Converting live well to fishbox

[Snookman185]

This most likley has been posted and asked before but I am going to go ahead and ask it again. I am looking to turn one of my livewells in my boat into a fishbox/cooler. Here is the layout of my boat.

I have a 17 foot Lowe bass boat. I have 2 livewells and the rear livewell doesn't drain at all when the boat is in the water. I am wanting to turn this into a fishbox, on each side of this livewell there are 2 small coolers that were built in by the manufacture. have figured out the modifications that I am going to make to the drain system, but my main question is about the insulation that I should use for this and how to attach it to the plastic/polly livewell, the tank is not fiberglass.

Any help would be great.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Converting live well to fishbox

Now I'm no expert but I would think the Blue or Pink insulation board from Lowe's or HD would be just fine. It is Closed Cell, does NOT absorb water and you should be able to cut it with a jig saw to 45 degree edges to make it fit your box. They make a special glue for it so once you build the insert I'm not sure you would even need to adhere it to the existing livewell. It would probably stay put by itself.


But Like I said, I'm no expert. But @ 10 bucks a sheet and some glue I would sure give it a try if It were me.


I'm just sayin...

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Converting live well to fishbox

Rivets and 5200 possibly ?

It would be permanant though

YD.

 

[JAFO1]

Re: Converting live well to fishbox

If your livewell is like mine, it's just plastic. I might figure out a way to remove it and then replace it with an Igloo or something. A picture would help us to offer better suggestions.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Converting live well to fishbox

Now I'm no expert but I would think the Blue or Pink insulation board from Lowe's or HD would be just fine. It is Closed Cell, does NOT absorb water and you should be able to cut it with a jig saw to 45 degree edges to make it fit your box. They make a special glue for it so once you build the insert I'm not sure you would even need to adhere it to the existing livewell. It would probably stay put by itself......

The hard top on my boat is pink foam inside. After working with the stuff for a while, I can share some tips:

- Cut the foam with big box cutters. The "snap off" blades can be extended to 3 or more inches and make long, deep, smooth cuts. Use a straight edge for long cuts. The wider the blade, the better for straight cuts.

- Glue - Forget the insulation adhesive in a caulk tube. It is intended to glue foam to a non-foam surface. If used between foam surfaces, it just won't cure. Instead, use the original Gorilla Glue (looks like maple syrup). Instructions say to wet the surface to be joined, but this does not work well on foam. What works well is to pour an ounce or two of glue into a plastic disposable cup. Add 5 to 10 drops of water to the glue and stir until the glue starts to turn yellow. That is when it is starting to "kick" and will foam up/expand in about another 30 seconds. Pour or brush on the surface, and fix the two pieces together with tooth pics (with or without rubber bands) so the expanding glue does not force them apart. Like is shown here on these corner glued sections:

Need to fill some gaps, add a little more water and it really foams!

Shaping - Glue 80 grit sand paper to blocks of pressboard. It is straight, and will quickly shape the foam. One block lasted my entire project, seeing as foam is not very abrasive....

Resin - Poly resin will melt the pink foam. Use Epoxy, or paint with latex house paint before applying poly resin.

The foam does not absorb epoxy, so to get a good bond, I roughed up the surface with 80 grit sand paper, and also made punctures in the surface with a pencil every 2 - 3 inches so the resin can get a good grip.

Anyway, that's how I worked with foam and made an entire hard top by covering it with epoxy and 1708. Check out the link in my signature if you want to see more about how the foam work went. It should work just as well for fabricating coolers and/or live wells.

 

[Snookman185]

Re: Converting live well to fishbox

I will try to take some pictures, I will have to move the gas tank in order to do so. I was planning on replacing the tank later this year and when I did that I was also going to do the fishbox with it since it will be out of the way. I have some ideas now and I will post the pics in the near future.