Any Ideas for Alternative Hobie Gear Bucket?

[Mr. NiceGuy]

The speed with which Hobie soft plastic gear buckets (8" hatch) split and fall apart is bugging me. I know this is Hobie product design strategy to keep milking their customers into the future.

Does anyone know of a hard plastic alternative, or some paint bucket or something else that can be adapted?

I've gone through 3 of these and it's just not right to keep paying Hobie $30+ each time they split down the sides or crack off at the lip. That's $120 so far for 4 junky plastic buckets that I should not have to buy more than once.

I'm tempted to make a mold and cast these things out of fiberglass to hand out to anyone who agrees with me.

Any ideas?






(thinking out loud)

- check paint dept at Home Depot
- check commercial restaurant food storage containers at Costco Wholesale + Smart & Final
- investigate molding materials to make my own from fiberglass

- are the 8" hatches used on Hobie a propriatary size, or generic?
- check West Marine to see if they have any alternatives

- NOTES: 8.25" top diameter @ hatch