Porta Bote Storage Compartment

A few weeks ago I posted a thread asking how to store my porta bote on my Thor Jazz 277 5th Wheel. I got several helpful responses and built a compartment that goes underneath my trailer from the front between the landing gear. It came out great. My boat is the 12' model. The total cost was around $100 in material. It took about 16' of angle iron, one sheet of 24ga sheet metal (10'x4'), bolts, washers, lock washers and nuts. My only screw ups were a couple of hasty measurements and using a grinder with a grinding blade instead of a cutting blade for the angle iron. Also I wore out or broke a few cheap drill bits. I sprayed all the angle iron, expanded metal and the wood lid with truck bed liner spray paint. I hope the pics come through and helps somebody. I used it once already going up and down a mountain and it worked perfect, no rattling. I only fastened the sheet metal at the lid and the rear, sheet metal to expanded metal.


It has plenty of clearance. The bottom actually sits higher than the axle. Because of the length of the boat, it would have been resting on my axle. I raised the back end slightly so it sits about 1-2" above the axle. Since the sheet metal only came in 10' sections, I made the last couple feet out of expanded sheet metal I had. I like it because I will be able to rinse it out without debris collecting in it. One bit of advice....work on a hard surface and buy a floor creeper to move around underneath the trailer.
I hope this helps someone out.