The Ultimate Milkcrate

Below are some pictures from my newly fabricated "Ultimate Milkcrate." It measures 21" x 24" x 12" without handles. 21" x 29 1/2" x 12" with handles. It weights in at 206 pounds. If anyone is interested, I can post pictures of it during the fabrication process.

It is designed to hold 7 rods. The back side with 3 rod holders will hold up to 50W's. The front side with 4 rod holders will hold up to 30's. I designed it to take on long range tuna trips. I figure I need one 50W, one 30W, two jigging outfits, two large spinning outfits, and one bait rod.

Stainless steel eye hooks are behind the rod holders to secure the rods with bungee cords. Stainless steel screws were used throughout the fabrication. It should not move or shift no matter what size seas it will encounter. The rubber feet are solid 1 3/4" thick rubber. Handles will support 500 pounds each. Lee 90 degree medium size rod holders were selected because they are the most proven holder on the market. It is completely fiberglassed and coated with five coats of white epoxy paint.

The core of the crate is constructed with a buildup of 1 1/2" of 12 ply plywood. The plywood core was filled with concrete to gain some weight. I will need someone to help me lift this beast onto the boat. It's one very well constructed heavy milkcrate that will not have to be tied down to the deck. It should not shift or move what so ever.

 

I was only allowed to post 5 pics at a time. Here is another one with me grabbing the handle to show you the size of the crate.

 

The first pic is the core of the Ultimate Milk Crate. It is constructed with ¾ “13 ply maple plywood with a type II glue. The plywood was glued and screwed together with type II titebond glue until it was 1 ½” on all 6 sides of the box. In this picture, only the top and bottom is shown being 1 ½ “. The other 4 sides were built up after the pouring on concrete.





The 2nd picture shows the PVC wrapped in a heavy 6 mil plastic placed in the cure prior to pouring of concrete.





The 3rd picture below shows a hot melt gun putting glue around the plastic on the PVC tubes to secure the tube to the plywood and prevent the concrete from spilling out.





The 4th picture below shows the core poured with 160 pounds of concrete. 5 sides are now closed in and screwed together. Note, that I countersink the screws.





The 5th picture shows the glue being removed after pouring of concrete. Note that the PVC tubes have been knocked out of the concrete. The core is hit with a belt sander to remove any overlapping of the glued plywood.

 

The 1st picture shows the core completely filled with concrete and the 1 ½ plywood on all 6 sides. It has also been routed with a ¾” radius on all edges. The PVC tubes were left in overnight before being knocked out. All countersink holes were filled with bondo, and the core was sanded with a belt sander. It is now very smooth and ready for the fiberglass resin.



The 2nd picture shows the first attempt to pour the resin on the top. I built up the edges with duct tape to form a dam to hold the resin. A dam was also built around each of the 7 holes that will accept the lee 90 degree rods holders. Well, the resin ate into the duct tape and flowed over the sides. This was actually the second attempt, as I used masking tape to build the dam on the bottom. I couldn't get the white dye to look white in the resin on the bottom so I use some black dye on the top. Neither looked good. This was a mess.





The 3rd picture below shows the core after four coats of brushing on clear fiberglass resin. The resin is now about 1/8” thick on the sides and radius edges, and about ¼” thick on the top and bottom. I also glassed in the plywood edges in the 7 round holes.





The 4th picture shows the core being finished sanded. It now is completely encased and covered with lots of fiberglass resin.





(5th pic) I need a good white paint job over the fiberglass resin, so I used white epoxy paint. It is very slow to cure, but I wanted a good solid heavy duty white protective coating. This is the first coat on the bottom and sides. Notice that I have now pre drilled all the holes for the stainless hardware. I counter sank the holes at the resin layer so the resin would not chip when I finally install all the stainless screws.

 

I need the crate to not move. So I purchased solid 1 ¾” thick rubber to use as feet under the heavy crate. I put a 45 degree chamfer on the bottom of the rubber to keep them from chipping in the future. Here is a picture of the rubber after squaring up. The chamfer is being put on in this picture.





The next picture shows the countersinking of the rubber feet. Stainless steel washers and screws will be used to fasten the rubber feet after all the epoxy painting is finished





The following picture shows another coat of white epoxy on the top side of the crate.





To keep the crate waterproof around the rod holders I had to fabricate custom rubber gaskets. I used a very high grade 1/8” rubber for the gaskets.





The picture shows more coats of the white epoxy paint. This is a very slow process waiting two days for it to cure before sanding between coats. The sun and wind helped a lot. The temperature outside was over 100 degrees every day during the painting. Rolling the beast in and out of various parts of the warehouse was a pain in the neck over a two week period. The warehouse stays at 95 degrees all night long after being locked up. One of the pictures shows “Boy” the guard dog. It seemed no matter where the crate was placed, a forklift or materials were coming and going during normal daily work. I really can't believe it didn't get serious shop damage during this period. Everybody knows when the boss has a pet project going on not to mess with it. I only have time for a few projects a year for myself and I no longer allow anybody else to do their own projects (except one guy) as it was getting out of hand a few years back.

 

The first pic is the warehouse dog. Great guard dog. Rat killing machine.

The next picture is all the hardware going into the Ultimate Milk Crate. I used Lee 90 degree rod holders in the medium size. These are the most proven rod holders on the market. The handles to pick up and move the crate are fabricated out of stainless steel with a load capacity of 500 pound per handle. The placement of the holes was 3 on the back side. This will hold up to 3- 50W’s. The 4 holes on the front side will hold very large spinners and jigging reels. You could even place up to 4-30’s on the front row. I also bought some stainless “C” clamps to place behind each rod holder. These will be used as a hold down from the rod and reel to the crate in heavy seas. I will have to make some special bungee cords for this application.

 

Actually, I put it on the scale before mounting the solid rubber feet. They were about 1 pound each, so 210 pounds is the real weight. I picked it up numerous times by myself during the construction. It was tuff without the handles. Somehow I had it on my shoulder a few days ago. Didn't help my broken ribs either. I going on one month without a decent night's sleep.

It's really not to bad with the handles attached. Me and a guy from the shop were trying to see who was a whimp this afternoon. We each grabbed one side of the crate and walked it in and out of the warehouse for about 25 minutes in 102 degree heat without putting it down. He gave up.

My next fishing project is some super jigs out of stainless steel bar stock left over from a job. I'm going to mill out some 42 ounce diamond jigs. I might even get creative and try to mill out a knife style jig around 3 pounds. Time is not on my side right now as we are very busy. It's also prime fishing time and I fish every weekend. Bad news is that I think it is a full moon this weekend.

 

Casters were in the planning from the start. I buy casters all the time for projects. I've never seen a caster with a locking device that gave me a stiff one. I do own an electric stair stepping dolly. I guess I could pack that beast to take it up the stairs on the Big E, but then I would probably have it stolen from the truck in the parking lot. It was very expensive. I'm a manly man. I'm not worried about getting the crate up to the top deck.

I still have a few stainless steel stem mount casters left over from a medical lab job. I'm drawing up a jig cart right now. I have about 200 jigs right now, and would like to organize them into one location and then pick and choose for specific trips.

 

Here's a pic of my newly finished fishing overflow drawer rack. Each drawer has a 150 pound full extension ball bearing slide. Each of the two drawer sections are 24" x 72" x 22." The rack can hold up to 8 thousand pounds. I'm planning on filling the drawers with jigs and weights and other heavy fishing tackle. I probably need to build a three more of these to really get organized. I have fishing crap all over the place. I wish I could take a month off and take inventory. Duplications all over the place. I might even skip fishing this weekend to get started. Full moon and 4 footers aren't great when its only going to be myself and the wife. She hasn't fished with me this year. She says I'm to demanding on the water. My ribs could use the rest. I'll let her make the call.