I've been looking for a commercial insulated fish, ice box, Bonar, Exactic, etc.
I could use it for storing frozen crab bait, or fish racks on ice for a day or two, can't find one anywhere that someone is willing to part with.
Then I remembered these totes, about the right size and cheap, but not insulated....here's my thoughts, cut one down, insulate it with 2" foam board and fabricate a lid.....

Having zero experience with these, wondering what pitfalls there might be. Any suggestions, or insights appreciated...

Of course I could just build an insulated wood box, but the tote idea might be a good option....Thanks.

I would get two totes, one large and one smaller, put the small one inside the larger one on a sheet of foam and pack the sides with more sheet foam, filling the gaps with expanding foam.

The foam would be better protected that way and the cooler should last a long time.

Keith

are you able to move things on and off your boat with a fork lift or skid loader with forks ?


here it all goes in and out by hand through the side door of a fish tug

about a 120 quart igloo cooler with chipped ice in it and a stack of stackable fish boxes

Will it be on the boat? Are you gonna have to move it around a lot? Insulated fish totes are expensive but also REALLY nice to be able to fill with water and drain

Not on the boat, once its down it probably won't be moved, much, I'd prefer the fish tote but a new one doesn't pencil out for me anymore...20 years ago I'd of put a walk in cooler and freezer together, but I'm in the fourth quarter with the timeouts left so...lol

The big Igloo I have is ok for a frozen flat but the racks are the problem, need more space for that and have to keep em cold so they don't sour...

But I may have a work around, my buddy has a walk in freezer and he's willing to freeze trays of bunkers that he's catching and I can transfer those to my big chest freezer....be easier than fooling with the racks and cheaper than the bait guy who has basically run out and is super expensive anyway....

but I'll still keep my eyes open for a fish box....or something....

do you get the waxed cardboard boxes that fish ship in

when my cousin ships fish out to the big buyer in Brooklyn everything is packed in these waxed carboard boxes about 10 pound chipped ice , 50 pounds fish , then about another 10 pounds ice and the lid goes on the box , you get 1250 pounds of fish on a pallet that way stacked 5 high

if you could freeze in those boxes they would fall apart eventually but it would take up the least space in your freezer

If its not going to be moved, I'd look at grabbing an old non working chest freezers freezers. Already insulated, should be free. We tried spray insulating an ibc tote once and it didn't work out very well. Ended up buying an insulated tote.

Back in my crabbing days, I had about a dozen stacking plastic totes. They seem to grow legs and disappear. I got fish frames from several cleaning stations around the charter fleets. Kept them overnight in a rolling barrel or two, inside a walk-in cooler. In the mornings would remove the wheels from the barrels and place the barrels in my skiff. Our preferred crab bait was small Mahi frames. I normally pulled about 75 pots per day on a two-day soak. Lots of fun when catching crabs but hot and frustrating when the catch was short.

PITFALL: You better know ABSOLUTELY FOR SURE, WITHOUT A DOUBT, Just exactly what was in there first! Many ae used for toxic chemicals.