Cooler box for my Skiff - Part II

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.

Livewell and Cooler on my Skiff - Part I

After months of fabrication and curing of gel coat, my livewell and custom cooler box have been installed on the transom of my boat. The project for my Carolina Skiff started almost 8 months ago. I was looking to outfit my skiff with space saving ideas to open up room on the deck. Then it happened, I came across transom mount livewell boxes made by Carolina Skiff. So I tried tracking down a dealer, about 20 some calls across the east coast and mid west. I even called the senior sales rep from CS and was told that they had already discontinued the boxes. Finally a marina in Florida confirmed they had two in their inventory. I paid cash money and had them sent to the house. It wasnt long before two huge boxes showed up in front of the house. It kind of reminded me of the scene from Uncle Buck where John Candy is flipping the pancakes with a snow shovel. And he turns to the little kid and says the bacon won't even fit through the door.

Without wasting any time I tore apart the boxes to see my new purchase. I took one out to dry fit it to the back of the boat, crap, the edges of the boxes were oversized. It was obvisous that they would have to be trimmed down in order to fit, which was not an easy job. So I enlisted the help of my friend and co-worker (Capt Dave) to assist. We took our time using cardboard and a compass to create a template for the cuts. After several trips to local hardward stores for stainless steel hardware we were finally ready to drill through the hull (18 times) and attach the first box. 4 hours of hard work paid off. The livewell box came out great. So before final attachment, I installed a livewell pump, light, and plumbing to circular the water. Then with two tubes of 5200 sealant I made the final attachment. A leak test, water volume calculation, and it was ready for use. I installed one overflow about half way up the box with allows about 4 gallons of water which plenty for minnows. In the future I plan to put in one more overflow below that one. I feel too much water is being stored during getting on plane (a bit too much weight in the transom).

Then I made a cooler...