What to do with pelican type cases that have a ton of holes in them?

vartz04

Adventurer
I have two cases from failed solar generator experiments (one ended up too large/heavy and the other the battery was too small. )

I have a seahorse 920 and a pelican 1550 that are riddled with holes from 1/8” to 2” from the various inputs/outputs.

I could attempt to patch the holes and then paint it to make it look nice or cover the holes with stickers and then use them as is. I could sacrifice the one case to make patches for the other maybe? Or is there any good uses for a “no longer water/dust proof” case? Just looking for ideas before I try to offload these for a couple bucks locally or just recycle them. I got the 1550 for free and the seahorse was only $65 on amazon at one point so I’m not too butt hurt if I can’t do anything with them.
 

jgaz

Adventurer
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by “riddled” but I've patched a number of cases that we repurposed at work.

The very small holes, 1/8” or so, were usually filled with epoxy. Put a some tape on one side and pack the hole full. Some times we would tap threads in a larger holes and screw in a bolt smeared with epoxy. Or just plug it with a nut and bolt and forget the threads.

The real big holes, 3/4 and up, we usually riveted an aluminum plate (approx .060) to both sides over the hole. Use a structural pop rivet so the stem stays in the rivet to help seal it. Seal the void between the plates with...wait for it....epoxy. Most of the larger holes we needed to close were from an electrical bulkhead connector so there was a bolt pattern at the perimeter of the hole.

Cases repaired this way will not be as waterproof as an unmolested unit but the will be pretty well sealed. Only you can dertermine if the repaired unit is suitable for your needs.

Also to cover any fasteners that protruded into the case after the repair we usually added a layer of closed cell foam secured with a bit of spray adhesive.
 
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vartz04

Adventurer
I’m not sure exactly what you mean by “riddled” but I’ve patched a number of cases that we repurposed at work.

The very small holes, 1/8” or so, were usually filled with epoxy. Put a some tape on one side and pack the hole full. Some times we would tap threads in a larger holes and screw in a bolt smeared with epoxy. Or just plug it with a nut and bolt and forget the threads.

The real big holes, 3/4 and up, we usually riveted an aluminum plate (approx .060) to both sides over the hole. Use a structural pop rivet so the stem stays in the rivet to help seal it. Seal the void between the plates with...wait for it....epoxy. Most of the larger holes we needed to close were from an electrical, bulkhead connector so the was a bolt pattern at the perimeter of the hole.

Cases repaired this way will not be as waterproof as an unmolested unit but the will be pretty well sealed. Only you can dertermine if the repaired unit is suitable for your needs.

Also to cover any fasteners that protruded into the case after the repair we usually added a layer of closed cell foam with a bit of spray adhesive.

The little holes there are probably 15 or so from the mounting bolts for the gear inside. All are less than 1/8” diameter. Those are easy for me to fix like you described. The larger holes - there are I think 9 in the smaller one and 7 in the larger case.

I don’t need the cases to be submersible, just sealed from dust and have the patches not break off.

What type of epoxy would you use? I’m think that and a little fiberglass matt would be good enough for my uses. (I’d like to make a chuck box out of the bigger case)
 

jgaz

Adventurer
B80A894A-3B43-4C91-A6F1-ADC2E0D7302F.jpg

These were the two most common we had at work. The Loctite product breaks off of a roll that reminds me of a tootsie roll. Knead the chunk together and press it into the hole. It's very quick setting and doesn't run or sag before it sets up

The Metalset Product is a conventional two tube epoxy that is a great product. You'll need a backer plate to prevent it from sagging while it cures. They say 24 hours to fully cure, but when it does set up, it's like steel. This product might be easier to fill a void with because of the flow that happens before curing.

JB weld has a good, common, over the counter substitution for both products IMHO. JB weld is usually found in smaller amounts then shown in my picture
 

THATSALEXUS?

Adventurer
I've had great luck with simple black silicone. I countersink both sides of the hole, tape one side and force the silicone in from the opposite side as the tape just like@jgaz mentioned. The resulting silicone plug is hourglass shaped, minimizing the likelihood of it being dislodged.

For bigger holes I've used the hard plastic snap in hole plugs and siliconed the backside (inside).

For even bigger holes, I've cut aluminum plate, painted black, through bolted and siliconed.

That should cover just about any hole...
 

pluton

Adventurer
I've done it a bunch of times with RTV ("Silicone rubber") on up to 3/8 holes in Pelican cases. Permatex Ultra Grey, a stiff-setting RTV intended for high-temp applications on car engines, has worked well. Some cases have been so-plugged for over ten years,and the plug is still hard and holding. I spread the RTV over on both sides to make it resist being pushed out. I don't care what it looks like, only that it will be trouble-free.
Epoxy sets very hard and rigid, RTV flexes a little just like the polypropylene/olefin that the Pelican case made out of.
 

Outside somewhere

Overland certified public figure brand ambassador
Do you have an end game for them if you do spend all that time and money? Sounds like a real pita to me. Something to consider.
 

southpier

Expedition Leader
I would strap them to my roof rack as is for the exciting sound of the "expo-floute". let's the folks in camp know you're coming.
 

Hnoroian

Observer
Melt scrap pieces of polypropylene with a soldiering ironto fill the voids, bigger holes I've cut the scrap pieces then melted all the way around, flip them over and repeat.
 

vartz04

Adventurer
Okay so I’ve gotten a lot of repair options. Now is there anything they are good for as is? outside somewhere is right in that it’s going to end up taking me a couple hours at least and an unknown amount of money to fix these up so they are semi water right again
 

vartz04

Adventurer
Well I had some free time today and I started trying the melting in the plastic method.

I made the choice that the pelican 1450 would be the donor and the seahorse 920 would be the recipient. Unfortunately they aren’t the same color but some sanding and a random product sticker will take care of the ugliness.

I have 3 more holes to fill and then it’s done. I’ll fill it up with water to check for leaks and remelt to stop those. The pelican will likely hit the recycle bin now.

e5ee52300e3915509e14020ab59890ef.jpg
 

vartz04

Adventurer
Haha far from that. I melted from both sides. I’ll be sanding it smooth this weekend. Went from about $200 worth of junk cases to only throwing out $90 worth and not having to spend another $100 so I ordered the lid organizer. I filled the whole thing full of water yesterday and no leaks.

Now to start turning it into a chuck box. Trying to get myself 100% set up this winter so I can take my soon to be 3 year old camping once the weather breaks
 

TwinStick

Explorer
What ? Couple hours & unknown $$$ ? No. Tape and caulk is all you need. $5 or less if you catch the caulk on sale. Your time should be 30 min or way less for each side. Easy Peasy. LOL

I bought a Weather Guard truck bed toolbox & mounted "block heads" for the forks on our Mountain bikes. After about 5 years, we got a cap. So, I removed the block heads, put tape on the back side of holes & used black silicone caulk to seal the holes. It sat behind the garage for 3 yrs-----directly under where the water drains off the roof. I purposely put a bunch of wadded up newspaper inside to see if it leaked. The 3rd year, someone finally bought it at the annual garage sale. Newspapers were still dry with no water marks on them from getting wet.

Edit : did not realize some of the holes were that big. Looks like you got-er-done. Looks plenty strong.
 
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