Marine Cooler/Seat Permanent Mount

[FloterBoter]

thinking about adding two marine coolers to our open area out front.
would add one on each side. i'd like to have them double as seats
when at anchor. coolers something like this:




i'm concerned about the cooler mounts and about the seat cushions.
has anyone mounted a cooler permanently? i don't like the mount kits
all that much:




these coolers won't be inside the pontoon fenced area so they will
be very noticeable. sometimes we dock the boat overnight while on trips,
and anyone could walk up, pop off the bungees and walk away with the cooler.

i don't like the turnbuckle kits because they look like they'll tear up bare feet:




i'll probably just run a ss threaded shaft up from the deck with a hook at the top.
then it would take a wrench to remove the mount.

has anyone mounted a marine cooler in some permanent way?


there are also these marine cooler cushions:




i doubt they would stay on when trailering the boat down the freeway.
and i don't want to add another item to my pre and post boating checklists.


what i really want is a pair of these, maybe without the swing back:




but i'm not spending 600 bucks for two cooler seats.

anyone have any ideas?

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[WoodenPontoon]

Hey Float,

Do you intend to remove the coolers or leave them permanately mounted to your deck?

If you want to leave them, you could put rubber washers on S/S Lag screws and attach them to the deck from inside the coolers.

If you want to remove them, you might use the corner locks and add a bicycle lock between the cooler and the anchor blocks. That way they wouldn't be as easy to steal.

[FloterBoter]

thanks, wp. i think i'll leave them onboard permanently, because if we
use the white coolers for other things and set them in the mud a few
times, i don't think they'll stay white for very long.

i had wondered if there were coolers that mounted from the inside through
the bottom. it'd be nice if they had molded holes in them, with some sort
of sealing cover for when not mounted. i'm hesitant to drill my own
holes because it'll probably void the warranty. years ago i had an
igloo cooler break a handle one month before the 5 year warranty
ran out. i took it back to fleet farm and they traded it for a new cooler.

a cable lock isn't a bad idea. in general, i don't like the corner mounts,
looks messy to me. i'm really leaning toward your idea of drilling the
holes through the bottom. i would use a ss bolt because my deck is
now extruded aluminum, so i'd have a fender washer and nut below,
and probably a large fender washer and rubber washer inside. gotta
think about that.

we're not sure how well these coolers will work out. we currently load
up our wheeled coolers in the kitchen or garage and then wheel them
out to the boat. lifting them up onto the deck is a PIA, and they carry
dirt and pine needles along with them. so we'd have to come up with
a cart to pull the stuff out in. the food can go in soft sided coolers
which can be set in the big coolers (or in our center island cabinet).
but the bottles and cans end up being handled twice.

one of the things i'm trying to get away from is having all of our guests
bring their own cooler. we end up with 6 or 8 coolers of all different
colors out on the front of the boat. it's like a sign to the lake patrol
saying, "beer soaks on board--stop this boat!" and bringing coolers
inside the fence means you're always tripping over them. having the
large coolers out front would be nicer, but then the guests have to
transfer their cooler contents to the marine cooler and then run their
cooler back to their car.

i don't know, just trying to think this through before spending hundreds
drilling holes in my deck.

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[dockholiday]

I looked at these Igloo coolers a good bit last year, but since I have 4 or 5 of varying sizes couldn't really justify the purchase. Since they claim to keep ice 5 to 7 days think the permanent mount would be the way to go.
Actually favor the turnbuckle mount more than the bungee mount (guess that is what it is). You could slid a three quarter pvc pipe over it, cut in two sections so it would slid up when you wanted to utilize the turnbuckle, and being white should match well with the cooler. The seat cushion coolers are my favorite and will probably get one eventually.
doc

[FloterBoter]

well, all of my clean living is finally paying off.

i found seat bases like the cooler base on this one:




they were local to me, and i was able to buy two of them pretty cheap.
now i will have top cushions made to match our furniture (or try it ourselves)
and i'll have exactly what i want!

yahoooooooooooo!

[EGlideRider]

A friend of mine did what you want to do. He used SS screws through the cooler bottom with rubber washers to mount the cooler to the deck. He also drilled a 3/4" hole through the cooler and deck and added a PVC pipe for drainage.