Removing Built in Cooler

[wallacmc]

Problem: my wife and mother-in-law really likes that cooler for its intended purpose. They use it for the drinks and a softsided under the bowfiller cushion for the food. Since we usually stay out all day, it's necessary for them. We don't co out in conjunction with a houseboat or pontoon or anything like that were we can keep the food elsewhere. Who knows maybe some day. If you are ever available for lunch sometime when in the Nati, I'd love to meet up. Both Imapigdog and myself work downtown. Hit me up!

[embo]

Thanks for posting the pics of your project. Interesting to see how things are put together and how others deal with their own projects.

[Dave S]

I use a big Igloo Cube cooler in the back area. It works real nice for me there easy access from boat and water when floating and swimming. I hope to do this same mod as one of my winter projects.

Booms, can you post another pic of it after it is all complete. I am just trying to visualize the final look, is there just a fiberglass edge under the cooler or is it finished? Will I need some gelcoat work to make it look as stock as possible. I never intend on putting a cooler back in as the new Z1's are this way. I just want to make sure I do it right the first time because there will be no going back.

[Greg Mallek]

IM with Duffy. the location, and accesability of the cooler in the 24V is TERRIBLE. I us mine for extra ropes, parts etc. Using it for practical use is just, um, un-practical.

[Booms]

I had a request for a few photos of the results on the fieber glass when I cut out the cooler. Here is the only image I have of the opening after the cooler was removed. I will take more pictures in the next few weeks when I am back up at the cottage.
You can see in the picture I could not get the sawzall cut close to the top of the fiberglass. So there is a 1/2 to 5/8 inch thick rim around the opening that is left over of the cooler. I sanded that and made it a rounded corner.

[NICKYPOO]

Just to add a couple cents; A Dremel Multimax with a heavy duty wood/metal bit wood have been the perfect tool for this job. Not nearly as lethal as a sawzall yet cuts fiberglass like butter. Leaves a nice, clean, straight edge that is easily sanded by hand to smooth out. I cut a lot of pieces out of my boat with it and it works like dream, albeit a noisy dream. Wear ear plugs.

[zippCarlson]

Took mine out today

I just finished cutting the cooler out of my 2009 rz2. I used a Dremmel 300 with 1 1/2 in fiber metal cutting disc. It cut through the deal no problem at all! The only drawback was it was a huge mess!! After the first few inches I got out my shopvac, put the dry filter in it ( if you don't use a dry dust filter the fine dust will just blow out the back of your shopvac and that's experience talking right there) and held the Dremmel with one hand and the vac with the other. It was still a mess but much less than it could have been. Upon removal, I found that my cooler was sitting on a block of foam inside a plastic bag. Apparently to support the weight of people standing in the cooler anyway, now it's out and I picked up a ton of extra space in the starboard side. One thing to watch, there are some screws that penetrate into the area from the cup holders that will need to be covered with something if I am going to fill tht area with some big momma sac!

[Surf406]

cooler foes

i cut one out of an 08 rz4 and ur right that glue is tuff sh--t, i ended up using aair dremmil saw and went right to the top of the cooler and cut it out and did a little bit of grinding to clean up the sharp edges put in new carpet glued it down and it looks great.

[NICKYPOO]

Multimax! Sears Outlet has factory reconditioned units with a 2 year warranty for $45.

[Booms]

This is great to see all of you cutting out our coolers. I finally put carpet in last weekend. I will take pictures. It looks snice. Plus with the custom surf sac you get a great dark side wave.
Surf on my friends...

[bigskymudflaps]

Victory!!!!!! The cooler and I had a bit of a tussle last night. Despite a few scraped knuckles, I won. She came out in one piece with no serious damage to the cooler, boat, or myself. It was no easy task, but it seems worth it in the end. I have a cooler that I could reinstall and no rough edges to sand down. Besides a lot of elbow grease, the only tools I used are shown. If I had a smaller blade, it would have been better. The chisel / multi-purpose scraper was a bit hard to pound into the seam.

I started with chipping out enough foam under the cooler to release it if I could get it loose. I then chiseled away from the underside at the seam. Access is pretty limited, but once I got the stern loose, the sides went much more easily. The flat head screwdriver penetrated the glue well and I used the phillips to wedge under to get more leverage when I was prying. I also chiseled from the topside of the cooler a bit. Be careful if you are chiseling from the topside, the gelcoat on the edge of the boat will chip easily. With a bit of jumping, a little bit more chiseling, it came loose. Can't fault tige for using some good glue.