Thursday, July 9, 2009

My kingdom for a box !

When it came to the box itself, I wasn't sure what to do. The woodworker in me said "build it!". How hard should it be to knock together a box for crying out loud ?

Then reality set in. I didn't have access to a good wood shop. The box would probably be fairly heavy if made of wood. It would probably cost a fair amount given lumber prices these days. So I decided I should buy something.

P1040375

I thought of a few different criteria that needed to be met -
  • sturdy - the box should be able to take a fair amount of abuse
  • size - it needs to be big enough to hold a fair amount, but not big enough to generate a huge wind load
  • one piece - anything that snaps together seems destined for disaster on the playa
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After some searching, which took a lot longer than you would think, we ran across this box in Wal-mart garden section which seemed to fit the bill. A couple weeks after I saw an even better box in another Wal-mart in the auto section. C'est la vie.

Note the plastic lid restraints failed immediately so I replaced them with some paracord.

P1040377

Total project cost:
$12 (3 LED solar garden lights)
$20 (2 LED solar flood lights)
$45 (for the box)
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$77

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