Revo 13 - cooler ideas inside front hatch?

As of Friday I am the ultra super duper stoked owner of a 2021 Revo 13. After a lot of research over the last couple months I finally pulled the trigger on her and I couldn't be more thrilled, especially after the first maiden voyage on Sunday at ARW (I skunked). I am transitioning from a Passport 12, upon which I use a Wilderness Systems Catch cooler on the bow that works great for most of the gamefish I catch. I decided to secure this cooler to the front deck of the Revo, which basically renders the front hatch useless. After a day out, I realized that I am not the biggest fan of it up there, considering how sleek that kayak is, and how gracious the internal storage in the front hatch is. It's gotta be 150 liters?? Anyway, after poking around a bit, I couldn't find much in terms of coolers that work well inside of the Revo front hatch. The rear of my kayak is where I keep my livewell and safety kit (extra layers, pump) and I feel like I really need to utilize that front hatch for my catch. But I definitely don't want to rawdog it in there.

TLDR: Does anyone have a cooler/Fish storage soultion for inside of the front Revo compartment? Something easy to slip in and out, and slip some (big) fish into with minimal inconvenience?

im thinking about just throwing one of these ice mules behind my crate, some dude in the review said he could fit a bag limit of rockfish in one. I usually throw my wheelies in my front hatch and I dont get in there OTW. but maybe u can fit some sort of dry bag inside ur hatch?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0102B9DI6/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_6?smid=A1JDGMJD2OGRY&psc=1

I strap a hard-shell cooler rigidly into the rear cargo area of my Revolution.  As soon as I catch a fish which I'm going to keep, I put it on ice in the cooler.  For bigger fish, I bleed and/or gut them first.  Hard shell coolers do a good job of keeping ice and fish cold, it's easy to load fish into them, they can hold a lot of ice and fish, and they're easy to clean up at the end of the day.  I've tried two different soft-sided coolers, but didn't like them nearly as much as a hard-sided cooler.  I have different sized coolers which I use, depending on the size and number of fish which I'm hoping to catch.  If I expect to catch fish over 30 inches long, I go with the big boy.  But I don't use a live well. JewliOn could put his safety gear into his front hatch, but the livewell will severely limit the size of the hardshell cooler he could put in his rear cargo area.

Ice tends to slither down between fish and end up on the bottom of the cooler, regardless of how much you try to stir the ice to the top, leaving the fish on top of the pile a long way from any ice.  To keep my fish as cold as possible, I keep at least half of my ice in a mesh bag, as shown in the last picture below.  After I dump a fish into my cooler, I pick up the mesh bag and plop it down on top of my fish.

A long time ago, I lined the front hatch areas of my Revolution and my 13' Trident with closed cell foam from sleeping pads, and kept fish in there in plastic bags with ice.  But the insulation wasn't as good as a hard shell or soft shell cooler, and you tend to develop some funky smells in your kayak because fish goobers and slime get trapped between the foam and the hull of your kayak. Also, it was awkward to slide forward and load fish into the front hatch, reaching over my Mirage Drive pedals.  So I gave up on that idea.

Maybe something like a catch cooler soft duffel could work.

https://www.silverhorde.com/lure-storage-and-kill-bags.html

I have one and it does the job well enough. Never tried putting it in the front hatch though. I’ll take a look at it later and see how it fits and report back.

3$J and OP, I’ve been wondering about the same thing re. the silverhorde catch bag and livewell for the Revo 13. I think there might be room to store the bag in the front hatch without fish, but once a large fish is in the bag, might there be enough room between the back of the seat and the livewell, with the bag ‘perpendicular’ to the length of the kayak (with some custom rigging to keep it in place and safe for re-entry)?

I agree that the front hatch is much too valuable to have unusable (I store all sorts of thing in there depending on my day). The Revo also won’t cut the water as nice with 40lbs of fish and ice on the bow 

Currently, I use the silverhorde bag occasionally, most of the time use the large reliable bag in the rear well, but that leaves no room for a live well, which I would like to get eventually. How to store both a kill bag and the livewell on the Revo?

Thanks for the question...

Haha Sakana I love that photo of that thresher tail hanging out. Great pic. That's how I rock my kill bag too. The kill bag+ Livewell definitely presents a problem. If you going for salmon shouldn't need the livewell, right? Otherwise id go with 3$J's idea. Or just get a Stealth. Problem solved. Congrats on the the new Revo though. Sweet boat!   

Are you saying a stealth is a the ultimate fish bag?  “Hey, check out this keelah fiberglass fish hull, let’s build a kayak and a livewell around it!   Do you think it’ll sell?”

I bought a Dakine Ulua fish backpack.  It straps down flat, ice gets lost but I like that it’s flat.  Don’t use it much.  Ikijime and burlap keeps fish well until I get to my cooler in the vehicle.

good old fashioned Burlap sack, still to this day. Dunk it or just pour water on throughout the day ,hasnt failed me yet

Plus if you dont catch anything, the payload is very light.

good old fashioned Burlap sack, still to this day. Dunk it or just pour water on throughout the day ,hasnt failed me yet

Plus if you dont catch anything, the payload is very light.

Boom!  He throws down the glove...it’s always good to come back with a heavier kayak than when you launched!  Let the games begin...

I've been using these shock packs instead of ice for a few years now and have been happy with them. I've had to tape up puncture wounds from RF spines, but they work great. They pair up nicely with a kill bag as they lay flat. I have pre-vantage seat Revo and having the seat in the front plugs allows me to put the kill bag behind me cross wise between my seatback and tackle crate -- it rides great that way and is within easy reach. Look at AlexB's profile photo -- I copied his setup. Might work the same way with your live well.

Cheers,
Brad

https://www.amazon.com/Pack-Large-Cooler-Freeze-Packs/dp/B00V9ITMYC/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=cooler+shock+pack&qid=1614704837&sr=8-7

I'm pretty sure the Hobie medium fish bag fits in the front hatch.

I use the reliable kayak bag and have it behind me.  Front hatch I put a plano storage box or waterproof bag that holds lunch and any tackle that I can't hold on my PFD or in the middle hatch.

For smaller fish, I use a cutout Tubtrug (or Hobie hatch liner) in my Revo's front hatch. In it, I have a damp burlap sack with fish and ice packs over it. It's been working for me, but a proper kill bag is probably better insulated.

Is it possible to DIY a hard-sided cooler that would out-insulate a store-bought cooler. Say, using some semi-rigid foam insulation and fiberglass, kind of like building a surfboard? If so, it should be possible to make a cooler that would be long enough to handle good sized fish and could still slip in and out of the front hatch. I'd sure like to have something like that for my AI, so the front hatch is just wasted space...

I've forgotten to respond to this thread! Thank you all for the ideas and advice. Since the time of this writing, I actually ordered a really awesome kill bag from Kuta Coolers - https://kutacoolers.com/collections/insulated-bags/products/insulated-bags

I thought it might fit inside the hatch perfectly based on the dimensions. But, it ended up being too rigid to fit inside and use effectively. I am at a loss as far as commercially available products are concerned. I ended up keeping the kill bag because it is actually really rad on its own, and has sealed seams unlike the "Reliable" bags.

Is it possible to DIY a hard-sided cooler that would out-insulate a store-bought cooler. Say, using some semi-rigid foam insulation and fiberglass, kind of like building a surfboard? If so, it should be possible to make a cooler that would be long enough to handle good sized fish and could still slip in and out of the front hatch. I'd sure like to have something like that for my AI, so the front hatch is just wasted space...

I am thinking about going the DIY route myself. Some heavy-duty vinyl, foam, adhesive, sewing machine, and some clever pattern-making might just do it. I'm thinking like a kill-bag style but in the shape of a fat carrot . Probably need to finish my other dozen projects I have going before starting this one but its definitely on the list.

... I'm thinking like a kill-bag style but in the shape of a fat carrot ...

The fat carrot is exactly the right shape. If you ever do get to this project, post your results. I like rigid coolers, just because they are so much easier to clean,  but any way to make the front hatch into an effective cooler would be a big win...