Ah yes, the now-familiar photo of a nondescript plywood box propped on sawhorses in a spectacularly filthy garage. How predictable am I?

Today’s goal was to unship the battery box from its position in the back of the van where it was bolted down; give the outside front and back a quick but reasonably good sanding; then slap on a generous coating of polyurethane. I’m happy to report one-hundred percent completion of this goal.

More accurately, I achieved something over one-hundred percent, because I did not intend to sand the outside ends nor the insides of the box, but in the end I did because it didn’t take long, so why not? Further, I intended to coat the outside front and back with poly but I wasn’t all that concerned about coating the ends or the insides. Once again, I did it anyway because I was already doing it and I had just enough poly in the bottom of the can to slap on a thick coating inside and out.

I wasn’t too concerned about sanding nor sealing because I intend to rebuild the battery box in half-inch plywood soon, so sinking more labor than absolutely necessary into finishing this box was not desirable. My original plan for all the boxes was to build them in three-quarter-inch plywood but when I found out how heavy they would be, I built a couple boxes using half-inch ply as a test and found that not only were they lighter, they were just as sturdy. All four of the boxes up front are half-inch ply and, as soon as I can get around to it, the battery box will be, too. But the original will be just fine for now.

Next step: mount the lid on the battery box, then reinstall it in the van.

After that, build the chuck box. More boxes, ohboyohboyohboy!