DIY Fiberglass Rod Pod lid

As everyone that owns an OK Trident with a Rod Pod lid knows, they are thin, too flexible and don't seal worth a darn.  I decided to break out my resin and fiberglass and see what kind of a mess I could make.

Start by masking off the entire opening, as well as inside the kayak.  I didn't want resin all over the place.






Next, I went ahead and mixed up some resin and began laying up the fiberglass.  You'll note the tin foil, that was just to be used as a "mold release".  It was more work than it was worth, should have just put a light coat of Pam down over the tape.  






I basically was making this in three parts.  The first part was to make a ring that would fit over the opening and give the lid additional support.  






Cleaned up the edges by cutting off the flashing.  








Did a tad bit of grinding here and there to make it fit back over the opening in either direction.  




Part two of this is to make a flat piece of fiberglass to later attach to the ring.
Do to this, I just glassed down 3 or 4 layers onto a sheet of UHMW plastic.  Once this cures, it pops right off and then gets trimmed.








Now the third part.  This is where I join both pieces together.  Sure I could have just started glassing right over the hole, but spreading resin over floppy fiberglass fabric would leave my lid looking pretty sloppy in the center.  

Loose fit....


Cleaned up and sanded down ready to glass together.





Here it is with a few more layers glassed right down to the UHMW plastic sheet.  Again this pops right off in about 2 hours of cure time.  






I forgot to take pictures of the underside, where I reinforced and glassed the flat surface to the ring.  This was done with a few layers to really secure the two parts together.

Now after giving the whole outer surface a good sanding to smooth it out, I went back and did some spot filling, and grinding to thicken or thin areas that were hard to control during lay up.  

Once this was done, I went ahead and put down the last couple of layers in several directions and again glassed it right to the table.






After a few hours of cure, and trimming the flashing off, I took it over to the kayak and trial fit it.  
Ooooo...Me likely!  This thing is silly stiff, but with some ability to flex if hit hard.  With my factory lid, if I sat on the center of the lid, it would eventually collapse the opening.  With the fiberglass lid and it's double wall seal over the Rod Pod opening, there is ZERO deflection now.  








Now, lets compare the two lids.   The plastic one from the factory was designed to seal along the sides, and does a poor job of it to say the least.  My fiberglass lid will have a foam rubber gasket tucked into the channel and seal the top surface of the Rod Pod opening.   As you can see, my glassed version is much narrower and hugs the Rod Pod vertical surface pretty damn snugly.  










Now, lets give this Krylon Fusion paint a try.  Says its great for plastics.  Resin is kind of a plastic.  
I shot a few quick coats on it both the top and bottom surfaces, and in about 2 minutes it was dry to the touch.  In the end I think I applied 5 coats or, half the can at least.  









Now that the paint has cured for a few hours, lets go see how it looks on the kayak.












All that is left to do is wait for the paint to fully cure over night, and then drill a hole for the lid tether, and goop down the foam rubber seal.








After I find the round hatch of my liking, I will be adding one to the center of this hatch so that I can get into the kayak for small stuff without having to unbuckle or bungee the entire lid to do so.

Very nice!

I'll add it to my list of projects.

Nice job and good write-up.  Be sure to let us know how it wears. 

I kind of wonder if OK uses such a loose fitting rodpod lid to accomodate the deformation that occurs with rotomolded yaks over time.

-Mark-

   

should have just put a light coat of Pam down over the tape

Also, the clear packing tape works great.  Epoxy won't stick to it, and the sticky side doesn't adhere very well to anything but cardboard.  Makes it easy to remove from the boat.

Great tutorial!

Very nice work Craig. Now go fishing!

Great job Insayn!  Looks great and excellent write up!  Definitely let us know how it works out in the long run.

~R

That is sweet. having a T13 i understand the week rod pod. i like that..


So whats the cost for something like that..

Very nice job Craig.  All I know how to do is knit and that isn't going to make for a good replacement lid.   I guess I'll be sticking to the old plastic one.

Brian

That is sweet. having a T13 i understand the week rod pod. i like that..


So whats the cost for something like that..

Depends on how you go about it, as I didnt go cheap on materials.  I used Tapp Plastics One to One resin which was about $30 for two quarts of resin and is really nice work with.  It has no odor, and is silly strong.  Only used about 1 quart for this project.  Roughly $30 more in fiberglass fabric.  Then $20ish for the foam rubber seal and Fusion paint combined.  So, I think I would say if you were on a budget and could get some of the cheaper resins and fabrics to play nice, you could probably do it for under $55-$60.   

Note: I wasn't going at this with the thought of trying to do it cheaper than I could buy somewhere (kinda can't anyway), instead it was along the lines of making it exactly how I wanted it to perform.  It ended up slightly heavier than the original plastic one, but let me tell you, it is several magnitudes stronger!  I can stand on it (215lb) and it don't give.  I can lift the kayak up off the ground from the the front lip that would have folded over backwards had I attempted with the plastic one.     I have no doubts that I could mount a rod holder to it and it would support more leverage than the rod holders that I mounted between the Sonar Shield and the Rod Pod.   Can't wait to find a good 6" round hatch that I can mount in the center of the lid.  This will really open up my options out on the water, as I won't have to take the whole lid off to get a snack, lure, camera, etc.... 

Very nice job Craig.  All I know how to do is knit and that isn't going to make for a good replacement lid.   I guess I'll be sticking to the old plastic one.

Brian

If you can knit as good my grandma used to, just knit it with fiberglass thread and then apply some resin, some paint and your good to go!   

Nice work.. Looks like that will solve you leaky lid problem.

well done man, looks just like you had talked about it a month ago.

Wow!  I'm blown away.  On my list for a winter project.  Here is a link to your 6" hatch:

http://www.duckworksbbs.com/hardware/hatches/sd336140-160/index.htm

Wow!  I'm blown away.  On my list for a winter project.  Here is a link to your 6" hatch:

http://www.duckworksbbs.com/hardware/hatches/sd336140-160/index.htm

Great source of boat building supplies.  I use their Marinepoxy and their fiberglass for all my boat building projects.  Its great stuff and no amine blush. Cheapest source I have found that sells both and that includes the shipping costs when factoring the price per yard/gallon.  Just ordered another 20 yards of 4 oz cloth last weekend along with fairleads, lashing hooks nylon padeyes etc, etc...

Wow!  I'm blown away.  On my list for a winter project.  Here is a link to your 6" hatch:

http://www.duckworksbbs.com/hardware/hatches/sd336140-160/index.htm

So far that 6" black hatch unit looks like a winner.