What is an inflatable cooler and does it keep things cold? We recently had a chance to revisit the AirSkirts Inflatable Cooler to see how it’s holding up after a few years of use and how effectively it keeps things chilled.

The funny thing - this inflatable cooler is almost like a miniature version of our Flated truck bed topper. This cooler is made of high-quality stitched material and uses an air gap to help keep temperatures at bay inside.

What is the AirSkirts inflatable cooler?

What Airskirts has come out with is an inflatable 58 quart cooler that really has a lot of unique features that serve RVers well. But the most important job a cooler has is to keep the contents cold, of course.

Airskirts cooler uses an air gap to accomplish this and air is a surprisingly good insulator.

Using the included bicycle-style pump you inflate the sections of the Airskirts cooler. But the pump also has a reverse mode to deflate the cooler too and this is part of the magic of this design.

When it’s not busy keeping your beer cold the Airskirts cooler deflates down to a small 14.5 X 27.5” X 6.5” size and fits in a carrying bag with the included pump. This is small enough to fit into just about any storage compartment on an RV and the fact that it weighs just 13.7 pounds with the pump and bag adds to the appeal of this gadget.

The problem with most coolers is simply that they are always taking up a huge amount of space even when they’re just empty.

A brilliant feature

Even with the ability to shrink down into a small size is game changing, my favorite aspect of this cooler is that there is a clear plastic liner. This serves several purposes.

If you do get it messy you can simply bring it to the outdoor shower on your rig or any convenient spot and wash it out. Clean-up is simple. Further, since the liner is a separate item I would imagine it’s far less likely to be gross in short order, which is something I’ve found with more traditional coolers.

Another nice aspect of the liner is that you can have the ice outside the liner such that anything inside the liner stays completely dry. Now that I’ve had a cooler with a liner I never want one without one ever again. It’s amazing how much the liner makes a difference in using and storing this cooler.

The cost of inflation

Despite my laziness I found inflating the cooler to be a breeze. The pump attaches to a very high quality valve mechanism and is really easy to use. In a few strokes the cooler is inflated. There are more than one valve on here so you’ll have to inflate the lid and the body of the cooler separately but it’s no big deal, really.

There’s also a hook-and-loop (you call it Velcro) strap to keep the lid closed and handles on the side as you would expect.

We’ve already been familiar with AirSkirts products as we have an AirLight vent insulator that’s remarkably effective at keeping out the cold or the heat.

Quality

I have come to be very impressed with every aspect of AirSkirts’ products in terms of materials and workmanship. This is no pool toy at all.

But I bet it would float in the pool just the same.

The caliber of materials and stitching are up to the level you might expect of a stand up paddle board or inflatable kayak. You can actually sit on the cooler without feeling like you’re going to damage it which is more than I can say for my Igloo cooler which actually had “not a seat” molded into the plastic at the top.

Of course it was the perfect height so everybody sat on it and damaged the lid such that it wouldn’t seal properly any more and was since donated to some event. That’s not going to happen here as this is pretty solid.

Keeping your cool

In terms of what a cooler is there for, this one is comparable to that Igloo one I had. Being a genuine cheapskate I like to use those freezable ice packs rather than going and actually spending money on frozen water. It seemed that the cooler kept the contents cold and those ice packs close to freezing for most of a pretty hot day.

If absolutely medical cold is your true need in a cooler then this one probably isn’t as effective as one of the 12 volt powered coolers that we have such as the Dometic 12 volt cooler. But those also don’t deflate to easily fit into a small space, either.

I actually would suspect that this cooler would easily outlast many of the budget coolers on the market, including the one that didn’t last one season since people sat on it and damaged it.

Further, that liner is such a nice feature because you can dry it out so it doesn’t get gross between uses and that’s a huge advantage.