What is this floating compartment?

[junkDriver]

Hi everyone! I inherited an older Coleman Horizon 400 series spa with the house. There's a triangular compartment built into the corner of the spa that holds a container with the lid.

The lid itself is fairly water-tight, so I suspect it was built to store things, but the compartment itself is a container that is sitting inside the spa, and the minute enough people climb into the spa to raise the waterline, it pours into the compartment, and the container starts floating. It's super annoying: the water gets in there, and there's no way to get it out other than try to use container as a plunger. The water can get moldy in there, because once it gets in, it stays in the compartment and is not getting circulated.

Any idea what this is and how to deal with it?

Thank you!

[RDspaguy]

It's the drink cooler. Just one of many bad ideas that have come and gone.

Is there a drain hole in the compartment under the removeable ice bin? It might be clogged. If not, you might put one in, but you will lose the water that overflows into it.

Perhaps you are putting more people in it than was intended by the manufacturer. Or the water is too high to begin with?

[junkDriver]

Thank you!

It's just members of the family (4 people max), and if I fill to waterline level on the floating filter door, by the time 4 people get in it (or even 2), water starts to flow into the drink cooler compartment. Fill below waterline - and the spa will complain that water flow is too low and not heat. Ugh.

[CanadianSpaTech]

Fill cooler with real (Canadian) beer.. that American stuff is just water 🍺

[RDspaguy]

I mean, if you want to get creative you could make it a filter well, a waterfall, you could put several hose sprayers in it for when you want to do battle with the kids, pop the top and choose your weapon. The possibilities are endless. But as a cooler, it sucks.