I am a sucker for the REI 20% off one item coupons.

I am a fan of the Yeti coolers and have considered adding a Backflip 24 to my gear collection. Anyone use one of these for canoe tripping?

If I went this direction I would be adding to the weight of my current tripping set-up but, it would allow me to bring fresh food rather than 100% dry food.

Thanks for your input.

Never used one, but seems to me you have a handle on the pro and con of the issue.

I have been in the same place as you are many times. I always stick with the dry food because: 1) the food is much lighter, 2) the food takes almost no prep and is always ready to eat in 20 minutes while you are doing something else, 3) we eat it right out of the pouch so all we have to wash are sporks, 4) you have to hang a cooler/insulated food pack whereas you can hide a Bear Vault (or similar) or tie an Ursack to a tree, and 5) a mouse, chipmunk, squirrel or ? can't get into an bear barrel or and Ursack All-Mitey. Freeze dried food gets better all the time. The dehydrated and freeze dried food I take along is good enough to eat at home. If I am out in the woods sleeping on an air mattress, and not taking a shower for a week, I can certainly go without fresh food. You can always catch fish, at least that's what I'm told. Lastly, you are still going to bring some dried food so now you are transporting two different food storage systems.

Looks cool! pun intended.

Several years ago, I went with a soft-side polar bear cooler. Polar Bear

It works well enough and I like being able to put it into a smaller pack as we reduce the contents. Less expensive option, as well.

I don't have one, but some paddling friends have had the 18 for a year I guess? They really like it but said for about the same price they could have bought the 24. They said they will probably upgrade to a 24 next year. I HAD a picture of it in the foreground of a picture, but "cropped" it out. But if you look closely, it's sitting behind her seat:

I have had a yeti hopper 30 for about 4 years and taken it on a dozen or so overnight canoe trips. I love it. I've used it at least 100 days a year since getting it.

I packed a couple limits of trout out with it at the end of an 8 day trip into the BWCA. Hard to beat that. On that trip it entered the BWCA with 2x 10# blocks of ice, two one gallon ziploc bags of frozen pulled pork and cubes to fill. It was opened just three times on the trip: twice to pull a bag out and a third time to put fish in it. Only a couple chunks left by the time we made it to Grand Marais to buy more ice... but we were coming off of Kekekabic :)

I have access to a chest freezer here near Duluth... I normally pack one 10# block of ice and freezer bagged meals into the yeti and place the entire cooler into the chest freezer overnight. Otherwise it gets a sacrificial bag of cubes just to chill the cooler before adding anything else.

I really like the triangular shape of the hopper because if you set it on it's side it fits in that awkward space behind the stern seat of a tandem really well.

The hopper doesn't have backpack straps like the backflip, instead it has a single strap that you can throw over your shoulder and carry with a backpack. I've also used the strap as a tump line. I have taken it on a couple single-portage trips and whoever doesn't have the canoe just gets the yeti/paddles/poles. Most of the time when it comes time to pack out the cooler is empty and gets the trash bag. If ultralight and fast travel is the game plan, I do leave it at home.

Mine is about wore out... I managed to melt two holes in it ice fishing which I repaired with high-dollar caulking. When they say to use the provided lube on the zipper regularly they really mean it! And not just at the U-Dock, along the whole length. Mine no longer keeps an airtight seal as some rubber has begun flaking off along the zipper which I blame on myself not lubricating it enough as the instructions say. It's also bounced down a couple rivers and one time was used inadvertently as a chock block (adjust your parking brake regularly, folks!) Given how hard I have been on it, it has held up well.

Z4K: "I have had a yeti hopper 30 for about 4 years and taken it on a dozen or so overnight canoe trips. I love it. I've used it at least 100 days a year since getting it.


I packed a couple limits of trout out with it at the end of an 8 day trip into the BWCA. Hard to beat that. On that trip it entered the BWCA with 2x 10# blocks of ice, two one gallon ziploc bags of frozen pulled pork and cubes to fill. It was opened just three times on the trip: twice to pull a bag out and a third time to put fish in it. Only a couple chunks left by the time we made it to Grand Marais to buy more ice... but we were coming off of Kekekabic :)


I have access to a chest freezer here near Duluth... I normally pack one 10# block of ice and freezer bagged meals into the yeti and place the entire cooler into the chest freezer overnight. Otherwise it gets a sacrificial bag of cubes just to chill the cooler before adding anything else.


I really like the triangular shape of the hopper because if you set it on it's side it fits in that awkward space behind the stern seat of a tandem really well.


The hopper doesn't have backpack straps like the backflip, instead it has a single strap that you can throw over your shoulder and carry with a backpack. I've also used the strap as a tump line. I have taken it on a couple single-portage trips and whoever doesn't have the canoe just gets the yeti/paddles/poles. Most of the time when it comes time to pack out the cooler is empty and gets the trash bag. If ultralight and fast travel is the game plan, I do leave it at home.


Mine is about wore out... I managed to melt two holes in it ice fishing which I repaired with high-dollar caulking. When they say to use the provided lube on the zipper regularly they really mean it! And not just at the U-Dock, along the whole length. Mine no longer keeps an airtight seal as some rubber has begun flaking off along the zipper which I blame on myself not lubricating it enough as the instructions say. It's also bounced down a couple rivers and one time was used inadvertently as a chock block (adjust your parking brake regularly, folks!) Given how hard I have been on it, it has held up well.


"

You paint a vivid picture Z4K.

Thanks

Z4K: "I have had a yeti hopper 30 for about 4 years and taken it on a dozen or so overnight canoe trips. I love it. I've used it at least 100 days a year since getting it.


I packed a couple limits of trout out with it at the end of an 8 day trip into the BWCA. Hard to beat that. On that trip it entered the BWCA with 2x 10# blocks of ice, two one gallon ziploc bags of frozen pulled pork and cubes to fill. It was opened just three times on the trip: twice to pull a bag out and a third time to put fish in it. Only a couple chunks left by the time we made it to Grand Marais to buy more ice... but we were coming off of Kekekabic :)


I have access to a chest freezer here near Duluth... I normally pack one 10# block of ice and freezer bagged meals into the yeti and place the entire cooler into the chest freezer overnight. Otherwise it gets a sacrificial bag of cubes just to chill the cooler before adding anything else.


I really like the triangular shape of the hopper because if you set it on it's side it fits in that awkward space behind the stern seat of a tandem really well.


The hopper doesn't have backpack straps like the backflip, instead it has a single strap that you can throw over your shoulder and carry with a backpack. I've also used the strap as a tump line. I have taken it on a couple single-portage trips and whoever doesn't have the canoe just gets the yeti/paddles/poles. Most of the time when it comes time to pack out the cooler is empty and gets the trash bag. If ultralight and fast travel is the game plan, I do leave it at home.


Mine is about wore out... I managed to melt two holes in it ice fishing which I repaired with high-dollar caulking. When they say to use the provided lube on the zipper regularly they really mean it! And not just at the U-Dock, along the whole length. Mine no longer keeps an airtight seal as some rubber has begun flaking off along the zipper which I blame on myself not lubricating it enough as the instructions say. It's also bounced down a couple rivers and one time was used inadvertently as a chock block (adjust your parking brake regularly, folks!) Given how hard I have been on it, it has held up well.


"

I'm with you on the pros and cons. To me, the deal maker would be having the option of packing out a limit of walleyes, pike or lakers (or all of the above) to share with my friends or (more importantly) my wife who graciously lets me go up for a week every year while she stays home with our 3 kids (all under 5 years old....).

I bought one last year specifically for the bwca, and I've used it on one trip. We do a group trip with 8 total, base camping. We packed in fresh food in the yeti, and it worked great. We double portaged, it would be difficult to carry in front if you had another pack on your back. It is comfortable even loaded down with heavy frozen meat. We loaded it with frozen food, and still had frozen bacon and fresh eggs on day 4, but it was cool out in early June which I'm sure helped. It holds a fair amount, but with 8 people it didn't hold all of our food. Dry food was in a separate pack.

I'm going to try and do a group of 4 this year and fit all of the food in it, still bringing fresh food for each day. I really like the yeti, the bwca trips were just an excuse to buy it. I expect we will still have a little dry food in a separate pack. For 2 people, it should work well as a food pack.

You will like the Backflip.

The older I get, the less weight I want to carry in a single trip, so I need to double portage lighter loads.

I retired my large insulated food pack in exchange for a Polar Bear backpack cooler.

I use it to transport and store all the food on solo trips, overnight, or day trips.

Its big enough to store frozen food for 2 for 4 or 5 days, with steaks on the bottom just thawing out on day 4

Dry food going in a g 6 gallon bucket with a gamma lid, in a CCS barrel pack.