Summertime and Roasting in the Cockpit Heat. What's the solution?

[Skypalace]

I use a FAST cool shirt system, passing tubes through the crotch zipper (and up through the 5/6 point hole in my seat).

I had Sparco replace zippers in a couple of suits for me (I've heard of folks having local tailors do it, but Sparco was no more $ and I knew for sure they'd do it properly, use Nomex thread, properly fold the material at the zipper, etc.).

When I was talking to them I specifically asked about how they recommended routing the cool suit lines. They weren't much help - they explicitly recommended against anything going through the suit, whether in the pocket or elsewhere.

I can see their point, esp. from liability standpoint, but not too helpful. I've been thinking of getting some extra nomex (perhaps from a headsock or socks I no longer use) and use it to create an extra 'flap' on the inside of the suit at the hole I cut in a pocket, so there's a layer of nomex right behind the hole (ie. between the hose and me, over where the hole in the pocket would be) to help out.

Re securing cooler in street car, I don't see passenger seat being dangerous as long as it's sufficiently secure (ie. would stay fixed even in a large impact, rolling the car etc.)

I'd strap it into seat using fixed straps (not seatbelts or bungies, but non-stretching ratchet straps, like the 1" wide straps I use for mounting my cool suit into the aluminum carrier I have mounted on the floor (no passenger seat). Fix it to seatback securely with one strap, and to seat bottom with one or preferably two more straps, and it won't move, even in an accident, as long as all slack is taken up, and what you're mounting to is rigid (ie. seat bottom, or even better getting it around the seat rails if you can).