Now that I have a boat, I need a box!

How about traditional ply and carpenter materials, no epoxy! Exterior wood glue, wood to be primed and sealed, topped with exterior paint. Interior filets of construction grade adhesive. Dimentisons" 8'x16"hx2'w. (metric: 2.5 x0.307x0.615 meters, approximately.)

Comments?

No problem in my opinion.

Ply will not last forever tough.. Especially moisture is bad for ply, so I would at least have sealed the edges of the ply with epoxy.

Unless you are a cabinet maker, don't waste your time. You can buy a 10' section of black, lined sewer pipe and order caps for the end. Mount them with stainless steel clamps and drill four inch vents in both ends for ventilation. It will last forever and will keep everything nice and dry. On my hobie 16 I used a 12" pipe. On my Hobie 18 I used a 15" pipe. Do a search because you'll find loads of instructions on this website.

I think the last one I made cost me $110 for all the materials.

Wyatt

My hope is, that by using the proper sealer and primer much of the problem with rot can be avoided.

Rot is not neccesarily the worst problem, but moisture in the ply leading to local expansion/swelling and delamination. Rot is a long term issue, but moisture can ruin plywood pretty fast.

Using "proper sealer and primer" should solve most of this, but as I said, the edges are a weak spot where you should take some extra precautions.

One of the advantages of building a proper box compared to using tubes is the possibility of costumizing it to not only be used for sails, but also for foils, tiller extensions, standing rigging, all sorts of extras and tools.

The box is integral to my organizational plan. In the past rigging up or down was a cluster f*! This time I'm gonna' get it right!

Along with the box will be covered storage in the bed of my pick-up.

The plan is to walk around the boat 1 time and 1 time only! It's the walking back and forth that takes so much time.

I have to leave now, the wind is coming up!<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Pete:

Try this. Got this off the beachcats tech help section:

Doug

Instructions for building a Plywood Catbox.

Note: If I can build this box, anyone can as I am a way better sailor than carpenter! This box needed to fit under a Prindle 18 on a trailer.

I started with two sheets of 1/2" 10' x 4' exterior grade plywood. I would have gotten 5/8" but it's not easy to find in 10' sheets as most of the yards sell 8' only. I had the yard cut one sheet down the middle to create two 10' x 24" halves. (so, the overall width of the box is 24")...

This becomes the top and bottom. I had the top one cut one more time across the middle to create two 5'x 24" pieces. I used these two for the lid. I wanted two because it cuts down the lifting weight and makes it easier to open just one side at a time.

I had the yard cut the second sheet into two 10' x 13" pieces (this leaves a leftover of one piece of 10' x 22" to be set aside for the moment). The two pieces are used for the sides of the box. I used 13" because there is approx. 16" of space available under the dolphin striker. Once completed, the height of the box becomes 14". The leftover piece I cut myself to create the doors, one on each end of the box.

I also bought 4 pieces of 2" x 2" x 8' wood. Turns out you only need about 2-1/2 pieces. This wood is used for the side supports.

I cut the supports into pieces 12" tall and mounted them on the bottom edges, 1/2" recessed,pointing upward using screws. Each end of the box has three pieces to provide full support, side, top, side (think of a 3 sided box) screwed into each other, sort of like this |~|

Additionally, I put one more "H" in the middle where the lids meet. For extra strength, I put two other regular supports on each side, spaced a few inches apart, to hold up the side panels.

Got some hinges from Do It Center for the doors/lids and some U-bolts to attach the box to the trailer. I put Astroturf on the bottom of the box after priming and painting so that the rudders,etc. would slide in easier.

Had my 7 year old daughter paint something on one of the doors but it already faded in the rain!

That's more or less the plans. I spent about a week working on it, probably 12-14 hours or more. Lots of that was thinking time 'cause I had no idea how to do certain things. I spent 40 minutes one day figuring out how to do one hinge! Dumb. Anyway, everything fits in and that's all I wanted in the first place! It's just not all that pretty!

Total cost of the parts was around $100 (Socal area stores)

Pete,
I went through the same loop myself a few years back.

The ply sailbox was on the trailer when I bought it over 20yr ago and was starting to rot. It had only been painted with enamel and I'd done nothing to it over the 20yrs.
So it was not a bad innings.
One thing that ticked me off with the old box was the hassel getting the ply lid on and off by myself so I decided to design a ply box that would be easier to use and coated it in a light layer of glass and epoxy. I'm execting this one to outlast my Gal trailer.

Below is a description of how I tackled the problem.
I'll try to attach a couple of free hand scretches
to illustrate.

The Sailbox was made from 2 sheets of 1/2inch ply.
If you don’t mind I’ll talk metric. I usually think in Inches and feet but
work in metric because it is easier.
Comes from changing systems half way through my schooling.

Where I buy my ply they also cut it. So why not use the service to save time.
2sheets of 12mm ply 1220mm x 2400mm (1/2 inch ply 4ft x 8ft) make the lid,
the base and both sides.

You need to get a little extra for the front and back of the box.

I had the lid cut 50mm wider that the base so I could attach the sides to the lid which
were just 18mm (3/4 inch) x 45mm (1 3/4 inch) strips of maple.

I think the lid was 850mm wide and the base was 800mm wide. the sides 350mm.
Glued and screwed 18mm x 18mm maple to the edges of the sides as well as 18mmx18mm
for the runners down the sides.
Then glued and screwed the base,front and rear to the maple on the sides.
Then cut the lid a little shorter than the base to accomodate the front watertight locking and
glued and screwed the 18mm x 45mm maple to all 4 sides of the lid.

Glued and screwed a peice of 18x18 to the inside front level with the bottom edge of the 18x45
already attached. Just before attaching this 18x18 I cut a bevel on it so it was more like only
13mm on one side. So there is a bit of lead in to the locking.

Then I modified the front of the box to make the locking mechanism shown in the drawing.
Then I fixed the wheels. The wheels are really neat with 45 or 50mm dia and rubber tires.
They cost me $1.60 each.

When you open the box. You lift the lid. At this point it runs on the wheels at the front of the box.
You run the lid forward an inch or so and then put it down. The runners don’t go all the way to the
back of the box so you are only moving the lid until the rear wheels can make contact with their
runners. Then it just run back and forward with just a light touch.

Also with the wheels on I had to cut a small slot in the side of the box at the rear for the wheels axle
to drop into when the box closes. Otherwise the lid when far enough back to close would be sitting
on the axle which would be sitting on the sides.

This is much harder to explain than do.
Let me know if it is unclear.

Regards,
Phill

It seems pretty clear, and a well thought out plan. One thing I've decided on is utilizing the bed of my pick-up as storage. The box will be for long, light stuff i.e. sails & tiller connections?

Pete,
I agree with you on the issue of waisting time walking back and forth. So everything that is needed to rig the boat goes in the trailer box and nothing else.
The boat slides off the trailer and is positioned so the bow is within 2 inches of the trailer.
This is neaded so I can use the trailer mast supports to help put the mast up over the bows. The sidestays are even attached to the chainplates while standing in front of the front beam.
The main sail comes out and goes up. The boom and the C/Bs come out and then I have to walk out between the boat and trailer to attach the rudders and mainsheet system.
Up to now I've not walked more than 8 feet at any one time.
Then I move the boat back far enough to rig the spinnaker setup.
Just the way I have approached the same problem.

Regards,
Phill

Hey Pete,

I've built boxes with both methods - sealed/primed and epoxy. Epoxy lasted MUCH longer. However, to save cash, I'll be building my next one with polyester resin.

Also, to save weight, use "door skin" instead of plywood. Cheaper and easier to work with. Once you put on the resin, it gets pretty stiff. I braced the inside with 1" x 1" pine (also coated with resin), and sealed corners with resin/microballoons. Sanded and painted the outside.

Could still jump on the top after 1 1/2 years of being stored outside. In the summer rains, the water did pool inside occasionally (loose opening seal in the back due to my underwhelming carpentry skills), and still didn't really rot (except where I drilled drain holes and didn't seal them)

Whole project cost about $100

I built a plywood box that was 4x8x2... but then there is a lot more room under a G-Cat than most others. I had each end hinged on the top so I could get at stuff with the boat still on it.

I got in a hurry and never painted it and it rotted away in about 5 years

Hi Peter,

I guess you missed the thread started a day or two ago.
Use 1/8" PVC sheet and pvc cement. Plywood is heavy and it rots. See thread on 5/24 "Affordable Sail box" The one I made had a traingular shape (mainly to shed water, but also good shape for the sails), but you can make it rectangular as you would with the plywood.

Steve
Hobie FX-1
Sail #211

Sycho15
My first sailbox was painted in enamle and lasted 20 years after I got it. Amazing what a lick of paint can do.
My new box is treated with resin and should last even longer.

Phil,

I like you sliding lid concept. I have something similar nearly completed on my new Tornado trailer box design, but I cheated and went with commercially available standard drawer sliders. The max length I could get has about 24" of throw, so this limited my sliding lid the that much opening. The front side of the box also is hinged to swing down, making a good place to insert long items. The box is ~12'x38"x11"...made entirely of 1"x12"x12' pine board...polyester resin & polyurethane coated...some glass used in strategic locations for reinforcing.

The box also has a large hinged lid ~6'long about 3' back from the sliding section. This is to allow easy loading of boat beams etc when I travel with the boat dismantled. The box will also be used to support the overturned hulls by bolting some 2x4 beams across the non-moving parts of the top.

Yes, it is a heavy design (probably around 80-100 lbs), but this also is a tilt trailer and having extra weight down low is comforting.


Mike.