How To Choose The Best Kayaking Cooler

When you’re out and about on the water this Spring. Summer, or Fall…you’ll want to do your best to stay cool. While kayaking, this can be tough to do as you might be doing many different things from it. However, we feel one of the best kayaking coolers will do wonders for you.

While you might go kayaking on your own or with friends just to paddle around aimlessly for a bit, others might go fishing. If this is something you plan on doing from your kayak, you’ll want a cooler to help keep the fish from spoiling too.

Sure, something that can hold ice for a while will be perfect for potential food and drinks you might take but you’ll find that they serve many purposes.

Before you go out and purchase a cooler, we wanted to let you in on some important information you need to know about them beforehand. Let’s get started.

Soft-Shell vs Hard-Shell

One of the many things that people should know about these coolers is the types that you can look into purchasing. There are many brands that make coolers but only two types one can buy technically. The two you’ll see are the Hard-Shell & Soft-Shell types.

The difference between the two is pretty easy to notice. However, there are some that might look one way but aren’t too. This is what you need to know.

Hard-Shell:

For these cooler types, the outer shell is going to be hard and usually made from something quite powerful. Most are made from something like hard plastic or polypropylene, which makes the outer shell incredibly durable. They can withstand bumps, drops, and some can even handle gunshots.

On the inside, most have polyurethane, often 2 inches thick. This is what helps to keep the contents cool or warm, depending on what is put in them. These hard-shell types typically are capable of keeping the weather out, with latch-openings.

These are made for beach trips, sporting events, parties, etc. Therefore, you’re likely to see them all over the place. Most of the time, they are going to be relatively nice in size but more importantly, they are made to be durable. Therefore, kayaking with a hard-shell cooler makes sense.

Soft-Shell:

Also called “Soft-Sided,” these types of coolers are often able to be quite small and you might have even taken your lunch to school in one of them. They are tough themselves, but usually have something soft to make up their outer shell.

This could be something like nylon, which is usually high in its Denier count.

This means you might see something like 700D in the description. The Denier count measures the thickness of different types of fabric. The higher the count, the thicker the fabric. A soft-shell cooler will need to be higher in its Denier count due to the thickness needed for their fabric.

They’ll also use polyurethane or something equivalent to it inside. They might also use other thermal closures such as zippers or coverings. This will help things of any temp stay whatever temp you need for a while. Various companies have their own particular stuff to use in this department, which will get to later on.

They’re great to take on trips, especially long car rides. Great for hiking, camping, and even fishing

Ice Retention & Liter/Quart Depth

The amount of time your cooler can hold its ice is a VERY important feature for any cooler, especially one of the best coolers for kayaking. However, the amount it can hold is also quite important too. Let’s break all this down.

Ice Retention:

The amount of time most coolers hold ice can be anywhere between 5 hours and a week, depending on how good they are as well as how big they happen to be. The average for most good coolers is usually around one to three days.

This does not mean that ice won’t melt at all in time. In fact, ice melting will most certainly depend on the environment you’re in. If you’re in a climate-controlled home, clearly the ice won’t melt for a while. However, under the hot summer sun at 90+ degrees? Yeah, ice will melt.

How long it takes it to melt completely will obviously, again, depend on the cooler. All the coolers we have added below will make it at least 16 to 24 hours and beyond.

Liter vs Quarts:

Most of the time, you’re going to see some type of information regarding how much a cooler will be able to hold. Since we’re covering the best coolers for kayaking, naturally, the type of cooler we need size-wise will differ from the type one might need for other needs.

Therefore, we’re going to be looking for something between 10 and 40 Quarts. However, some items will say Quarts while others will be in Liters. This is important to remember, as this difference can be critical.

Remember, it may not seem like a lot but it can add up. 1 Quart equals 0.95 liters. The higher things add up, the more it’ll be. For example, 40 Quarts is equal to just over 37 Liters. This can be the difference of a few pounds in weight it can carry, which means more or less ice and items.

Therefore, you need to keep this in mind heavily. For kayaks, you cannot get something too large, so you’ll want to make every bit of space count as a result.

Construction

When you think about the types of coolers you’ll be using, they need to fit the specific needs you’re going to have. That means every single cooler in this case, needs to be perfect for those who kayak. This means we need to find coolers that make sense for that specific need.

With both soft and hard-shell types out there, it’s clear that there are plenty of options for those who kayak. However, construction matters as this will help us determine how big we need it to be as well as how mobile it will end up being.

Yet other stuff matters too, such as the seams used or the number of them. Even things like laser welding or reinforced sections could be important. You also want the inner lining to be well put together too. Essentially, this is what will help keep things cool.

Therefore, it too needs to be well constructed and even relatively thick. Remember that the thicker the inner lining is, the more likely the contents inside will stay cool longer. This goes along with ice retention, of course.

Size:

For example, we’re looking for something that won’t go beyond 30 Quartz in size. While we could go larger, this is the highest we need for a kayak. Ideally, anything from 10 to 30 Quartz will do for our needs.

The reason for this is that we need it to fit the kayak, which is important for a list literally called the best coolers for kayaking, right? Therefore, the size needs to be considered as we want to make sure the cooler chosen will fit our kayak.

Another note on this is that the size you pick will also reflect how much you can take with you too. If you plan to fish, you’ll only be able to catch and keep only so many before your cooler is full.

Perhaps you’re planning just to kayak and camp out, which sounds cool. You can then only take the amount of cooled supplies your cooler can hold. Therefore, you also need to consider the size due to the activities you’ll take part in too.

Mobility:

Mobility is extremely important in this case, as you want to be able to take your cooler with you on your kayak. However, you also want to be able to take it off the kayak too. Therefore, if your cooler is very mobile, you won’t struggle to carry it around once you get off to fish, camp, or simply take a break.

You also want to be able to easily access it if you want to eat or drink something on the water. The most mobile coolers often have easier access as they want you to be able to grab and go.

Soft-Shell or Soft-Side coolers will also have straps to carry the cooler, or at least an easy to access and grab handle. Often, it’ll have both. Therefore, you won’t struggle to carry it around at all.

While many hard-shell coolers won’t have straps, they’ll at least have handles on the top or on the sides. Again, it could even be both. As long as there is a way to easily carry it around…you’re good to go here.

Materials:

While this might not seem as important as the other stuff, the right materials can make or break a good cooler. As mentioned above, many brands use their own technology in their coolers. That is all well and good but the cooler also needs to have proper materials in its construction too.

This means, for example, a soft-side cooler needs to have something like a strong Nylon outer shell that is known for its durability. Meanwhile, hard-shell could be made from Polypropylene or even stainless steel. Both could work well for this type of cooler.

You also want it to be put together well, so all the materials need to make sense for the specific cooler. For example, hard-shell coolers do not need as thick of an inside portion as soft-shell coolers do. As the hard-shell is already adding a layer of thickness as protection.