Hi, One of my winter projects was to make an affordable sail box. I wasn't spending $400 or $900 or whatever. Photo attached of what I did.
I had a few ground rules: 1. No Wood 2. No paint or gelcoat. 3. Less than $150 total cost (This resulted in making the box out of UPS ship-able materials)
I used one 4' x 8' and one 4'x4' PVC plastic sheet, 1/8" thick from US Plastics. They actually cut it so it could ship UPS (otherwise add a few hundred dollars for freight, defeating the whole purpose).
it was cut as follows: (2) 3' x 4' x 1/8" sheets (2) 1' x 4' x 1/8" sheets (2) 2' x 4' x 1/8" sheets
(2) 8-foot x 1" x 2" expanded PVC (non-wood trim from Home depot)
32 screws and nuts and some pop rivets.
I bent the PVC using a heat gun and a heating element (from a 4 foot electric heater) to get the triangular shape. It is very strong. It is not necessarily UV resistant PVC, but my experience is it doesn't have to be. I should get 10 years out of this thing. If it starts to deteriorate sooner, I'll use it as a mold for a fiberglass version. A little more effort and money went into making it so it can be locked.
The final price was around $200 including locks, cables, and bolts to attach to the trailer.
However, when you figure that it took me about 20 hours of labor to make it, and that a Hobie Toy Box is about $400, I was averaging around $10/hour - about the same as a McDonald's worker - but I did it in the evenings instead of watching the boob tube - so I guess that was time well spent...
