I’m back into my first custom order since I finished the sandwich boards. It feels great to be building new things again. However, they liked the sandwich boards so much, Murphy’s Group put in an order for 7 more! I’m pretty happy about it actually because I love building things and the fact that they want more says a lot, too!!
This build was a lot of fun! My buddy, Dave, sent me a YouTube video of a fella named Pete building this awesome cooler and asked if I could build it. Of course I would! I watched the video and built it. I am definitely not trying to take any fame away from Pete. He did a great job building it and his directions were super easy to follow. But for something not overly big, it was more expensive to build than I anticipated. Go figure! I really need to learn how to use Excel so I can have a list of all the prices for individual materials and I just plug in how many I’ll need for each project and it will generate the cost for me. Who wants to help me?? I’ll take 5% off a custom build. So basically you are just paying for material lol.
Lets get into the build.
1. Go out and buy a cooler.2. Take the hinges off the cooler.3. I thought you need to cut the hinges off. Turns out you just need to turn them counter clockwise. Make sure you focus during this part.3. Take the handles off. You will need to cut the rest off.4. Sand them flush5. Take the drain out. It screws out.6. Measured the height you want the legs. These were 31.5 inches.7. Put up a stop block on your saw and cut. This makes sure all the legs are cut the same length. Nobody wants a wiggly leg.8. Attach the legs using pocket hole screws.9. Fire some glue down first and attach the two legs.10. Measure the perimeter of the cooler and cut boards accordingly.11. Put some glue on the ends and attach to the perimeter wood.12. Like so.13. Take a picture of yourself and build the bottom brace.14. Attach the top braces for the cooler top. This gives it a better look.15. Cut a bunch of boards and attach them to the sides. I used a brad nailer, using 1 1/4 nails.16. Got it?17. Now you have to make a lid for the top. Measure the thickness of the cooler top and build a frame.18. Wrap the cooler top in wood.19. I wanted to hide the corners so I made a case around the cooler lid. This step makes it look nicer. My buddy, Gator, suggested this.20. Next, I found out where the cooler drain needed to go and drilled a 1/2 inch hole21. I picked up some threaded pipe and threaded it into the existing part of the cooler.22. Cool right!23. Insert it into the cooler24. Pretend you are closing a longneck Pepsi bottle and it’s in.25. Swear when you see a little tear-out. Mother f@cker.26. Attach the bottom shelf. Use a little spacer to make sure everything is level.27. Screw them into the legs28. Attach boards to the top of the shelf.29. Put some nice outdoor sealer on this bad boy. I put two coats on.30. You are finished. Crack a cold one and relax.31. Once you finish that one, crack open another cold one and relax. *Repeat as many times as you like. I won’t judge.
There you have it. Quick and dirty! I think this turned out really nice. It’s a simple, fun build and who wouldn’t use one? I also attached a bottle opener, lid handles, castors and a drain. I forgot to take pictures of this part but I’m sure you all get it.
