Mounting battery: Drilling into the floor...?

R

Roamad

Member
I’m installing a new battery on my 1988 16’ C-Dory Angler on the floor back near the transom on the starboard side. I’ll need to mount it to the floor, obviously, and there is no mount there to start with that I’m aware of. Can anyone give me advice about the best way to mount a battery in this location? Should I drill into the floor, and if so, how to do that safely?
 
How to do it has been discussed many times here. Basically, over drill a hole and fill it with epoxy thickened with cabosil, chopped glass fiber, or wood dust. I used 1/2 inch as my over drill. Don't worry too much about going through the bottom of the boat. The inner layer is fairly thin, then the bit just drops through the balsa core and hits the much thicker bottom layer. STOP and fill.
Then countersink in that for your screws that hold the battery box. More detail in other posts.

I moved my batteries forward as part of repairing the damage done by the original battery mounted wrong under the splash well (causing water intrusion and core damage). I'm not sure that there is any place to move the battery on the Angler model. But getting weight out of the rear is generally a good thing on the 16.
 
Marco is correct. This is the best way to attach a screw directly.

You also can epoxy a block of plastic (such as PVC lumber or Starboard HDPE) or a piece of wood to the inner floor. Then attach the hold downs to this piece of plastic or wood.

Starboard does not glue well, so I would sand the paint off the inner surface of the floor, to get to good glass. Then put the block of material in place, with a weight on it. If you need to hot glue will hold the block in place until the glue sets up.
 
Marco Flamingo - can you direct me to any posts about moving the batteries forward on the 16' cruiser? I seem to have a hard time doing the right search criteria to get to where I want to :) We just bought a 16' cruiser, and would like to move some weight off of the back, and get the batteries away from any water that runs toward the back. thanks in advance!
 
The reason I’m scared by this idea of drilling into the floor is that my boat is in the water fulltime and I don’t have a trailer. So I may go with the epoxy trick. Or maybe move the battery forward to the cuddy. :roll:
 
zuunami":16evz2o6 said:
Marco Flamingo - can you direct me to any posts about moving the batteries forward on the 16' cruiser? I seem to have a hard time doing the right search criteria to get to where I want to :) We just bought a 16' cruiser, and would like to move some weight off of the back, and get the batteries away from any water that runs toward the back. thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Moving my batteries was part of several larger projects and a desire to get the boat balanced, so I didn't photo it as a separate project. My boat came with two batteries and two 6-gallon gas tanks under the splash well.

There are a couple of pictures in my photo album under "Modifications - Espar D2 heater install" (pics 11,12,14). I didn't go into much detail about the repositioning, so here's a little more. My batteries are strapped down to an Azek shelf in shallow battery boxes. The terminals have covers and the cables are fused. Because they share the under seat space with a little diesel tank for the heater, they are basically jam fitted under the seat box. The original 1-2-Both switch is aft in the cubby by the splash well.

Moving batteries means using fairly large cable in order to get sufficient juice to the outboard for starting. It might require even larger cable on the Angler where the run would be 10 feet (round trip) longer. I don't remember the size offhand, but I looked up the amperage needed for my Yamaha 50 and bought the cable (and fused) accordingly. I went cheap on cable, which was my biggest expenditure on the project, sourcing it from Tractor Supply, so it is not "marine" tinned copper. I use a hydraulic crimper, then solder, then silicon coated shrink tubing to seal the end terminals. More work, but 1/2 the cost of the fancy cable.
 
zuunami":idwaix9b said:
Marco Flamingo - can you direct me to any posts about moving the batteries forward on the 16' cruiser? I seem to have a hard time doing the right search criteria to get to where I want to :) . . .
Click to expand...

Use the Search Box in the upper left of the page (or you can domain-limit and further refine your own search in Google Advanced Search) and look for something like: moving batteries 16

Here are a few of the hits you will get:

http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=21541
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=3984
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.ph...ghlight=&sid=5a89eaff2a736800349ea4b34f0a2d46
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?p=99775&sid=528e1a79c2d7a9eee51494028389367e
 
I applied the weld mount directly to the gelcoat and its working well. I also glued brackets to hold the gas tanks. It is strong stuff if you follow the directions and easy to use
 
Yes that's the weld mount from Fisheries. I got the tube which has a plunger and dispenses the weld mount in two rows so you get proper mixture. Stir that together and apply to back of brackets and press in place
 
There are different types of weld mount as you will see, read the specs and make sure you get one that works on the boat floor and not one specific to metal or a particular substrate. You would get a stronger bond sanding down the gelcoat but mine is working fine without doing that
 
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