Sub enclosure waterproofing

[skiking]

I have seen many people talk on here about coating a custom MDF sub enclosure with resin to waterproof the box.

I am in the process of building a new box and have never attempted coating one before. Any and all information from anyone who has done this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[ZANDERSANTE]

I just got done with my box and I put Marine Resin on before I put the body filler and paint on. If its gonna be a sealed box you won't have to worry about coating the inside, but since mine was a ported box, I coated the inside too to prevent moisture in the air from getting to fresh wood.

Pretty easy really.. just add alittle hardener to some resin and mix it up good.. The more hardener the faster it sets up which only gives you a short window to spread it on with a brush.. USE A SEPARATE STICK TO MIX WITH THAN YOU USE TO GET RESIN OUT OF THE CAN!!! otherwise you will contaminate the can of resin with hardener and then it will be no good.. Spread it on pretty liberally... The MDF really wants to soak up alot, so if you use a thin coat it really won't do the trick.. Any other questions just give me a shout.

[skiking]

Wow!! That looks great.

Any suggestions on resin? The stuff I saw at West Marine was pretty expensive. Didn't know if there was lost costly places to get the same results. I.e...Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, or auto parts store?

[ZANDERSANTE]

This is the stuff I used from West Marine..

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...p;classNum=673

Didn't check about epoxies from other places.. Anything would probably work..

[ZANDERSANTE]

What box design are you going with?

[bchesley]

Just go to Lowes and get the bondo brand it will work fine. I used it on my last box and had no issues with it. They even have mixing cups and stir sticks on the same isle if I remember correctly. Just follow the directions and use acetone to clean up your mess. Oh and forget about reusing a brush, just get a bunch of the 99 cent ones.

[skiking]

zandersante: I am building a custom sealed enclosure to go in front of my feet under the drivers console. The resin you sent me is much less then the kits they were showing me while I was there.

bchesley: I will check out the bondo brand as well. Have to go up to Home Depot today anyway. Thanks.

[EarmarkMarine]

Epoxy resin is waterproof where as polyester resin is water resistant. Painting over polyester resin will help seal it. Either option will do if you follow a few precautions. In any case, your enclosure must be elevated off the sole. And, a port must be high enough off the deck so that water can't get inside if you happen to nose into a wave and momentarily flood the deck.

Use polymer mounting tabs/spacers to keep your box off the carpet thereby avoiding a moisture trap where water is eventually wicked up through the resin. Also, resin seal the edge of the driver and terminal openings.

Slightly radius the exterior corners and edges so you get a thicker application there.

Mix in the hardener only as prescribed since a hot mix will create brittle resin.

Zander, good looking box!

David, Earmark Marine

[ZANDERSANTE]

Earmarks right.. Forgot that's what they told me at West Marine, but I knew I was painting so I went with polyester.. Didn't think about routering the edges for better coverage... just liked the look..haha.. worked out good anyways i guess.. Thanks Earmark.. I'm pleased on how it turned out.. Putting it in this weekend so I hope she sounds as good as she looks!