paulgug
04-26-2013, 05:13 PM
Hey guys,
I am looking to build a meat cooler on to my 6’ X 12’ flatbed trailer. I was thinking of building a 3’ X 6’ by 5’ high box in the middle of the trailer. This would leave 4.5’ on the front and back for 2 ATV’s mounted sideways on the trailer. If I built an insulated cooler box in the middle of the trailer, does anybody know if a air conditioner (standard window mounted type) mounted on the front of the box (probably near the top) would be sufficient to keep quarters cool enough. I hunt in the East Kootenays in September for elk. The temperature in the shade gets up to 20 C in the day and drops to 5 to 0 C at night. The other idea would be like the cooler I have at home which is a freezer with the lid removed and an enclosure built around it. I have a fan mounted in the bottom to circulate the air. It works OK but the temperature varies quite a bit from the top to the bottom. A hind quarter because of it’s length will start to freeze at the bottom if I don’t keep a close eye on it. It is also hard to lift the quarters over the front edge of the freezer to hang them up. If I use the air conditioner idea it would be much easier to hang the quarters in the cooler. I would probabely turn on the air conditioner after the morning hunt and shut it down before bed and open the doors to let it breath and get the cool air at night. Then I would close it up in the morning. We don’t often have any bear problems when we hang the meat up on a meat pole in the area that we hunt but would like to think of a way to deter bears from entering the cooler at night when the doors are open.
Any ideas or comments would be great.
I am looking to build a meat cooler on to my 6’ X 12’ flatbed trailer. I was thinking of building a 3’ X 6’ by 5’ high box in the middle of the trailer. This would leave 4.5’ on the front and back for 2 ATV’s mounted sideways on the trailer. If I built an insulated cooler box in the middle of the trailer, does anybody know if a air conditioner (standard window mounted type) mounted on the front of the box (probably near the top) would be sufficient to keep quarters cool enough. I hunt in the East Kootenays in September for elk. The temperature in the shade gets up to 20 C in the day and drops to 5 to 0 C at night. The other idea would be like the cooler I have at home which is a freezer with the lid removed and an enclosure built around it. I have a fan mounted in the bottom to circulate the air. It works OK but the temperature varies quite a bit from the top to the bottom. A hind quarter because of it’s length will start to freeze at the bottom if I don’t keep a close eye on it. It is also hard to lift the quarters over the front edge of the freezer to hang them up. If I use the air conditioner idea it would be much easier to hang the quarters in the cooler. I would probabely turn on the air conditioner after the morning hunt and shut it down before bed and open the doors to let it breath and get the cool air at night. Then I would close it up in the morning. We don’t often have any bear problems when we hang the meat up on a meat pole in the area that we hunt but would like to think of a way to deter bears from entering the cooler at night when the doors are open.
Any ideas or comments would be great.