battery compartment

[Jrock]

Whats up fellas, I,m new to iboats and to boating so forgive the lack of correct terminology.

I am trying to build a battery compartment in my 1980 ebbtide sundancer (15 ft. tri-hull). The reason for this is the battery sets right next to my gas tanks (touching) and to me this seems like a bad idea. Also by getting the battery out of this area I'll have room to fit one more gas tank which is badly needed.
My question is can I cut into this area (the screwdriver is pointing to it).
Will I run into foam or is it hollow all the way to the bottom of the hull.
I really need to seperate the gas from the battery so all help is welcome.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: battery compartment

that's really hard to say, but if you use plastic battery box, you will have no problem with there being close. there is plenty of air circulation in that boat for them to be close.

 

[Windykid]

Re: battery compartment

I agree with TD, a plastick battery box is what everyone else uses.

 

[Windykid]

Re: battery compartment

Oh and welcome to I-boats.

 

[Jrock]

Re: battery compartment

It's good to here I was boating all last summer without the chance of blowing up. thanks for the comments, but still need more room for another gas tank. this is the only way I see to get it.... thoughts?

 

[erikgreen]

Re: battery compartment

You'll probably find lotsa foam there. Small boat manufacturers are big on using any space they can find to make their floatation quota.

You'll need to make sure you match the structural use of anything you remove... even foam has structural value in some boats, and making an empty compartment for batteries is less solid than a wooden cube filled with foam.

Be aware that almost all marine batteries generate hydrogen when charging, and the CG regs require a vent or air flow mechanism to get it out of the battery compartment.. you'll need to put something in.

Erik

 

[OhWellcraft]

Re: battery compartment

That looks exactly like the back of my boat 83 Wellcraft, mine has those boxes under both seats and are filled with foam. My battery sits down in the bilge on a board that is glassed in about 6-8" up from bottom. I cant really tell on yours if there is enough room to do the same thing though. I guess worst case you could remove carpet, side panel, put tank and battery box(only way to go in your situation) in there and see how close it is to makeing it. I don't think it would hurt anything if you had to remove 3-4 " of the foam. then cut front panel to size needed, reinstall side panel , re glue carpet. A sawzall would work well just go slowly till you know for sure what's in there but you should be able to tell once carpet and side panel were removed. I notice there are snaps that run along the edge onthe white glass section, mine is the same way what I did was get a piece of vinyl that matched interior screw a small piece of wood trim across the stern on the deck level down from snaps install snaps onto trim piece and piece of vinyl to match up. Then I can snap the cover on and it hides all of the bilge area, battery box, etc. Looks much cleaner when on. The trim I used was about 1"x1" and I screwed it right to the deck with some 1 1/2 stainless screws. I also cut some 1/4" x 1/4" relief slots in it to allow any water to make it into bilge area. The plastic battery boxes are sweet they have a lid and make wires much easier to keep seperate and neat plus there is no way water could get into connections. Good luck

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: battery compartment

have you looked into the 12 gallons tanks, that don't take as big a foot print as 2 6 gallon.

http://www.iboats.com/12_15_Gallon_...ategory--**********.281827353--view_id.238174

 

[Jrock]

Re: battery compartment

Well thanks for all the advice guys but I decided not to do any cutting, not yet anyway. I'd hate to mess with the integrity of the boat if I really don't have to. WellCraft- I do have a vinyl cover for that area it came with the boat. Theres lots of other things I want to work on in the boat so maybe I'll get back to the transom later, who knows. Anyway thanks everybody, I'll let you know if I do modify that part of the boat.