Sorry. Can't make this one. I have no money, no cool shirt, and no money.

I'll be rejoining the fun in October.

Hey Cameron, sorry we won't see you next week but on a side note, I made my own cool shirt system and we'll see how well it works at T'hill. My wife sewed the shirt but doesn't like the fact that it looks ghetto so she bought me a "real" coolshirt to go with my homemade pump. I had to get new dry break connectors to fit the shirt so I have all the parts and tubing left over.

I think we can build you a system for around $25. I used an old biking jersey that probably wouldn't fit you(it barely fits me)and an old T-shirt. I have most of the tubing and fittings, you'll just need a cooler and pump. I splurged on the cooler($35) but I think a $5 Walmart special will work perfect. The pump I got from West Marine for $12.

I made my own cool shirt as well. Cost my $50 in parts I believe. Alot of that was the dry break fittings. They are in fac the same as the ones on real cool shirts.

I got pump from west marine as as well.

my new shirt is from F.A.S.T. and they use a different dry break connector so I have the others still.

Joe, how well does your system work and did you learn anything to make it work better?

rd7839 wrote:


My system works great, but takes a long time to prime. That means I turn it on, but it does not pump water for a long time. Not sure why, but usally by the warm-up lap I get cold water. Once it starts working it runs great.

Yeah, I'm planning to build myself a cooling system. The no-money thing is really what's keeping me away. I'm surviving on unemployment for the next month and my spare funds have gotten eaten up replacing the bad shocks on the racer and catalytic converter on the Miata.

Haven't decided about sewing a shirt vs. buying one. I do plan to build a cooler/pump system. I might sew the tubes onto the carbon-x undershirt I've got. Although, that will probably lessen the cooling capability.

I think I'm going to go for the F.A.S.T. connectors when I do. They're cheaper than Cool Shirt, and 986 Racing uses those connectors too, and I'd love to have on of their shirts.

Actually, I was thinking of taking a few design cues from how 986 racing does their coolers too. Basically, put a plastic sheet as a solid baffle into the cooler. The pump will be on one side in plain water, going through a heat exchanger coil (buy cheap at Home Despot) sitting in ice water on the other side. Although it probably won't moderate temperature as well as the nice 986 cooler, it should, at least, prevent issues with the bilge pump getting clogged with ice.

Any help I could get would be awesome.