Engine box

[Raider Ronnie]

For those who have them, whats it made of and a guess how heavy it is ?
Mine is 3/4 plywood glassed over and Sound Down insulation inside, heavy as hell !
Thinking of making a new one , possibly having a friend lay up some nidacore for me.
Thoughts ?

 

[BillD]

For those who have them, whats it made of and a guess how heavy it is ?
Mine is 3/4 plywood glassed over and Sound Down insulation inside, heavy as hell !
Thinking of making a new one , possibly having a friend lay up some nidacore for me.
Thoughts ?

I'd make it out of nidacore and Soundown and hinge it "if" you have the room.

Or, daimond plate aluminum with Soundown.

 

[unclefish]

why not Make one out of foam then glass over it. Where you need a latch or hinge put a block of wood in there. I see alot off custom boats use this to kept the weight down. I sit on them when we are fishing offshore in my parents boat. The foam should be just has good as sound down stuff to keep engine noise down to.

 

[coddock]

Ronnie,same scenario on my ride.I have pondered a change many times,but like you,have yet to come up with a viable solution!
I like the glassed over foam idea,but I can't see that being strong enough to stand/sit on (At least for my fat ass)!

 

[unclefish]

you can build a white cedar frame then use foam to fill in voids then fiberglass over that. My parents boat has about 2" of foam with maybe 1 to 2 layers of glass over that. They are about 2ft by 2 ft and they hold my 235lb fat ass. White cedar is about half the weight of red cedar to. I have always wanted to try it so I might do my picking box on the dragger boat that way so that I can move them easily to get in hatches. While I am shittin here thinking about it. I know one my friends did a foam killbox in the transom then just coated it with glass to keep the ice cold.

 

[F/V First Team]

Last engine box I built we used 1" styrofoam and that expanding foam in a can for the radiuses. Covered it with 1808 and some mat on both sides. A few foam gussets on the inside. Whole thing weighed maybe 30 lbs. 2' high, 4' wide down to 3' and roughly 7' long. Didn't do a whole lot for noise as there was a hole cut in the bulkhead and no companionway door for the forward cabin. Plus when racing it was off anyways, basically it kept the seagulls from crapping on the engine. Was a pretty good seat though. Took about an hour to make, really fast job. Much better than the 4x8 sheet of plywood with some legs on it that the boat had

 

[steveinak]

Last engine box I built we used 1" styrofoam and that expanding foam in a can for the radiuses. Covered it with 1808 and some mat on both sides. A few foam gussets on the inside. Whole thing weighed maybe 30 lbs. 2' high, 4' wide down to 3' and roughly 7' long. Didn't do a whole lot for noise as there was a hole cut in the bulkhead and no companionway door for the forward cabin. Plus when racing it was off anyways, basically it kept the seagulls from crapping on the engine. Was a pretty good seat though. Took about an hour to make, really fast job. Much better than the 4x8 sheet of plywood with some legs on it that the boat had

Travis what kind of "styrofoam" are you talking about? Doesn't resin melt styrofoam? i've used the yellow foam they use to insulate roofs for fish boxes and some bulkheads in my fish hold and that didn't melt.
I want to do a split house on my H&H and was thinking of using 1/2 or 3/4 roof foam for the walls but didn't know if it will be strong enough? but with 2 layups of mat on the walls i'm betting it would be fine. Whats your thoughts on that.
Here's what i'm thinking of doing

 

[F/V First Team]

Travis what kind of "styrofoam" are you talking about? Doesn't resin melt styrofoam? i've used the yellow foam they use to insulate roofs for fish boxes and some bulkheads in my fish hold and that didn't melt.
I want to do a split house on my H&H and was thinking of using 1/2 or 3/4 roof foam for the walls but didn't know if it will be strong enough? but with 2 layups of mat on the walls i'm betting it would be fine. Whats your thoughts on that.

Celotex foil faced insulation panel. I am guessing that you are going to just use he foam as the division for your house, and not build an entire house of it. If that is the case, just a non-load bearing division, it might work. I'd be very leery of anything hitting it though.. Two layers of mat isn't exactly very strong. And the compression factor of the foam would be spotty at best. Now if one was to use say half inch foam and face both sides with two layers of 1/8 inch plywood with a layer of mat between them then cover everything with two layers of mat, sure, that would me much better in my book. I tend to overbuild and I use at least a layer of structure on most everything that will likely see something hit it in rough conditions. The engine box that was built with the foam was just to keep the birds and rain off, and to be light. If it was a working boat then things would have been different to be sure.

 

[F/V First Team]

Was there a photo before? If so I totally missed it...

 

[F/V First Team]

Also, it's going to be a pain to turn the boat at your helm with the division right there

 

[steveinak]

Also, it's going to be a pain to turn the boat at your helm with the division right there [/QUOTE
I'm going to move that helm over a bit or may just get a jog lever for out there.

 

[F/V First Team]

Fun times
Looks like if you slide it over to clear the division you're right into the hauler
How do you like your spoked wheel? I'm more of a destroyer wheel myself, less chance of being impaled...

 

[steveinak]

Celotex foil faced insulation panel. I am guessing that you are going to just use he foam as the division for your house, and not build an entire house of it. If that is the case, just a non-load bearing division, it might work. I'd be very leery of anything hitting it though.. Two layers of mat isn't exactly very strong. And the compression factor of the foam would be spotty at best. Now if one was to use say half inch foam and face both sides with two layers of 1/8 inch plywood with a layer of mat between them then cover everything with two layers of mat, sure, that would me much better in my book. I tend to overbuild and I use at least a layer of structure on most everything that will likely see something hit it in rough conditions. The engine box that was built with the foam was just to keep the birds and rain off, and to be light. If it was a working boat then things would have been different to be sure.

Wow thats a pretty heavy set up considering the rest of the top is just foam and fiberglass. So how about using nidacore or divinycell for the division? or dare i say good old fashioned plywood covered with mat on both sides. Yeah its just going to be that small division wall with a sliding door.

 

[F/V First Team]

Wow thats a pretty heavy set up considering the rest of the top is just foam and fiberglass. So how about using nidacore or divinycell for the division? or dare i say good old fashioned plywood covered with mat on both sides. Yeah its just going to be that small division wall with a sliding door.

Like I said, I tend to overbuild. I really like knowing that what I make can take whatever the devil himself can dish out. I'm not a fan of nidacore personally, it's made from recycled milk jugs, ever use one of those to mix resin in? Pops right out, just imagine what happens during an impact. Delamination Nation, population: your boat!

Divinycell is awesome, I used the 12mm on my superstructure and I am very pleased, just be sure to hot coat and bed it properly. I used corebond on mine as a bedding compound.

 

[steveinak]

Like I said, I tend to overbuild. I really like knowing that what I make can take whatever the devil himself can dish out. I'm not a fan of nidacore personally, it's made from recycled milk jugs, ever use one of those to mix resin in? Pops right out, just imagine what happens during an impact. Delamination Nation, population: your boat!

Divinycell is awesome, I used the 12mm on my superstructure and I am very pleased, just be sure to hot coat and bed it properly. I used corebond on mine as a bedding compound.

Man your up late!! What i'm planning on doing is bolting the division wall to aluminum angle on the deck & ceiling so i can remove it easily if i have to do any major engine work and need the room to access the engine from the side the wall is on.
The only reason for the split house is to have a nice warm dry place to hang out when i'm not hauling gear. I built a half assed winter back on it last summer but the bugs still got in and it was damp from being open to the hauling station. I've got a Dickinson diesel heater to install downstairs so it will keep the cabin nice and cozy. We can get a ungodly amount of rain out on the sound in the summer and you got to have a nice place to dry out and relax in when doing 5-7 day trips. I only bought the boat last year so i've got to get it rigged for fishing here. It was finished by the boys at PenBay and i looks like they do a good job, at least it looks good to me.
my winter back


my 28x11 bowpicker was a lot more comfortable for living on all summer

 

[F/V First Team]

What is that turn latch for in the last photo on your overhead?

 

[steveinak]

What is that turn latch for in the last photo on your overhead?

Hat hanger! there used to be a chart table hinged from the ceiling and that latch was one of two that held it up. I fished that boat for 20 years and it treated me well, house was a bit big but thats what made it so comfortable when i was staying out for 2 weeks at a time. In the last picture i've got about 8000lbs of salmon in the fish hold and on deck about knee deep. Those bowpickers get bow heavy when you load them.

 

[F/V First Team]

Is that an outdrive poking down back there or an outboard?

 

[coddock]

thought this thread was about engine boxes and their construction?

 

[steveinak]

Is that an outdrive poking down back there or an outboard?

boat had a Volvo 41P with a duoprop outdrive on it. Guess we (I) sort of hijacked this thread so sorry for that guys, no more bowpicker talk.