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.
Contact me directly if you want more details.
Steven Bellavia
Hobie FX-1
Sail #211
Cool looking box!
Very interesting design on your box.
What was the final price of the design?
Steven is that your sail box or you RV camper van?
Hi,
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...
Thanks!
Steven Bellavia
Hobie FX-1
Sail #211