Yeti Tundra 45 review: A utilitarian cooler that really does the job

Phil Sampson has been out and about for Motor Boat & Yachting testing a range of boat coolers. Here he takes a close look at the Yeti Tundra 45

It would be cruel to describe the Yeti Tundra 45 as the ugly sister of the Yeti Hopper Flip, but there’s no escaping the fact that this is utilitarian boat cooler designed to do its job rather than one that courts admiring glances from the chattering classes.

Consequently, the Yeti Tundra 45 would be just as at home keeping the bait cool on a fishing boat off a windswept coastline as it would chilling the Prosecco in a balmy Mediterranean bay. Yeti have done what they can to mitigate this focus on functionality by offering the Tundra in an even greater range of bonkers colours than its Hopper Flip stablemate.

Yeti’s catchphrase is Built for the Wild, and when applied to the Yeti Tundra 45 they say that translates to Wildly Stronger. And there’s plenty to back up that claim.

For starters, the unit is rotomoulded, which means its virtually indestructible. For the uninitiated, rotomoulding is a plastic moulding process where plastic powder is heated and rotated in a mold to form hollow, and often complex, one-piece items. In the case of the Tundra 45, the outcome is extra-thick walls which contain up to two inches of insulation.

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Yeti somewhat ungraciously call it their Fatwall design, but I get the point. In our trial the Fatwall performed as well as any other box I tested, ending up almost 2°C below ambient a full 24-hours after our ice packs had been removed.

Other noteworthy features of the Tundra include its ‘T-Rex’ lid latches. Why ‘T-Rex’ I have no idea, but these are heavy duty rubber straps which pull the lid firmly down onto the unit’s freezer-quality Coldlock gasket to ensure a good seal is maintained at all times.

Non-slip feet, hinges which Yeti boldly dub ‘Neverfail’, tie-down slots, drain hole, and strong carry handles complete the line-up of this 32.9l coolbox capable of stowing up to 54 cans of beer.

Read our full reviews of all the Best coolers for boaters.

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