I have been thinking about a concept to use a typical bulkhead that you can tighten down on a kettle for a cooler. You can't tighten a normal bulkhead because it will crush the cooler walls and they don't have enough threads for the thickness of the cooler wall.
1. My thought is drill a 1.5" hole all the way through the cooler.
2. Epoxy an approximately 10"x10"x1/2" thick piece of plastic (acrylic?) on the inside over the whole.
3. Order a bulkhead meant for a kettle and tighten the snot out of it. You are tightening against both sides of a solid 1/2" thick piece of plastic and the 10"x10" coverage against the inside cooler walls will distribute any of the forces from banging and bumping the valve around.
I'm not sure about what type of epoxy or plastic sheet to use, but this seems cheaper, easier, and more reliable. The last one I built, I had 4 trips to home depot and finally got it to quit dripping.
Has anyone attempted this? Anyone have recs on epoxy or plastic sheeting?
1. My thought is drill a 1.5" hole all the way through the cooler.
2. Epoxy an approximately 10"x10"x1/2" thick piece of plastic (acrylic?) on the inside over the whole.
3. Order a bulkhead meant for a kettle and tighten the snot out of it. You are tightening against both sides of a solid 1/2" thick piece of plastic and the 10"x10" coverage against the inside cooler walls will distribute any of the forces from banging and bumping the valve around.
I'm not sure about what type of epoxy or plastic sheet to use, but this seems cheaper, easier, and more reliable. The last one I built, I had 4 trips to home depot and finally got it to quit dripping.
Has anyone attempted this? Anyone have recs on epoxy or plastic sheeting?