So it dawned on me that having a cooler on the back of the boat would be awesome. So with one more livewell box to install I put my thinking cap on. With some foam board insulation, fiberglass resin, and an idea, my cooler box became a reality. I cut pieces of the foam board insulation to cover all the sides of the box and held them in place with some masking tape. Then with some fiberglass resin I began a base coat or two. Then with fiberglass matting and more resin I began creating a sturdy covering on the foam insulation. Before I knew it the inside of the box was rock hard with fiberglass. But if this was going to be a cooler box, I didn't want ice and other items to beat on the fiberglass directly. So a trip to West Marine to pick up a can of gel coat was in order. The first couple of batches didn't turn out right, for some reason I ended up with a cup of spongy gel coat and could spread it across the surface of the cooler box. What a pain in the ass. So I thought it was too cold out, this meant waiting until warmer weather.
So June came along and an 80 degree day. Perfect timing to try it again, but the same thing happened. Not sure what I did wrong but it kept happening. So I just took straight gelcoat and painted the whole inside of the box. I didn't care at this point if I had to wait a month for it to cure, which is what it took. So some final touches and 6 months after having the boxes, it was time to attach my cooler box. A tube of 5200 sealant and a few hours of installation paid off. Both my livewell box and the cooler box have identical drains in the bottom of the boxes with removable plugs. In the picture you can see the livewell on the left and the cooler box on the right.
Next is to make a tight fitting lid for the cooler box to complete the cooler. The lids in the picture only flip down over an opening and does not seal the boxes from the outside.
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