With the deck done and gel coated I went back to working on the battery box. The two sided box is actually a fair amount of work.
Started off with making a template once again, for the top and cutting the wood from the card board template.
With the wood top cut and fitted I made a tracing of the cut out for the hatch that will be installed in the top of the box for access to the battery and under deck cables.
Here is the wood top, all cut out and screwed down with 1″ stainless steel screws. I sealed all seams with Loctite PL glue. I then went ahead and fiberglass taped all the seams from the inside of the box, the tape is also what supports the wood top to the gunwale and transom since this box only has two outer plywood sides. I also used a sander to round off all the outer edges, fiberglass doesn’t like real sharp corners.
I then cut out the 1708 fiberglass to fit the plywood top. Normally I would just use mat on most of this box but the transom on these boats have a bit of flex. There is a bolt on raised rear deck these boats come with but I am eliminating mine. I don’t want to give up the space the raised deck takes up. I would rather have more fishing room on the deck AND my bay is very rough at times and I really do not like standing on a deck in a boat with low freeboard.
In order to get some of the strength back that the bolt on raised deck offered I used 1708 bi axle fiberglass on the entire box. Making the box strong causes it to act as a torque box or a brace since its mounted to the floor and the transom. If I find there is flex from the outboard’s weight while under way I will build another box on the port side.
All glassed up, with the sun going down and the temps dropping I pulled the tarp back over the boat and plugged in the heater there is no way the resin will cure fast enough for me to apply gel coat.
Started off with making a template once again, for the top and cutting the wood from the card board template.
With the wood top cut and fitted I made a tracing of the cut out for the hatch that will be installed in the top of the box for access to the battery and under deck cables.
Here is the wood top, all cut out and screwed down with 1″ stainless steel screws. I sealed all seams with Loctite PL glue. I then went ahead and fiberglass taped all the seams from the inside of the box, the tape is also what supports the wood top to the gunwale and transom since this box only has two outer plywood sides. I also used a sander to round off all the outer edges, fiberglass doesn’t like real sharp corners.
I then cut out the 1708 fiberglass to fit the plywood top. Normally I would just use mat on most of this box but the transom on these boats have a bit of flex. There is a bolt on raised rear deck these boats come with but I am eliminating mine. I don’t want to give up the space the raised deck takes up. I would rather have more fishing room on the deck AND my bay is very rough at times and I really do not like standing on a deck in a boat with low freeboard.
In order to get some of the strength back that the bolt on raised deck offered I used 1708 bi axle fiberglass on the entire box. Making the box strong causes it to act as a torque box or a brace since its mounted to the floor and the transom. If I find there is flex from the outboard’s weight while under way I will build another box on the port side.
All glassed up, with the sun going down and the temps dropping I pulled the tarp back over the boat and plugged in the heater there is no way the resin will cure fast enough for me to apply gel coat.
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