I finally finished my tower box project!

[tiqueman97]

I started this.., gosh, a little over a year ago. I had an aftermarket tower, locally made, and was having some issues with it. On that tower I had 4 Liquid audio Clarions mounted on it wiht tower lights. I purchased a New Dimensions Tower in October or November of 06. Then I decided, 4 6.5s arent going back up, I wanted 6x9s but couldnt find a box that "wowed" me. Especially price wise. So I searched and searched and found a site that had plans in pdf for a DIY project. I printed out what I thoguh was close to scale and it just wasnt working out. So off of the pdf, I re-drew in Auto Cad all the peices. I built it and wrapped it and thought, "this isnt so bad" Then the smoothing process began. Yeah, not so much fun. I cannot tell you how many hours I have into this thing with sanding and re-priming and sanding and re-priming. It seeamed like I was never going to finish it. But then this past week, I finally said to myself it was ready for paint.

I went to a local paint shop and purchased Omni AU base coat clear coat for it. I had them scan the Burgundy stripe on the side of the boat to get an exact color match (or at least as close as possible). I shot it Saturday in my garage. Came out wonderful.

Ive got about 50 dollars or less in material to build the box, wrap it and glass it. Another few bux for a quart of bondo, some glazing putty and really the most expensive part, about all the cans of filler primer I used. Somewhere around 12 to 16 cans. So lets say for under 150.00 I have this kick a$$ box.... Im very pleased with it. It was A LOT of work, hundreds of hours, but well worth the time and sometimes frustration....

I will get some more pics when I install it on the boat. Ive got Polk Momos to install into it.

[tiqueman97]

RE: I finally finished my tower box project!

Oh yeah, and note the AIR logo on the front. I hope I dont go to jail for that....

[tiqueman97]

Shots when it was finally ready for paint...

[CC-Scott]

Very nice looking...you did a great job on it.
And you get to tell everyone that you made it when they see it on the boat and ask.

[Andrew]

looks like crap..... i'll dispose of it free of charge, just send it this way (i'll even be generous enough to pay shipping )

[CradGen2]

Nice work. I found those plans to on the net. How did you blow up the drawing for the pattern. I'll one up Andrew and buy it from you. Any chance you could send me the AutoCad file.

[tiqueman97]

Thanks for the compliments! That is the best part about it, telling everyone that will see it that I built it.

I blew up the plans at a office I used to work at and printed them out full scale on a plotter. But being pdf, the lines came out being 3/16 to a 1/4 inch thick, very pixeled and there was NO WAY to get a good cut out of it to make a box. SO I did redraw them, made my own unique changes to it to be a "one of a kind" and went from there. I do have the cad file as I just have to locate it. Ive changed computers since I drew it due to a laptop meltdown, however I fortunatley was able to recover all of my CAD files. I will dig them up within the next day or 2. Whoever has Cad and wants the file, PM me and I will get it to you. I wont even charge you because if you are crazy enough, as I am, to build it, its all you!!!!

All in all, I didnt think it was that difficult at all. Although it wasnt the first shaping/glassing project Ive tackled, it was the first time Ive taken one of my projects and smoothed it to near perfection for paint. That was the painful part. I did an enclosure for a 10" sub that fits in the front triangular well (under the seat cusions in the bow) that I covered in Burgundy vinyl and made a lid w/ plexi and sandblasted the "N" into it. That was pretty sick but only have it in there for the Orlando Reunions because its far from "waterproof" up there. Also a gauge pod and 2 cup holders to the right of the drivers seat that came out pretty nice. Built 2 though cause the first one, although everyone said was fine, I hated so I chucked it and started over. Im a little anal about perfection when I build stuff.... anyway,

Thanks again for boosting my ego on this. Im very pleased with it to say the least.

As for selling it, you couldnt pay me enough to make it worth you buying. WAAAY too much sweat and blood, sanding, cursing etc. Actually, I though about making another one and making it to produce a mold where I can pop these things out in a couple days rather than 500+ hours. But I dunno, then I get to thinking, "mines done, you all are on your own" haha.. I dunno, maybe late summer of 08. We will see.

Heres the Gauge pod and additional cup (key and cell phone) holder

[jeepn]

that is beautiful!

[Onevw2go]

That is an Awesome looking box. And I agree, Being able to say " I built that' has got to be a great feeling! I would like to do a project like that, but I don't know thing one about fiberglass work. Where did you learn that skill? do you work with fiberglass in your daily job? anyway, sorry about the q'S. Just wantd to say I think that the box looks great.

[tiqueman97]

Onevw2go, trial and error my friend. I taught myself for the most part. I worked at a few car stereo shops in the late 90s early 2000s. The real kind, not Circuit City or Best Buy.... Not that Im bashing those guys at all, not what I meant, but meaning doing true custom enclosures, very rarley were 2 boxes the same. A couple of the "senior box builders" that I worked with did some amazing fiberglass work. Just watching them I thought, "hmm, that doesnt look that hard." And really its not. Just time consuming. And of the 6 years or so I worked there, getting myself through school, I did one fiberglass enclosure and it was for the shops car to run in the Spring Break nationals in Daytona Beach. I did a couple things after that for some friends and everyone of them came out just fine ( ie, door panels, kick panels and two box lids.) However, prior to this build, everything I did was covered in Vinyl, so hit hid any inperfections and you didnt have to smooth it that much at all. Just hit it quick with an angle grinder w/ 80 grit, then Id usually put another coat of resin on it and hit it again with a D.A. w/ 160 grit and be done with it. Spray glue it up and cover it with vinyl and it looked wonderful. Taking it to the next lever for paint was quite a bit more than I expected. But again, it wasnt hard, just VERY time consuming.

If you handy around the shop and creative, good with your hands, doing something like this as your first glassing project, I would think it could get frustrating, but possible, but then again, trial and error is what it takes. You cant learn without trying. Gotta crack an egg to make an omlette. Building the frame work is easy enough that anyone with a jigsaw, some glue, a finish gun and some patience could do it. Wrapping it is a bit tricky, I actaully wrapped mine 3 times before I was happy with it, but thats an easy part to re-do. Your frame will always be there so it doesnt matter how many times you tear your covering off because you dont like the way its coming out. Even if you re-did it 50 times (which would suck by the way) its in a boat so its going to take up time and money :grin: then once its covered and your happy with it, start laying it up with resin. one coat at a time and I think I have 4 coats or so on it. They go on kinda thin and the material really soaks up the first 2. Last coat I did was on the inside, hitting any "dry" looking areas in the material. then its grinding sanding and priming and sanding over and over again until your happy with it.

If your up to it, tackle it. I will help you from here as much as possible, through emails, pics, phone calls, whatever it takes. And if you get it right, its just an awesome feeling..... and a really really cool enclosure!

[tiqueman97]

Hung it Sunday. All the wiring is run to the amp, just not hooked up yet.

I dropped the boat off this morning to a canvas shop to have them build a cover for it. Was supposed to get it back tonight but they didnt quite finish it.

Hopefully I will get to finish wiring it this coming weekend and get it out on the water.

[Onevw2go]

WOW! Really looks great. congrats. Also I am super jealous that you will be out on the water this week or next. I am in Wisconsin and burried under a foot of snow!, checked the lake the other day, there is More than a foot of Ice on it, I wount be on the water for a few weeks at least! Enjoy the water and the new box.

[tiqueman97]

Thanks for the compliment. Yeah I had a couple friends calling me this weekend wondering why I wasnt going out. The weather was horrible... 80 degrees, not a cloud in the sky and hardly a breath of wind...... It was killin me that I had too much to do. Oh well, At least I got to be "in" the boat for an hour or so, even though it was on the trailer.

[tiqueman97]

Just picked it up from the canvas shop. They did an excellent job. And for just over $100.00, zips closed, has a velcro flap that hides the zippers and they put a felt like backing inside it to protect it where it contacts the speaker box. Im very pleased to say the least.