"I put the reenforcement strips on the inside."

+1 I didn't want to give water a chance to collect anywhere.

I'm liking the bed liner stuff.

Boxes are subject to a lot of vibration, so the coating needs to be flexible and tough. The road is a very harsh environment, especially in the rain, when all the gook on the road ends up on the sailbox.

I'd be concerned that the bond with the wood might fail - you'd need to stay on top of repairing any penetrating dings in the coating.

It just doesn't win in the looks department. Gotta look good to go fast, even with the sailbox.

2 oz cloth and a gallon of polyurethane. $45

Or all the leftover gelcoat from your local boat repair shop...

I used 1X2(fir) around the edges(of 1/4 inch birch ply screw and glue) and the cross supports(also 1X2 fir) sat on top of the 1X2. This also keep equipment elevated off the bottom of the box for air circulation. I curved the top of the box for drainage with a 1 1/2 in overlap. The lid is a lift off lid. Never had a problem with water getting into the box. With the curved lid the box was strong enough to support my 245 pounds. I coated the inside with polyester resin to keep any moisture out of the wood. Total coast to build about 145 dollars.

I have plans for a custom box and hope to turn the project into learning resin infusion. I originally planned to build completely out of 1/2" MDO (weatherproof signboard, not MDF) but saw the layup process of an awasome A-Cat, Predator Blog, and decided to use the MDO for framing and foam for filler, glassing over both. This weekend I spoke to an Albacore racer that was estatic about resin infusion. He saved a lot of weight and achieved greater strength over glass layup. Because they have a weight min, he was able to "overbuild" in the important areas.

Use epoxy as primer (2 to 3 layer), an epoxy is fine, not only west system. Than use a good paint. Acryl or polymer based, if you have the protective gear PU would be the ultimate choice. The primer is key to keep the moisture inside the wood constant (and low), so that the paint can stick. The paint protects the epoxy from UV rays.

Cheers,

Klaus

In the UK the truck bed liner ply is called Grudamesh

I think that the textured side is more resilient than the smooth side;

When its clean:







I've got the box basically built. I should probably take all the crap that's going to go in there, and actually make nice little dividers, but I'm lazy, and its already taking longer than I wanted it to.




I'm kind proud of this bit. It will be the gutter between the two lids. The box is twelve feet long, with about a 4 foot lid in front, and a bit less than 8 foot lid for the back portion.




I kicked around the bedliner stuff. It'd kind nice to do just a couple of coats of something and be done with it. I gotta get some hinges, finish building the two lids, and it'll be ready for a coat of something.

Why not some oil based stain?

Its easy to apply, soaks in good and is reasonably priced.

Looks great - is that 12-feet inside? That would accommodate a spin pole nicely with about 1/4-inch to spare. Nice work.

Outside. All I need is 11',3" for the F16 pole.

Do you want the SHORT list???

Looks great Karl! I could use a custom cabinet for a TV in my RV, but I'm a catsailor and therefore, really cheap. Well, mainly I wouldn't want to pay more for a cabinet than the TV is worth...

Mike

Hell, That's not a sail box. That looks like furniture. Really nice stuff. For that quality build go with several coats of UV Polyurethane or spend the few extra buck and go with epoxy.

or 100 illegal immigrants - what would you charge for rent?

ps very nice looking, esp like the corners (are those called dove tails or something)

It'd be a shame to hide that joiner work.

I'd go with a clear finish on the top and sides, the bedliner stuff on the bottom where it needs the impact protection and nobody sees it. It's a rolling advertisement for your work.

I like the curved top idea, too.

Oh, yeah - Karl?

Buy a freakin' ad, would ya?

I'd bet, Matt, that Karl doesn't have much interest in selling these - he's clearly got a ton of work in this one. Any guess what he would sell it for? Any further guess what people would be willing to pay?

Ton of work? No, I'm up to about 12 hrs.

Matt- I like your idea, I bought a gallon of the bedliner stuff. I'm thinking I'll do the inside, and the bottom with it, then do the rest in some sort of clear poly, and just give it a recoat each year. I better dig out some stain it as well, since I grabbed some of the nastiest looking stuff I had on hand.

Also no, I have zero interest in making these. The 12' panels are serious pain in the brown eye, and I'd have to do a better job. I would be curious what people would realistically pay.

Curved lid, too much phuckin' around. My driveway has more pitch than most Southern roofs, so it'll be okay.

Construction is done:


I don't even have a boat.

I think what you're talking about is the just a profile so the panel has a spot to go. Its all done with a machine, so zero skill involved. Basically I made doors and mitred and glued them together to make up the "box" part.

Dovetails are a mechanical joint heralding from the days when you had to cut off Bessie's hooves to make glue. Glue from way back when sucks, and when the glue fails you still have a joint that'll hold tight. When done correctly, glue isn't really all that neccessary. The flip side is that glue has gotten so good that dovetails should be obsolete, but the process has gotten so cheap that its more popular than ever.

The joint in the corner of these draweres are dovetailed:

Ok, so what is your hourly rate for labor?

I'm not suggesting he sell these - it's a reflection on the quality of the work in his cabinet business.

Ad would be for the cabinet business.