Removing Foam for Battery Compartment

I am planning on moving battery to left of driver's side in my 2017 Alumacraft V16 tiller steered boat (boat in sig). This is to better balance boat. Current thoughts are to move from current position (on driver's side) to left side of floor near transom near 6 gal fuel tank.

I am now considering removing some foam from the rear/port side compartment so I can move my 12V Group 27 battery to this area.

In pics, you can see

Option 1: Move batt to left of driver and strap batt box to deck/floor. Fuel tank in from of batt. Limited leg room for swiveling driver's seat

Option 2: Move battery to left compartment and then fuel tank can be slide back to transom adding approx. 8"-10" of leg room


Pros / Cons I can see by moving battery to compartment:

Pros:
Move weight (60#) to opposite driver's side (furthest left it can be placed).
[/list]Added leg room for driver's area
Better load weight balance

Cons:

Loss of approximately 1 cu.ft. of foam

Thoughts?

Are you sure you have the height needed to install the battery in that foam compartment?

You will have to cut out more than the size of the battery box anyway, at least a decent sized channel for the wiring to pass through, and then a hole somewhere out the side for wires to come out.

I don't know if the loss of the foam would be that significant, unless you load the boat to the max with stuff that wouldn't detach, as far as sinking goes that doesn't seem like a lot of flotation loss (could be wrong though).

silentbravo said:

I don't know if the loss of the foam would be that significant, unless you load the boat to the max with stuff that wouldn't detach, as far as sinking goes that doesn't seem like a lot of flotation loss (could be wrong though).

Click to expand...

If it's 2lb foam they used - removing 1cu-ft will reduce flotation by 62lbs.

silentbravo said:

Are you sure you have the height needed to install the battery in that foam compartment?

Click to expand...

X2 - Looks like a tight fit both width and height. Might want to avoid having the bottom edge of he battery box riding up against the side of the hull.

MN Fisher said:

If it's 2lb foam they used - removing 1cu-ft will reduce flotation by 62lbs.

Click to expand...

I don't know how significant 62lbs is overall, but if it is, then removing foam from that box and putting it somewhere else, in my mind, means the boat, if every swamped, won't stay level. IDK, maybe I'm all wet.

Thanks for the input.

I'm going with option 1 which is to mount battery to deck as shown in pics (first and second pics). Pad eyes and strap should do it.

To move into compartment, I would have to build a floor/box so it was away from side of hull. It would fit (height and width), but would take some tinkering.

Perhaps this is a mod that should be avoided and just leave well-enough alone (at least for now! :LOL2: ).

Thanks!