How to unstink a cooler?
 

I don`t usually keep fish but about twice a year I'll bring some home for family. I've got a hundred qt cooler in front of the console and it usually holds rain gear and spare tackle. After using it for a couple of fish I rinsed it out twice and it still stinks! How can I get rid of the smell or should I just buy another cooler?
Slinger

Large grain salt(usually kosher) and a good sponge.Scrub.Then a lemon juice wipe down.

fill it to the top with water with 1/4 cup of beach and leave it over night.

dont dump it over the side though.. a little bit of bleach will kill a lot of marine organisms. Do it in your driveway.

Bleach & water overnight works wonders. Like Eben said, do it in the driveway. My stinky cooler is soaking now.

For coolers, fish boxes, etc, I spray bleach full strength, wait a minute, then rinse. Leave it open to dry.

Negative on the bleach! It does not come out of the cooler material, and will then later infuse into fish/food/ice you put in the cooler...

Lemon, lemon, lemon

1qt. tomato juice, 1pt. baking soda, 3oz. of bleach, 1 eye of newt, and a pluck of Ricky's back hair.:tm:

There is a biodegradable peppermint soap that works.... good for waders to, sleeping bags, etc. etc.

Bleach is not good... it works but you`re dumping it back into the enviro somewhere.

I use whitewall cleaner for bait infested stink boxes.

I like that smell ... I been doing the same thing for years ..My cooler is used for a gear locker inside my vehicle. I keep my waders,,rain gear .low boots, in it. Keeps fish hooks away from that stuff .. If I want to keep a fish I throw stuff out and fish in and ice ..No stink to speak of ... airs out nice .. Get another cooler for her .. keep that one as yours .

Wesley's and a brush, Hot watah rinse...
 

:uhuh:

I use vanilla extract :btu:

Bleach, leave open to dry, Bleach will evaporate!!

Soak in vinegar and water....all natural. That is what I use in my hydration packs when they get funky.....the lemon juice works well also.

ive bleaced my cooler about 7 or 10 times.. since thats how many bass i have killed in the 5 years i have owned it. It hasnt absorbed any bleach and is as good as new :huh:

i kinda like that smell..... it smells like money to me... or war....

slinger I help out on a boat from time to time and we rinse our fish boxes with bleach and water and flip to air dry. The thing is you absolutely have to make sure you rinse the snot out of the drain for the cooler. If you do not bacteria begins to grow there and spread through out the rest of the cooler which youve already cleaned, so clean the drain plug, the drain itself and the threads for the drain and drain cap then rinse the rest of the cooler in whatever you wish, we use soap and water and bleach and water.

I gota try a few of those remedies, imo, a cooler that's been left to sit for a while with bait/fish often times you may as well throw it out, the plastics absorb scent and odor's you scrub and soak it with what ever you want it'll still stink

soft scrub with bleach. I use it all over the boat to.

Here's my favorite remedy:
1. Fill cooler with ice and Heineken bottles.
2. Let chill for 25 minutes.
3. Take out one bottle, remove cap, drink beer.
4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 until all bottles are empty.

This works like a charm. About half-way through the bottles, you'll notice that the smell of the cooler is becoming much less offensive!

That's because the stink of a Heineken is far worse. :yak4:

When I worked in a restaurant we would use nice vinegar and allot of scrubbing to get the fish smell of the cutting boards bleach can contaminate your food and make you ill. If you don’t wrap your fish when you through it in .. I never used lemon juice but thinking of it this could be a nice way to season your fish before you even start to cook it

after normal cleaning with dish soap, if it stinks, i throw a splash of bleach in and wipe it all around. i let it sit open until dry, and then rinse it with water until it isn't slippery with bleach and smells nice and clean.

like ProfM, I use the softscrub w/ bleach all over the boat, and maybe I will try that in the cooler. If I ever get my boat back from the shop....

If the cooler only had fish for a couple days then it should not be that bad and a simple cleaning with simple green (environmentally friendly) and at worst an overnight soak should do the trick.

If the stink got baked into the cooler as in open in the heat you might be screwed. I am another that thinks the bleach is good for a rinse but I would not let the bleach soak into the cooler as it does remain and I do not want my fish having a slight odor of bleach. I will second the softscrub with bleach as this seems to leave less of an odor then straight bleach.

Also, check out your local bait shop and see if you can get some "bubble gum". This stuff is great.

I don't think there's anything wrong with bleach, just make sure it's dilluted according to the directions and rinsed very well.

How do you think just about every homebrewer disenfects their equipment :)

-spence

iodine solution. :gu:

Buy bleach and mix with water...25% mix will kill anything (including AIDS)and makes everything look spotless. Let sit for a while. I clean everything with it and it is cheap. I wash my entire exterior of my house in that too. After its sits, rinse well and you are goodtogo.

I've been throwing bleach in my fish cooler for years without any left over smell. Just rinse it out good.