Building an icebox?

[davez104]

Hi all,
I'm wanting to build an icebox or two to put in my 17' Haines, I thought about getting a couple custom made but thought that could get a bit expensive. I reckon I might have a go at making one myself. Would the best way to go be to knock up a mould and have the whole thing made of glass or could I build it from ply, glass over that, fit the insulation inside then more glass over that? I need a bit of strength up front as the seat will be mounted on top. Anybody done this before? Am open to any ideas or tips.

Thanks.
Dave.

[vermin]

F&B had an article about doing one yourself with molds if you want it looking like a bought one. Could probably get it from the media web page??

[Homer_Jay]

Yeah the F&B one was pretty good. Came up like a bought one.
Link is seamedia.com.au
I think you can order a photo copy of the article rather then buying the magazines as it went over a few issues from memory.

Cheers

[davez104]

Thanks guys, I used to have those issues, a good read. More after info on which method would be the stronger of the two. Leaning toward glass over ply at this stage and maybe make a mould for the lid. I would like to incorporate some tackle storage in the front of them to save on the amount of cr@p I have to carry with me. So making a mould could get rather complex. Could get away with fairly lightwieght ply, 9mm or maybe thinner, and use some kind of timber framework under the seat which would also accomodate the tackle storage. Whadayareckon?

Dave.

[Dirtysanchez]

You could also try to get yourself some cold room insulated walling, it is sometimes listed in the weekend shopper, as are esky's that have been made up from it.. you see it all the time on the back of refrigerated trucks.

Easy to cut, the walls are aluminium and foam sandwiched inside, durable and a few rivets and silicone and bobs your uncle

My mate has one on his boat, and it keeps the ice solid for days !

[vermin]

Another way to do it is just glass over foam. Can get the correct foam from any composite shop.

[Spaniard_King]

heres one I did a few years back 40mm foam 1mm ally outer skin and fiberglass linner.. you can see the slit we had to put in the fi brerglass shell to get it inside the box as it had swollen somewhat, in the end it worked well to drain the bait shelf when cleaning it ::)

[Spaniard_King]

helps if you have mates in the ally trade too

[Spaniard_King]

we made 2 doors.. a small and a large so as the small could be opened to slide the fish in keeping the majority of the cold still in the esky

Garry

[newchum]

dave , i have a v19r with icebox built under the driver side seat , it is home made from ply,foam&glass topped with flowcoat works well. i live in rocky if you want to have a look

rodney

[davez104]

Hey Rodney, Would love to have a look next time I'm over. I presume you made it yourself? If so it would be good to get a few tips on how you put it together.

Gary, Thats a sweet looking icebox, you did well putting that together. Only thing I would be worried about would be the stresses of the seat on top of something like that, obviously not applicable in your case.

Thanks guys, keep the ideas coming.

Dave.

[Eagle]

I checked out all the details involved in building one myself. Think the project thru very carefully. The best way to build one is to use the pink foam as this is strong, dense and not affected by the polyester resin thats used to fill the glass cloth. Use 40mm thick foam, cut out the parts and glue together. A quick setting epoxy is is a good choice for gluing but you only need enough on the ends of the pieces to hold it together. When you have the box assembled to the desired size and shape, cover all surfaces with 4oz chopped strand mat. You can use woven cloth if you so desire. If using cloth, cut it on the bias (see your wife for details) and the cloth will form perfectly over all the corners, both inside and out. Radius all the outside edges and run a 20mm radius fillet in all the inside corners using a mixture of resin and glass beads as the filler. One layer of glass will be enough for strength. If you cover the lid with one layer of glass top and bottom, and of course including the edges, the top will be strong enough to sit on.
Any other form of construction will be even more expensive and most important of all, it will be far too heavy. I would never go the glass over ply route. #Once you have the resin cured you can sand the rough/prickly spots and flowcoat it. The finished cost for a box about 1200 x 500 x 600 will be about $250 - $280. It is vital to keep the weight down. Any extra and uneeded weight in your 17 footer equates to more fuel used and less speed. I designed a box for our boat that could also be used for camping with the 4x4. I needed a sheet of pink foam that measured 1200 x 2400 x 40mm thick. This sheet made a box the size I wanted and also a small #(too small) one. I could make two boxes the same size but they would both be a bit too small for what I needed. The rub was, you cant buy the foam in smaller sheets, only in the size stated. This worked out to big bucks. We ended up buying one, an Ice Mate about 75 litres in capacity. This keeps ice for a minimum of four days and more. Its a great ice box and its extremely strong. I recomend you give the project lots of thought. Dont use any foam other than the pink stuff, Polyester resin will melt all the white foams and very quickly. If you need more info send #me an email.

Eagle

[davez104]

No probs, email sent :)

[jimbo1]

dont know if I could be bothered building one myself! I bought my esky online and had it home delivered. Its roto moulded so it not only makes a good seat but a excellent bait cutting board too.

James

http://www.techniice.com/english/iceboxes.asp

[StevenM]

Good link James

Bloody cheap 2

[davez104]

Yep, I know its gonna be a right royal pain, but it needs to be a very specific size and shape to fit where I want it. Also need to be able to mount the swivel skippers seat on top at the same height it is now. Then there is the storage I want to incorporate for a heap of those clear plastic plano style boxes, so custom made is the only way really.

Thanks.
Dave.

[murf]

Im watching this thread carefully
why doesnt anyone make a 1200 or 1300mm long by 400mm wide by 400mm high box???? I want a mackerel box to go across the front of the C/C and I would love one of the roto moulded ones.
I am getting a quote at the moment on a 1350x400x400 box made from 40mm foam sandwich GPR $$$$
Good luck Dave
Murf

[blu]

Made mine bout 2yrs ago b4 i even had da boat 4 it :-? :-?

[blu]

Another pik

[blu]

cost me about 85$$ to make and is about 105Lts