Building a Sea Chest

[mbmcdermott18]

Well I had my first set back this afternoon. Tried to make the lid for the box myself out of some 1/2" acrylic that has been in the garage for a while. Couldn't get it right. The cuts and the radius were both jacked up. I am going to go by the glass shop tomorrow morning and get them to make one for me. Thinking I may get two just to carry one on the boat in the event the lid ever cracked it wouldn't cut a trip short.

Ordered some 316ss machine screws to hold the pumps and the lid down. I ended up tapping the floor of the box and will hold the pumps down in there with 316 8/32 screws.

For the lid I am going to tap the flange and run 1" 10/24 screws it. I am thinking I will use around 24 screws in the top. 8 on top and bottom and four on each side. I am going to draw it out in the morning.

I tapped a piece of the flange (the flange is solid laminate aprox 3/8") that I trimmed off and tapped it and ran a screw through it. then I put the piece on the floor and put a foot on either side of the screw and tried to pull it out with a pair of channel locks. I couldn't pull it out even after putting about a 1" bow in the 18" piece so I think it will be fine with that many screws in it. I am planning on putting some silicone or something to keep them from vibrating loose. Maybe loc tight? Any comments or suggestions?

I need to order some sheet gasket to cut my gasket. I was thinking of using 1/8 or 1/16 epdm rubber. There are several options and I don't know much about the different choices. The two that I recognized were silicone and epdm. Any suggestions on these types of materials?