Wow. I'm sold! My wife and I flew from KDVT-KINW-KGUP-KSOW-KDVT this morning. She wanted to 'practice' for a flight we're taking to San Antonio next week. Just to get a feel for a longer flight - the longest she's ever been in a plane is not much more than 2 hours. We departed around 8am, OAT was already over 100. I put a 10lb block of ice and emptied a 20oz bottle of water into the cooler. We taxied to get fuel and I left the cooler running (I have a battery) with the doors all closed up. When we got in, the cabin was actually cool. Not cold, mind you, but I would guess around 80 degrees, vs. the usual 100+ we're used to. I closed all the outside air vents and ran the cooler until we were around 7500' MSL, when OAT was about 70 F. Shut the cooler off and we enjoyed a nice 3 hour flight. On descent back into DVT, I fired up the cooler again. It wasn't blowing "cold" air anymore, but it was definitely cooler than the vent air, which was over 100 degrees.
Overall, I am very very satisfied. It worked fantastic! Next time, I'll put 2 10lb blocks of ice, and then fill in the empty space with a bag of cubed ice. I bet I can get 30lbs of ice in there.
Thanks Bob!