but my way of thinking is to make a dockingstation without the original sled and have all the outputs (rca, serial, usb and ethernet)

I have said it before, but one concern I have is that the existing back panel connectors, especially the RCAs, are not made for repeated docking/undocking. I might have some concern about using them as a docking connector over the long haul given the amount of friction in RCAs. The "true" docking connector, though, is built for repeated insertion/removal.

My experience is the same as Tony's. I now have 3 home-brew ethernet adapters (2 with power also) and they all work flawlessly. OTOH, I would think that the more connectors you add to that type of fabrication, the harder it would be to make them all align all the time (whereas those little pointy pins on the big docking connector take care of alignment making it much easier to implement an add-on ethernet adapter).

Anyhow, I can not think of a reason that I would not use a standard sled/connector if I had one available (I am actually hoping to get a custom-pinned docking connector for use with my new, not-yet-installed coax digital output)

Also, I will say that using clear material as mentioned in this thread made the ethernet adapter building process as easy as possible. It really helped to be able to see through the plate as I worked on it.

(edit: Also, with respect to your original query, I am building a new rack-mount box -- my hoped-for Loren-beater!! -- using a CH-2 box. It is not very heavy on aluminum, but it may have some ideas for features. One thing I am trying to work in is this . )