Not being a carpenter and never having built anything in my life, I took it as a daunting, but doable challenge to build my own hotbox. After consulting with stonegrind/wax guru Nat Brown I had a fairly good idea of how to do it in a simple but effective way. I also consulted with my friend and skier Jim Didomenico who has a very elaborate design which uses a hot water heater. I quickly dismissed his design as being too difficult and went with Nat’s simpler approach.
Constructing the box was much easier than I anticipated. After a trip to my local hardware superstore, I had the necessary pieces to begin construction. The key to this project for me was having the professionals cut the wood for me and making sure the pieces were uniform before leaving the store. My plan was to construct a box big enough to accommodate about 4 pairs of skis and after about an hour of driving wood screws and adding the lid I was done. It was now time to add the heat source and a couple of fans as well as some insulation.
Keeping with my “simple” design idea I purchased an oil filled baseboard heater, two $10.00 fans to circulate the air, and a good thermometer. I added some of that foil lined insulation (which I do not even think is necessary) around the corners and was ready for the maiden voyage. Hearing many horror stories about other hotboxers ruining skis during the first few attempts I used a pair I had won in a raffle which were inexpensive and expendable.
The absolute key to hotboxing is keeping the temperature steady. Nat had told me that between 50 and 55 degrees Celsius is best and you can leave the skis in there for hours. I ironed in a light coat of wax and put them in the box as the temperature was on the rise. After about 20 minutes of warming up the box was at a perfect 54 degrees. For the next few hours it only deviated by approximately 3 degrees in either direction.