I went apple picking this weekend, and rather than have a bunch of apples rolling around the cargo area, I put them in the underfloor storage. I figure I could fit about 60 lbs under there! Anyway, it got me thinking that the underfloor storage would be really good as a cooler for food when tailgating or camping. Sorta like the Ridgeline's storage area (which is obviously much larger). Just fill it with ice and food. Or even better, is there a good cooler that will fit under there? There's no drain plug on the RDX, but I wonder if one could be made.

 

Nothing a large diameter drill bit can't fix right up

 

Of course, check what's just underneath if you take a drill bit to it, then, you might also be concerned about road dirt/water from rain coming in? You could put a rubber plug in the hole you made I suppose.

 

Use the freezable blue ice packs. No ice to melt. Frozen water bottles also work.

 

Not the best insulation in there but it could work, would keep it relatively cool from the sun compared to the rest of the car, would be cool to build a custom molded cooler that perfectly fits

 

Maybe cut some rigid foam insulation pieces to fit, keep em loose, and set it up only when needed.

 

Yeah I thought about what it would take to make a custom cooler. I don't even know the dimensions of it - it's probably only like 8" deep, right? I'll measure next time.

As for drilling a hole, I'm sure it could be done, but obviously have to look at the undercarriage and where the spare is, make sure it's not going to hit anything.

 

I imagine making a cooler down there you'll lose half the space. It's not even that big to begin with.

 

I see too much downside. I'd much rather have something I can remove, hose out and clean.

 

custom cooler bag might be the way to go. short wide dimensions seem hard to find (from my 60s of googling), so worst case you just buy the material and bring to a tailor to sew them up.

 

I agree. Probably better off with one of those soft sided insulated bag/coolers than something hard sided. Just need to find one that matches the size of the compartment which should be pretty easy since they come in so many different sizes. And, they are flexible so they can crush down to fit. Use the ice packs to keep stuff cold. This is actually a good idea, but inconvenient to get at while driving...

 

Yeah, I was thinking soft-sided, not hard-sided. Though there is this nice tiny cooler that fits 12 cans that I think would fit - and there's enough room for two of them with a lot of other space around;
The measurements are 15" long, 28" wide and 6.5" deep. Those are measurements taken at the bottom of the well - the measurements are slightly larger at the top since it flares up. That works out to about 1.6 cubic feet of space or about the same as a mini-fridge, or a soft-sided cooler that holds about 36 cans of soda. So if it were insulated without losing too much space that would be pretty useful, I think. Maybe not a weekend of camping worth of food, but still a decent amount.

There's nothing I've found that fits well, but I bet I could find someone on Etsy who could make one.