ober51 said:
First looks awesome, you really did a great job, neat and all flush. Second, if you don't mind, a couple questions:
1. What is the circular cutout in the first picture, near the bottom?
2. What size screws did you use in the strong ties? And what size strong ties?
3. How is the wood framing attached to the bottom of the boat? I didn't see the strong ties that others used, so I am curious.
4. What gauge wire did you use?
4. Where did you buy the breakers? And is it simply running them in between the battery and the device I wish to power? How many batteries do you have to run all your electronics?
Ok so it was more than a few questions. But I haven't been getting many answers in my thread, and you have been doing great work. Thanks again!
Thanks. Answers to your questions:
1. The cutout is a custom fit insert for my Optima battery. It has cylindrical cells and this will hold the battery in place so it cannot shift around.
2. If you mean the aluminum brackets, I made them from 1"x1" aluminum angle. I used #10 X 1" SS Screws. The wood framing is 1-1/2" square and fastened together with #10 SS square drive screws in 2-1/2" & 3" lengths.
3. It's actually not. The front (behind the original front seat is held down by a 1-1/2" square piece of the framing wood and the floor attachés to that. The rear is held with the framing screwed to the face or the seat. I need to add two brackets at the middle seat so that area cannot lift. I don't see it going anywhere.
4. The battery feed cables are 4AWG Marine (made up by and ordered from Genuinedealz.com). The short battery cable is only 6 gauge (because that's the biggest I could find locally and it's a battery cable for a vehicle). The wiring for the lights and sonar is 16 gauge. All connections are soldered and shrink tubbed (no splice connectors).
5. I got the breaker in the battery compartment from https://wiringproducts.com and it is an 80 AMP. My Breaker for the trolling motor at the stern is a 60 AMP.
And YES, the breaker goes between the battery and the device it is protecting. In my case the one at the battery compartment is there to protect everything to the rear of the boat. I made a switch panel for the stern that will feed the trolling motor, fuse block, switch panel, and a 12 volt outlet.
As for batteries. I'm only running one battery, an Optima 31M Blue Top. So far I've had no problem with power but then I don't use the trolling motor all that much. Generally, when I move it's enough to use the outboard.