This will be a bit longwinded but here is what I did:
First I bought a triangular shaped polyethlene trailer tongue box made by Buyers (
http://www.buyersproducts.com/Toolbo...-Tongue-Boxes/ ).
Here are the dimensions:
The first thing I realized was that the side that the hinges were on would be a hassle,
so I bought some nylon/plastic hinges and mounted them on the narrow edge.
The next thing I noticed was that the box did not fit perfectly in the bow, so I took a propane torch and slowly heated the sides so that I could reshape the angles to fit nicely within my bow. I added some thin foam lining (tool box liner) to the exterior sided of the box to eliminate any potential of chafing the tubes (there is about a 3/8" gap between the box sides and the tubes).
I then fitted some rubber locator stops to the floorboards to locate the 4 corners of the box. Each rubber locator was fastened to the floorboard with 2 ss bolts. Nylon webbing loops (for anchor points) were placed above each of these rubber locators. The rubber locators were made from trailer bow stops (cut into 2 pieces of 1/2 thickness). A small bow stop fit perfectly to the aft corners of the box, while a large tralier bow stop fit perfectly to the fore corners. These rubber stops were positioned and bolted to the floorboards so that the box could be pushed down onto the floorboards with the bottom corners fitting snugly within those stops.
The box is secured internally with 1/4" ss bolts in plastic hand knobs that go through holes in the corners of the floor of the box and screw into brass nutserts embedded in the floorboards. This is usefull since I can lock the box. Additionally, the box can be tied down the floorboards externally with nylon webbing (since there are anchor points in the floorboards at the corners of the box). While both external and internal anchoring might seem redundant, I wan't to ensure that there is no chance of the box separating from the boat in the event that it flips, since it stores a number of essentials.
Here are some pictures - I'll try to post some better ones later. In the last picture I'll itemize what goes where.
A) 6 Kg Delta style anchor (Chinese knock off), chain, & anchor line strapped down into a plastic filing box that is bolted to the sides and bottom of the main box. When strapped down, the anchor doesn't budge while jumping waves.
B) Removeable, 'C' cell operated navigation lights, which fit perfectly in a dishwasher cutlery container (which is bolted to the box). Tool box liner was glued in to pad the sides and bottoms. A Hypalon patch has been glued to the top of the box lid (another will be glued to the top of the engine cowling) so that the suction cup mounts hold very securely.
C) First Aid Kit within a waterproof welding rod container.
D) Tool Kit within a waterproof welding rod container. Immediately beside this (view of it is obstructed by 'E') is a small nylon bag that contains hypalon patches and hypalon glue
E) Manual bilge pump - held in place with brackets made from 2" I.D. suction hose
F) Two 1 liter containers of TC-W3 2 stroke oil - strapped down within a square plastic 2 litre cottage cheese container which is bolted to the box.
G) Throw rope bag clipped to a carabiner hanging from the D ring.
H) Spare propellor (lots of hidden rocks around here) contained within a nylon lunch bag that is stapped down at top and sides.
I) Within this nylon travel bag (which is clipped in at the top corners and strapped against the side of the box is; a foot pump & hose, a spare fuel hose, extra fuel fittings and hose clamps.
A signalling kit will also be added - it will probably also be contained within a welding rod case.
