the 12 coolers I've owned......
3 by now I think ............not one of them worked very well on 12 volts.
a 'very mild cooler' is what I'd call them.
They also were not built to have ice in them.

a 'real' fridge............either one with a compressor like a normal house
type fridge.........and some run on 12 v and 110AC ........
those can work pretty well I believe.
Of course to run the thing camped for a decent spell, you need good aux
battery or batteries, solar panels etc.
Many people are pulling out their propane Dometics and going to compressor
refriderators.

the other fairly decent thing is a propane power fridge like a westy
has......
but doesn't sound like you have a propane system on board, so that's not
much of an option for you I don't think.

that's my suggestion for now .........get a 12 volt compressor
fride.......in a small RV size. After you get that, then the new task is
figuring out how to power it while parked.
And unless they've improved, I won't be trying any of those 12 v coolers
again.
An ice box with ice works much better, plus ice is cheap and the cooler is
portable.  And no wires !

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Chubbuck" <paul@TAKINGFLIGHT.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 6:15 PM
Subject: Coleman DC cooler

> Does anyone on the list have experience with those Coleman DC coolers?
> I'm
> considering the 40qt one for my imminent camping trip in my vanagon.  It
> is
> said to cool down 40 degrees below ambient.  Do you think it is as well
> insulated as a normal ice chest?  It would be great on travel days, but
> much
> of the time when I'm camping, I won't be running the engine, or have
> sufficient battery power to keep it plugged in.  Do you think it would
> continue to keep things cool if there was ice in it?
>
>
>
> Paul