Couple Uses Yeti Cooler as Life-saving Floatation Device

A couple in Texas clung to a Yeti cooler after its boat capsized in a lake. (Image via KHOU)

There are multiple reasons why bringing a quality cooler onto a boat is a good idea. You can store food and drinks in it, you can keep the catch of the day fresh, and it can save your life. Yes, you read that last one correctly. Jered Caraway and his fianceé, Morgan Mayfield, of Houston, told KHOU that a Yeti cooler saved their lives, as well as their dogs, after their boat took on water in Brazoria National Widlife Refuge. The pair used the cooler to stay afloat in the current.

Caraway and Mayfield were fishing last month in Lost Lake, when their boat started taking on water.

"The top of the boat just started to go back, almost just like the Titanic, and the dogs in the boat just slid to the side, and that's when I realized it wasn't good," Mayfield told KHOU.

Caraway, who has experience working on guided fishing tours, said that the water overwhelmed the boat's pump and drowned both of its engines.

They recognized the sealing properties of their Yeti cooler, and threw their wallets, cellphones and keys into it, and dragged it overboard.

"Once you seal it, you know that your contents aren't going to spill out," Caraway told KHOU. "You know that it's not going to sink because it's reinforced."

They held on to the cooler until they finally landed on a pile of debris, at which point they walked across logs to get picked up by relatives.

Caraway thinks that without the cooler, the story could have ended very differently.

"[It] definitely got us out of the situation, if not saved our lives," he told KHOU.

Previously, we reported that a Fitbit assisted doctors on how to treat a patient, making a potentially life-saving decision. Now, we might be able to add coolers into the category of health care and safety.