What is the longest time you have held a pork butt in a Cambro / cooler?

[prepperjack]

Definitely preheat the cooler with hot water. That way, you're heating up the cooler with the water rather than it the heat from meat. I have held it for 4 hours in my Coleman coolers, though, and was still well above 140. One idea for you is that if you have a wireless thermometer, put a probe in the meat and monitor the temp on your phone to avoid having to open the cooler and loose heat. I'd be a bit worried about the moisture affecting the base unit, but you could probably jury-rig something

[Le Grill]

Thanks for the feedback, so the 140 danger zone is really what I need to be worried about. I was thinking of a double-cooler w/ towels. (pork in a foil pan, inside a soft-sided cooler, then into my Coleman "5 day" cooler).

I've also heard about pre-heating the hard side cooler with boiling water.

I think I'm inclined to try it, if the temp drops too low I can throw it into my dutch oven on the Coleman stove (or campfire if someone else has one going already when we get there.

[pkadare]

A lot depends on your cooler, and how well you wrap it all up. 6 hours would be pushing it I think. The longest I've done is 5 hours and it was pretty close to 140* when I decided to be safe and throw it into a 170* warming drawer in my oven. I'd probably be inclined to take rickgregory's advice and cook and pull ahead of time and then reheat when you arrive. Dump it all into a large tinfoil pan with the juices and perhaps some sauce, cover, then heat. Whatever you decide, make sure you monitor the temp if you decide to cook and then pull when you arrive.

[rickgregory]

Are you going to eat it right as you get there? If so, do you really need to setup the tent (and... an HOUR for that? I want pics of this pleasure dome!!! ).

Your other option would be to make it ahead, pull, cool and reheat. Mostly you want to avoid lots of time in the 40-140 zone. If you do try this, I'd also insulate it well in the cooler - towels, etc etc.

[Le Grill]

We are going camping this weekend and I want to smoke a 6lb pork shoulder (for pulled pork) and take it with us.

4.5 hour drive + 1 hour tent setup time = ~6 hours holding time. I can time the pork butt to finish cooking just before I leave. I have several different size coolers, plenty of aluminum foil and one of these microwaveable heat pads: https://tinyurl.com/3xwxmtrm

Looking for feedback on anyone who has attempted this. Thanks in advance!