A friend of mine bought a 21' tunnel hull fishing boat 3 months ago. This boat needed much work including new controls, a new motor and a wrap to the outside. Right before Christmas he dropped it off at the shop to have me build a cushion to fit the top of an Rtic cooler.
I cut a piece of plywood to fit the top of the cooler and added SS t-nuts. I primed the plywood twice then one coat of Oil based paint hoping this would help preserve it from the elements. I then added 3" foam and covered with a nice piece of thick vinyl. I screwed it to the top of the cooler with SS bolts and washers. When he asked how much he owed we told him to donate $100 to mission work he does.
This 65 qt Rtic cooler is impact resistance and durable for long lasting ice retention. They run about $250. It was also loaded with boat gear so weighed about 60 to 70 pounds. It took both of us to lift it up into the boat. That thing aint going anywhere, right?
He headed to his condo at Panama City Beach. A 260 mile drive. Half way there his wife e-mails me and says a fellow in a truck flagged them down and told them the cooler blew out of the back of the boat. Damn! They pulled over and could see about a mile back, under an overpass the white cooler and a car pulled over next to it.
Now what to do. He couldn't back the boat that far and didn't want to walk. I think I would have sat there and waited to see if the guy in the car would bring it to them. He decided to drive to the next exit and flip flop to the overpass where the cooler was laying on the shoulder. You can guess what happened. When he got there both the cooler and the car were gone.
I cut a piece of plywood to fit the top of the cooler and added SS t-nuts. I primed the plywood twice then one coat of Oil based paint hoping this would help preserve it from the elements. I then added 3" foam and covered with a nice piece of thick vinyl. I screwed it to the top of the cooler with SS bolts and washers. When he asked how much he owed we told him to donate $100 to mission work he does.
This 65 qt Rtic cooler is impact resistance and durable for long lasting ice retention. They run about $250. It was also loaded with boat gear so weighed about 60 to 70 pounds. It took both of us to lift it up into the boat. That thing aint going anywhere, right?
He headed to his condo at Panama City Beach. A 260 mile drive. Half way there his wife e-mails me and says a fellow in a truck flagged them down and told them the cooler blew out of the back of the boat. Damn! They pulled over and could see about a mile back, under an overpass the white cooler and a car pulled over next to it.
Now what to do. He couldn't back the boat that far and didn't want to walk. I think I would have sat there and waited to see if the guy in the car would bring it to them. He decided to drive to the next exit and flip flop to the overpass where the cooler was laying on the shoulder. You can guess what happened. When he got there both the cooler and the car were gone.