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My boat came with dual battery setup. One battery was located under the port side rear seat and one in the bow. I had 2 isolation/combiner switches at the helm. I didn't care for having a ton of 2/0 cable all over the boat and I wanted to install a bow sac, so I decided to add a second battery box under the starboard rear passenger seat.
1. Remove rear seat and base.
2. Peel back carpet. See pic #1
3. Make a test cut. For all fiberglass cutting, I used a Fein Multimaster detail sander with a diamond grout blade. It made quick work and I was easily able to control the cut, including depth. This was important because I had no idea what was beneath the floor layup. See pic #2, #3, #4.
4. I then used an ice pick to feel around to see if there was anything hidden in the foam. I didn't find anything. I then layed out a 14.25 x 14.25 box and cut the fiberglass floor out. See pic #5
6. I then roughed out the box into the 3rd dimension using a small pry bar and a carbide rasp for the Multimaster. See pic #6
7. I added some foam so smooth out some of the craters I had created. See pic #7
8. I finished out the foam to the final dimensions. I was able to go 7.25" deep and still have at least 1" of foam on the bottom. I pre-cut my fiberglass mat and layed it in the box. See pic #8
9. Not too many pics of the layup as my gloves were pretty messy. I did 3 layers of biaxial mat, 3 of cloth and I used tape in the corners. I also tinted the resin so the box would be black just like the factory box on port side. Pic #9 is the final layup. Not too bad for my first fiberglass layup.
The final box will be large enough for 2 of the biggest Optima blue top batteries. I'll also be installing a Hellroaring solid state automatic combiner/isolator. I'll continue this thread when I get to that point of the installation.
1. Remove rear seat and base.
2. Peel back carpet. See pic #1
3. Make a test cut. For all fiberglass cutting, I used a Fein Multimaster detail sander with a diamond grout blade. It made quick work and I was easily able to control the cut, including depth. This was important because I had no idea what was beneath the floor layup. See pic #2, #3, #4.
4. I then used an ice pick to feel around to see if there was anything hidden in the foam. I didn't find anything. I then layed out a 14.25 x 14.25 box and cut the fiberglass floor out. See pic #5
6. I then roughed out the box into the 3rd dimension using a small pry bar and a carbide rasp for the Multimaster. See pic #6
7. I added some foam so smooth out some of the craters I had created. See pic #7
8. I finished out the foam to the final dimensions. I was able to go 7.25" deep and still have at least 1" of foam on the bottom. I pre-cut my fiberglass mat and layed it in the box. See pic #8
9. Not too many pics of the layup as my gloves were pretty messy. I did 3 layers of biaxial mat, 3 of cloth and I used tape in the corners. I also tinted the resin so the box would be black just like the factory box on port side. Pic #9 is the final layup. Not too bad for my first fiberglass layup.
The final box will be large enough for 2 of the biggest Optima blue top batteries. I'll also be installing a Hellroaring solid state automatic combiner/isolator. I'll continue this thread when I get to that point of the installation.
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