Cedar Cooler Chest

Nice, I like how you incorporated the cooler lid into the lid of the chest.

-- Measure twice, cut once, then rout a whole bunch

Looks square from here! Well done.

-- Mother Nature created it, I just assemble it. - It's not ability that we often lack, but the patience to use our ability

Nice job and gives me an idea. May make one for our chruch for next summer outdoor events.

-- Tom Godfrey Landrum South Carolina (tom@thcww.com) 864-384-4938

Nice! After a few beers, it won’t matter if it is square.

Nice job.
That looks similar to one I am fixing to build for a friend as a birthday present.

-- Handcrafted by Mike Henderson - Channelview, Texas

Yes thanks for posting! I’m going to make this for a christmas present for my mom and dad this year! I’ve been looking for a good version to make abd this looks like it. We have a swingset we just took down made of cedar and this is the perfect project to use the wood up.

-- Greg, Owner, Quality Carpet One, www.qualitycarpetonecrofton.com

Love the concept well done

-- It is always the right time, to do the right thing. Lovinghandsmemoryboxs.com

@Ben – How did you rig up your drain? I will be using a 52 qt Igloo and it doesn’t have a drain either.
I plan to use a thru hull and…go from there. :-)

Thanks.

-- Handcrafted by Mike Henderson - Channelview, Texas

Thanks for all the nice comments. I’m glad y’all think it’s cool.

MT_Stringer,
I used a cooler with a drain (36 quart Igloo Marine Walmart f/ $25). I bought some clear hose that fit snug around the outside of the drain plug and at the same time fit snug with the cap at Home Depot and also bought a small hose clamp to secure it. The stock drain plug assembly can be removed from the cooler by unscrewing it, so I did that, then put the cooler in the chest. I then made a mark with a sharpie from inside the cooler onto the face of the chest so I would then know where to drill the hole for the hose. I removed the cooler from the chest, then drilled the hole.I put the drain back on the cooler, then put the cooler back in the chest and put the hose on from the outside and installed the hose clamp from the bottom side.
I have seen some online where they use a hose spicket which looks nice and you may be able to get something like that rigged up. It doesn’t have to hold much pressure so maybe you could drill a hole in the cooler and seal around your drain pipe with silicone or something. Igloo also sells replacement parts on their website so you could maybe buy a drain and retrofit your cooler with it. The advantage to that would the seal and nut that would be included.

-- Ben in Houston

@Ben – thanks for the info. The replacement drain might be the best bet. I will swing by Academy and take a look. I used to have a spare but I think I thew it away last time I cleaned out the garage. :-(

Houston, huh? Small world. :-)

Mike in Channelview

-- Handcrafted by Mike Henderson - Channelview, Texas

Really like it and will be copying it for my backyard. Thanks for such a great idea!

How did you attach the top of the cooler to the lid? Just glue of some sort? I’m going to make one very similar and I even picked up the same cooler to make it.

-- Greg, Owner, Quality Carpet One, www.qualitycarpetonecrofton.com

“How did you attach the top of the cooler to the lid?”
I plan to thru bolt mine with carriage bolts. Sometimes the lids are kinda hard to unlatch. I bought the 52 qt Igloo Family model for under $20. I used to carry the 36 qt on the boat. It was just right size for a half day trip with just me and the missus. Plus it worked great as a stepping stool when I needed to step from the floor up onto the front casting deck. :-)

-- Handcrafted by Mike Henderson - Channelview, Texas

@ BerBer5985 and MT_Stringer… I started the lid by rough cutting some scrap pieces that would make a rough frame around the lid. From there I set the lid upside down and then nailed the pieces to the lid with my 18 gauge nailer so the wood would be flush with the top of the lid when turned back over (not critical). I think the bottom of that piece was pretty flush with the outer lip on the lid (not the part that goes into the cooler). You just dont want that piece preventing you from putting the lid all the way on. I wasnt sure if the nails would be sturdy enough, but it was plenty strong. After I made the rough frame around the lid I stopped working on the lid and moved on to the case for the cooler. This allowed me to test fit the lid with the cooler in the the chest and make any adjustments as well as plan on how to finish the lid. With the rough frame around the lid you can then build out to whatever dimensions you choose. I cut the outside frame pieces of the lid to be tall enough so I could lay the slats for the top just above the top of the lid and then nail them in from the outside.
I also removed the little extrusions on the igloo lid that make it slightly difficult to open by running it through the table saw with the blade raised just high enough to remove them. I made a few passes moving the lid over the blade little bit by little bit, removing a fraction of the “knubs” at a time and test opening the lid on the cooler until it was no longer sticking when trying to open.
Hope this helps… and of course there are probably much better ways to do it than the way I did.

-- Ben in Houston