Gluing Plastic Storage Containers

I'd head to a place like Home Depot and choose some type of silicone sealer that's designed for clinging to smooth surfaces like tile, tubs or glass. Since you'll need a lot, focus on the tubes that fit into a caulking gun. I'd use sandpaper to rough up all the plastic surfaces, and then wipe them clean with rubbing alcohol. First, apply the sealer to the top edge of the box where it touches the lid. Give it a day to dry (no matter WHAT the instructions say about how it cures in 4 hours). Then, flip the box upside down and load the sealer heavily into the seam under the lip of the lid.

Make sure that kayak's tied to something on land, just in case...... :-)

HDPE and PP are the common plastics used for storage containers. These materials are not easily or reliably glued. Most reliable joining is by plastic hot air welding or similar techniques. One old idea is filling up the space with ping pong balls or old tennis balls for flotation. You might also find a source of industrial waste and look for the blue plastic barrels that liquid materials are shipped in. These would not need modification to float. Another way that works is to prepare a polystyrene foam block of the shape you want and fiberglass it with an epoxy resin. Polyester resins will dissolve the foam but epoxies don't. These materials are usually found in boat shops. Another cheap source of containers might be plastic gas tanks from a auto salvage yard. Sealing them up could be possible using a heat source like a soldering iron. Hope this helps...

Joe

I was just helping a friend install a printer that was a replacement unit. The packing technique might work for you.

Instead of foam inserts, the packing material was simply good size plastic bags full of those foamed peanuts. The bags were packed just loosely enough to allow them to be fitted to the printer and having the peanuts bagged kept them from the usual mess.

See what kind of very strong bags you can find. As they say "whatever floats your boat".

Charlie

I would try construction adhesive. Sticks to almost everything. Comes in small and large tubes. W W

How about PVC? You can use plastic ends. The parts are readily available, inexpensive, and cut easily.

The materials used for those containers are difficult to adhere anything to. Some can be heat welded.

I'd try to get a block of foam to be sure it will not crack, fill, leak, or fall apart. I sold block of expandable polystyrene foam will support 62 pounds for every cubic foot of foam. .

I have a friend who built a dock 5 years ago at his lakeside cabin filling 4 liter milk jugs with expanding foam locking them loose in a treated lumber frame under his dock. I've seen 6 adults on the thing and it doesn't even move.

why not just use styrofoam that already floats, doesnt need the top glued on, and is cheap if not free...

randy

falls apart in the sun

wheres waldo...

so will the plastic containers.

Look for the recycling mark. There should be a triangle of arrows with a number inside and some initials below. The initials identify the type of material. For example:

PP - Polypropylene PS - Polystyrene PE - Polyethylene

etc.

Then you can determine which glue to use. Plastics like polypropylene have a low surface energy and are very difficult to glue. There are glues available, from companies like 3M and Locktite, but they are very expensive - like $25/oz. What you need to find is a high surface energy plastic that is easy to glue. Polystyrene is an example, but it tends to be brittle.

You also have to consider what properties are appropriate - toughness, UV resistance etc. Do a web search on the properties of plastics and you'll find something. Don't get your hopes up for the low plastic containers like Rubbermaid makes - they are likely polypropylene and will not be glued easily.

Mike

Yer talkin' to someone in the "Land of Four Hurricanes". Heck, yes, we tie things down :o) All except for the 15'x5' skylight that few over onto the top of a palm tree :o)

Plan on keeping it at front end of boat slip, tied to dock and seawall.Does your advice to use silicone sealer come with a guarantee? Does anyone know how to compute how many 12x24" (bottom dimensions) I will need to float a 50# kayak and a couple of 1x6 pressure treated boards? Plan to build very simple framework that will just lay onto the plastic containers, with longitudinal boards protruding above the lateral members so's the kayak will slide up onto it; probably bevel long. members on one end to help it along.

We originally intended to use fat PVC, but it's pretty heavy and I don't know how to figure out how much flotation is needed to hold up the wood frame and the kayak.

clipped

I don't want to get into either rocket science or the properties of plastic. May buy a couple of slabs of styro, a heavy tarp and some duck tape. :o) Hubby is thinking of 5 gal water jugs, fill with expandable foam, and seal with that plastic goop you dip wires into to insulate :o)

If you have a recycle bin close by you can get plastic 1 gallon milk jugs free. Bleach bottles or any gallon jug will work but I understand that the plastic in milk jugs will last for decades. Or check your local auto repair shop and pickup jugs from oil and antifreeze. These can pollute so milk jugs are better.

This will be cheap as hell and last for years.

The weight of the stuff supported has to be less than the weight of the volume of water displaced by the containers. Sea water density is dependent on the temperature and salinity, but you can use an average of 64 lb/cu.ft. Take the weight of what you want to support (deck, people, objects etc) and divide by 64. That tells you how many cubic feet of volume you need in containers underwater. Be conservative and make sure you have more flotation than you think you need.

Mike

I should add my buddy filled his jugs cheap at a re-chroming shop. They shipped their finished product in boxes filled with expanded white foam. It is really cheap in bulk. Enclosed in the milk jugs it will last forever.

"Charlie Bress" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

Most importantly,this also keeps the protected item from sinking to the bottom of the container and not having any protection,while the loose peanuts float on top.I've seen many expensive electronic units damaged by improper packing using loose styro peanuts.

Oh, not really. Over many years the UV will break it down some, but we're talking years, not months. You can always put a coating of latex paint on it. Entire companies have been in the business of supplying the molded foam for use in mooring buoys, lobster markers, etc. Not to mention pool accessories, floating chairs, surf boards, etc.