Budget Sound “Proofing” the JKrate Low

If you’re like me you carry a lot of 3600 boxes when you go kayak fishing. I’ve typically got 6-8 with me on any given trip, filled with crankbaits and jigs, jerkbaits and worm hooks, topwater … you get the idea. That’s one of the reasons I love using my JKrate Low – everything fits easily in one place, easily accessible right behind the seat of my Coosa HD.

Over time I’ve come to realize that I always seem to need the 3600 box that’s located at the bottom of the stack of 3-4. Or maybe it’s on the bottom of the other stack. Digging around and banging plastic on plastic can create a lot of noise – noise that is unnatural and can be picked up by nearby fish, spooking them. I decided I needed to sound “proof” – well really sound “dampen” – my JKrate Low.

Luckily, I happened to have just the thing around the house – adhesive-backed foam sheets. I had gotten a multi-pack of 12×18” sheets from the craft / hobby store Michaels for a previous project and had some leftover sheets collecting dust. What I really liked about using them for this was the fact that they are thin – only 2mm – so I wasn’t really losing any storage space.

I decided to have some fun with the colors and used a sheet each of yellow, green, and black. I cut a segment of each color to cover the bottom of the JKrate Low fully, then used the excess to cut smaller segments for the sides. Although I used three sheets of foam, you can definitely do this project with two sheets. I had originally purchased the multipack for another project, so my cost using three sheets ended up being $2.50. You can get individual sheets of foam as well, and using two you can stay under $2.25. I’ve been out a couple times since adding the foam and I’ve noticed a definite decrease in the noise I create.