# Drybox Hanging Tab Height ?



## washoe99 (Mar 11, 2011)

I have a few new dry boxes without tabs to hang them with. I found a local shop to weld the tabs on but I'm unsure how far down on the boxes. 

I also have two new engel 123 deep blue coolers (ouch $ but I will now have ice for more then a few days). 

My thought is to have the coolers at a height that I can access the latches and then base my drybox height to match the coolers so everything is flat. When I do that I come up with the tabes at 5.5-6" down from the top of the boxes which seems pretty high given that the boxes are 18" tall. 

If it helps everything is hanging on a 6 bay NRS frame in a 16' diminishing tube Maravia (previously known as the Orange Beast)

Anything I missing or lost on?

Thanks!!


Sent from my cat while running the Upper Lochsa


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Really depends on top of frame to floor height when your raft is floating.

I measured mine on a paddle one time and found that for my AIRE 156R that's about 12-13".

So your measurement sounds reasonable from the bottom, as well.


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## climbdenali (Apr 2, 2006)

I like everything as low in the boat as possible. So, like MT4 suggests, I would measure up from the floor, to the top of the frame. I'd give *maybe* an inch between the bottom of the box and the floor, possibly less. But, I'm not that worried about pinching the floor between the box and a rock- some are.


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

One thing to take into consideration is that if you're concerned about the box rubbing against the floor, you should measure the depth from the top of the frame to the floor when the boat has a load in the water.

Good luck,

-AH


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## washoe99 (Mar 11, 2011)

Good point. Thanks


Sent from my cat while running the Upper Lochsa


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## 2kanzam (Aug 1, 2012)

To expand on Andy's point...."boat in the water" makes a big diff.

IIRC, I have about 3"-3.5" of clearance from the floor when my boat is on land (when I was building it), but when it's floating that gap closes to about 1.5"


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## brendodendo (Jul 18, 2004)

Use 6ft NRS Loop straps under your coolers and dry boxes for a trip or 2. This will let you adjust their height / depth on the fly and let you play around with frame configuration. When you are comfortable with your setup, get the NRS cooler mounts and weld on tabs.


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## Rich (Sep 14, 2006)

Cut strap slots in the tabs BEFORE welding.
Great to be able to cam strap just the tab without strap over the drybox that has to be removed for opening.


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## caverdan (Aug 27, 2004)

fwiw.....I have two boxes with tabs. One is at 10" and the other is at 12". (Measured from the bottom of the box.) The one with 12" tabs was designed to be used with 2" diameter pipe and the 10" one was designed to be used with a 1" pipe frame.


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