Pelican 20 Quart Cooler

Yes! Another Cooler for Discussion!

The Pelican 20 Quart.

As of writing this, $225 @Amazon, Pelican ProGear 20 Quart. Compare to Yeti Tundra 35, $360 (@Amazon)

Your first reaction, like mine was... "20 vs 35, clearly the Yeti will hold more". Well sure--but not as much as you think it does. After I did a bit of research, I was encouraged to do my own calculations of Cubic Inches of interior volume.

Pelican 20: 14.75 * 10 * 8.75 = 1290.625 Cubic Volume
Yeti 35: 14 * 10 * 9.5 = 1330 Cubic Volume

So the Yeti holds 1,330 - 1290 = 39 cubic inches more. Not really all THAT much. Apparently it's some kind of Yeti marketing decision to label it a Yeti 35... when it doesn't actually hold 35 quarts.

Yeti: 1330 cubic inches by volume = 23 quarts.
Pelican: 1290.625 cubic inches by volume is 22.3 quarts.

So not really all that much difference. For reviews on ice retention when dry camping, the reviews indicate that the Pelican can last "up to 10 days" of ice; of course if following all best practices, etc.

The only con (which maybe could be spun as a "pro") is that this smallest model doesn't have a drain plug. One could spin that into a pro by thinking "well, that's one less place to leak or allow air transference and melt my ice". Online, users of the Pelican 20 have indicated they just cut a small piece of hose (~2ft or less), store it in the cooler, and just use the principles of siphoning and gravity to drain water if needed--but of course the "best practice" for cooler ice is to not drain your ice cold water too often anyway.

A picture below of the cooler in the galley--clearly if I'll be travelling with it in that location, it would need some things tucked under and around it, to prevent it from bouncing around too much.



Pros (for me, everyone is different)
- I could get it in red (ok, maroon, but close enough).
- $360-$225 = $180 cheaper

Although I don't currently do too much dry camping, one day I hope to do more. Like others have done, they'll keep their fridge (Dometic or whatever) in the tow vehicle, and some other cooler in the galley. For me and my (relatively) modest needs, the Pelican is a good fit.