mechanical condition I can afford.

Thanks for all the replies!

 

[sqbtr]

Re: Where Do You Put Your Cooler?

I took the back seats out of mine and built a 3/4 sun deck. Starboard side is partitioned off storage, port is cooler above the batteries. Gets crowded with 5 on board, 3 is perfect.