winter rider
08-13-2007, 11:42 AM
There's been a lot of interest in my mermite can setup so here's a more detailed way description. Also, don't give me any credit. I just drew off of what others had already done. I will say though that my setup really works well. It's cheap, durable, weatherproof, and practical. Without the top box on the bike the cans are about the same level as the luggage rack and seat so I'm able to strap down larger items I normally would have a hard time carrying, such as golf clubs and more recently a 8000 BTU window AC unit.
1. I started with a couple of surplus cans from my local junk man. Just start asking around to the surplus dealers and they'll know where to find them. Nice clean ones are starting to get a little rare so grab them now before they're all gone. Being aluminum they dent rather easily. I paid $15 each.
2. Next step was grinding the rivet heads off the two handles fastened at the ends of the can. Not totally necessary but they look cleaner without them (handles).
3. Both cans were then bead blasted to remove all the old paint and painted semi gloss black. I chose semi gloss to hide all the little dents. If I'd found NOS cans with nice olive drab I would have left them alone.
4. The lids have four latches to hold the lid tight but only two on one side allow the lid to hinge open. On the other side I screwed the latches down against the side of the can to make it easier to open and close the lid while on the bike. I used 1.25" stainless sheet metal screws with pilot holes drilled first.
5. At this point the cans were ready to mount to my SW Motech racks. I put the bike on the center stand and proceeded to figure out where I wanted to position the cans. As luck would have it the latches I screwed down on the backsides worked great as anchors to hang the boxes on the top of the racks. After a little positioning to get them both level to each other I removed both sides (rack and box together) and used three carriage bolts on each box to fasten them to the racks. I used carriage bolts so the inside of the boxes stayed clean with no big bolt heads sticking out.
6. The ribs on the top of the box lids have some non-skid tape I picked up from the hardware store on them. They further hide some of the larger dents and keep duffle bags from sliding around when I have them strapped to the top of the lids.
7. The little silver things on the lids are actually stainless steel bungee anchors I made and screwed to the lids with flat head sheet metal screws.
8. DONE!
For the curious the cans weigh about 18 lbs per side while mounted to the corresponding SW Motech rack. The cans by themselves weigh about 13 lbs each which is fairly light considering they are insulated. Still lighter than a comparable size steel ammo can which would weigh close to 20 lbs. Due to the insulatation they work great for hauling 12 packs keeping them cool. In fact a lot of the good clean mermite cans have been gobbled up over the years by sportsmen wanting good durable coolers and civilian catering services, which is their original purpose.
PS the tool tube is ABS which comes black from the factory. I got the tube and the rubber gasketed cap from an RV dealer. I used two larger hose clamps to tie it to the SW Motech rack. 13k miles later and it's still tight against the rack.
1. I started with a couple of surplus cans from my local junk man. Just start asking around to the surplus dealers and they'll know where to find them. Nice clean ones are starting to get a little rare so grab them now before they're all gone. Being aluminum they dent rather easily. I paid $15 each.
2. Next step was grinding the rivet heads off the two handles fastened at the ends of the can. Not totally necessary but they look cleaner without them (handles).
3. Both cans were then bead blasted to remove all the old paint and painted semi gloss black. I chose semi gloss to hide all the little dents. If I'd found NOS cans with nice olive drab I would have left them alone.
4. The lids have four latches to hold the lid tight but only two on one side allow the lid to hinge open. On the other side I screwed the latches down against the side of the can to make it easier to open and close the lid while on the bike. I used 1.25" stainless sheet metal screws with pilot holes drilled first.
5. At this point the cans were ready to mount to my SW Motech racks. I put the bike on the center stand and proceeded to figure out where I wanted to position the cans. As luck would have it the latches I screwed down on the backsides worked great as anchors to hang the boxes on the top of the racks. After a little positioning to get them both level to each other I removed both sides (rack and box together) and used three carriage bolts on each box to fasten them to the racks. I used carriage bolts so the inside of the boxes stayed clean with no big bolt heads sticking out.
6. The ribs on the top of the box lids have some non-skid tape I picked up from the hardware store on them. They further hide some of the larger dents and keep duffle bags from sliding around when I have them strapped to the top of the lids.
7. The little silver things on the lids are actually stainless steel bungee anchors I made and screwed to the lids with flat head sheet metal screws.
8. DONE!
For the curious the cans weigh about 18 lbs per side while mounted to the corresponding SW Motech rack. The cans by themselves weigh about 13 lbs each which is fairly light considering they are insulated. Still lighter than a comparable size steel ammo can which would weigh close to 20 lbs. Due to the insulatation they work great for hauling 12 packs keeping them cool. In fact a lot of the good clean mermite cans have been gobbled up over the years by sportsmen wanting good durable coolers and civilian catering services, which is their original purpose.
PS the tool tube is ABS which comes black from the factory. I got the tube and the rubber gasketed cap from an RV dealer. I used two larger hose clamps to tie it to the SW Motech rack. 13k miles later and it's still tight against the rack.