Need engineering ideas

Turned my back locker into a icechest and want to water proof it..but I have a lot of vents in there. Whats your idea on making them not leak? Thanks Jet

glass resin

if you can't make it run faster, might as well have a cold one ready!

I think i might try to find a rubber cap that fits the hole, or make a rubber cap, and silicone or 3500 it on before going to resin route...

Also, styrofoam is another material that is easy to work with for this type situation, if you can get a tight enough fit you might not have to use a sealant at all.

i guess resin would be a little overkill... sounded like a bigger job than the pics described!

Complete with drain?

No..good ideas. Keep'em coming.

andrew- take a metal plate. drill a hole in it the size of the drain plug for your boat. on the back of the plate weld a bolt onto it so the drain plug can screw into that. and then paint it so it wont rust. that the best idea that i can come up with. i think it would probably be the best too do it so you could still drain the water out.

That's not just a vent as it gives you access to whatever that hose does but even if it was I would hesitate to block any vent for fear of increasing the chance that mold would grow where there's no fresh air. Any chance that you could have a removable liner made to keep the ice in whatever space you are using?

Measure where the cap is actually vented. Go to lowes or home depot, or wherever, and get a massive rubber stopper. Drill out the vents, and pop the rubber stopper in. Voila! Now you drain it if you wish, and still let your air through at the end of the day.

Don't forget to silicone around the outside of the vent as well.

i would leave the vnts open for the water to drain as the ice melted. if you have ever had a built in ice chest it sux to not have a drain. if you dont dry it out everytime you use it the whole things mold up really bad

It needs to hold water as well be able to drain out. Ice will melt off in 20 minutes if there's no water in there with it.

I may put one in my boat if we get some of the kinks worked out.

Ok..I already have installed a drain. Its the little black piece in the corner.And yes. they will need to be pulled at a later date for access to the gas tank, so it cant be a permanent fix. Thanks for the help guys.

Im going to be the pain in the ass guy to say to not do this. My only say is this. A freind of mine did this on his 88 Comp, and I told him not too becasue those vents are functional to allow any vapours that could come about through the top of the gas tank, and by the looks of your setup, it was almost identical, and they are used for access to the pickup lines and sending units in the tank. His sending unit went, and the only way to get it out was to either A- pull the entire tank out, which involves getting at teh filler neck, which you need tiny arms to get at, or B- cut a hole where he filled in to cover the vent over the sending unit. So in the end, he went back to where he started. And like the rest of the guys say, he had a drain, but didnt clean it regularily, and voila. Mold. He tried using the rubber plug method, but found himself re-sealing it alot so he glassed it all in. Dummy.

(Message edited by bigkitch on April 29, 2008)

looks pretty easy to lift out, so just cover cap those holes and you're good, right?