|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Build a dock box
|
 |
|
Storage designed for waterfront living
|
|
|
By Adrian Jones, photos by Ray Pilon, illustration by Len Churchill
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Keep all your life jackets and water toys out of the weather in this cedar box with its composite base
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It's a beautiful day in cottage country, and you're about to step into the boat. The sun is warm, the water is glistening, life is good. It's a perfect scene, the kind of thing summer memories are made of-at least, until the clammy embrace of a cold, mouldy life jacket hits your arms and shoulders. One of the troublesome truths of lakeside living is that life jackets get wet much more easily than they dry out; solving this cosmic imbalance is what my dock box aims to do. It conveniently stores life jackets out of sight while providing more than enough sheltered ventilation to help everything dry quickly.
The arched lid and cedar side/front panels give this project a traditional look, but there's more here than meets the eye. The base is made using rot-proof composite plastic decking material in an arrangement that's fitted with netting to provide water drainage and air circulation while keeping insects and rodents at bay. It's easy to make because all of the cedar parts are cut from standard 1x6 and 2-by lumber, held together with waterproof glue and stainless-steel screws. Shop-cut, tapered cedar hole plugs make this project both beautiful and outdoor-tough. No life jackets to deal with? You'll find this box is also ideal for use around the pool or on the deck. Just omit the hanging rail and you're all set.
Construction Details
My design includes four rail and stile frames-one front, one back and two side frames-all joined at the corners by legs. The cedar panel boards interlock with lap-joined edges and fit into grooves cut in the rails and legs. The four frames support a base of composite deck material that forms the floor, with spaces between deck boards for air circulation. Once assembled, the frames are capped with a top moulding that hides the frame joinery and supports the hinged lid. The lid has a frame of its own, supporting multiple cedar slats that are bevelled to create a convex crown. Life jackets hang from a rail mounted to the inside of the lid.
Prepare Main Box Parts
Select some nice 2x4 cedar and mill all the frame components. The frame rails use small stub tenons to join to the grooves in the legs, and now's the time to create spaces for them. Using a dado blade in your tablesaw, cut a 3/8"-deep x 5/8"-wide groove, 1/4" in from the edges on two opposing inside faces of all legs. Prepare the two lower front/back rails and lower side rails the same way. The upper front, back and side rails are similar but less complicated. They only need one groove each.
With the grooves cut in the edges of the legs and rails, you'll create those short, 1/4"-long tenons on the ends of the rails next. I used an auxiliary fence on my tablesaw that let me cut tenons with a dado blade. If you want to follow the same process I did, set up your machine so the blade cuts a 1/4"-deep x 3/8"-wide swath, then use a mitre gauge to support the rails as they travel over the blade. This first pass creates the narrower, outside cheek. Cut the ends of all your rails like this, plus some pieces of scrap that are the same size. These will let you tweak the machine settings to get the tenon thickness just right before proceeding with actual workpieces.
Raise the saw blade to 5/8" high and continue the milling process to cut the opposing tenon cheek on one of your test pieces. See how well this fits into the panel board grooves you cut earlier and make adjustments until the fit is snug but not tight. Repeat the process for the rest of your rails, testing them when you're done. If the fit is too tight, the side of the grooves may break off the legs during assembly. Clearly label all the parts top/bottom and left/right, then set them aside.
Choose the clearest lumber you have and cut the cedar panel boards 5 1/16"-wide x 23 3/4"-long before milling 1/4"-wide x 5/16"-deep rabbet grooves on the edges. Since these form the lap joints that connect neighbouring panel boards, they need to alternate in location. Take a look at the plans for details.
I set up my tablesaw to cut the rabbet grooves and rip the panels to width in a single operation. I stacked a right and left-hand pair of 1/8"-wide by 8"-dia. dado blades on a 10"-dia. rip blade with a 0.010"-thick spacer between them. Setting the fence to rip 5 1/16" wide also creates one nice 1/4" rabbet at the same time. Flip and turn the board around, making a second pass to cut the opposing rabbet. After this is the best time to sand the panel boards in preparation for assembly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
