# Moving Batteries to Front Hatch...



## CaptainRob (Mar 11, 2007)

Wanting to move my trolling motor batteries to my front hatch but need a little help. I don't have a battery tray or shelf where I can place the batteries and the floor is not flat. SO, I am interested to hear/see what others who have run into this problem have done. I know I could have a shelf/tray made, but I wanted to try and keep the costs to a minimum. Here is a pic of inside my hatch for a little reference.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

You could put them in a milk crate up there. I may do this with my trolling motor battery.


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## Tx_Whipray (Sep 4, 2015)

I'm working on this right now. My plan is to build a shelf from starboard and tab/5200 it in place. I've bought the starboard and cut some templates from cardboard, just haven't had much time to put it together.


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## JRyno10 (Feb 3, 2014)

I am not attempting to thread-jack but I am also in the process of doing this. I am trying to figure out what the best way to secure a battery tray would be and I'd like to not screw into the deck.


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## CaptainRob (Mar 11, 2007)

Tx_Whipray said:


> I'm working on this right now. My plan is to build a shelf from starboard and tab/5200 it in place. I've bought the starboard and cut some templates from cardboard, just haven't had much time to put it together.


Tx, I thought about this method, with basically two small strips of starboard 5200'd to the floor and then a deck of starboard screwed to strips. BUT, I am not sure the 5200 will hold the strips to the floor, especially when running and possibly taking some pounding/force. Plus, I have read that starboard is very difficult to bond to anything..so again not sure the 5200 would hold.



Smackdaddy53 said:


> You could put them in a milk crate up there. I may do this with my trolling motor battery.


THIS is very intriguing. If I can find a way to secure the milk crate to the floor, this could be a winner. Only issue would be whether I can fit 2 Odyssey PC1200's in the crate.


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## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

You could take a few blocks of wood, coat them in a few coats of epoxy, then bond them down with thickened epoxy. From there you can do what you need, like screw a starboard shelf in. However you can't just use 5200 to bond starboard, it will pop loose quickly especially since the front will have some flex in it. Starboard needs to be fastened mechanically.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

firecat1981 said:


> You could take a few blocks of wood, coat them in a few coats of epoxy, then bond them down with thickened epoxy. From there you can do what you need, like screw a starboard shelf in. However you can't just use 5200 to bond starboard, it will pop loose quickly especially since the front will have some flex in it. Starboard needs to be fastened mechanically.


Starboard can be adhered together if it's scorched with a torch, cleaned and you use the special adhesive for starboard. This is the only way.


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## Sublime (Oct 9, 2015)

firecat1981 said:


> You could take a few blocks of wood, coat them in a few coats of epoxy, then bond them down with thickened epoxy. From there you can do what you need, like screw a starboard shelf in. However you can't just use 5200 to bond starboard, it will pop loose quickly especially since the front will have some flex in it. Starboard needs to be fastened mechanically.


I am going to do something like this as well except out of some kind of coosa or other composite board. I am going to cut it to size. Make SURE exactly where I want it, place it, mark a line around it, sand the paint off that area, apply epoxy, set in place, place a weigh on it and bond it there. Then I can screw whatever hold down mechanism I want to the composite board.


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## bryson (Jun 22, 2015)

Kind of hard to describe what I did, but I'll try to get some pictures tonight.

I stacked 5/8" thick, closed-cell neoprene foam to build up a flat deck in the anchor locker. The first triangle was small, and they got larger and larger as they stacked up. Once I got to where the battery boxes go, I start cutting out rectangles to create a recess for the boxes to sit in. I did lose a good bit of space up there, but I had way more space in the bow than I needed anyway and the space I lost was relatively difficult to use (not completely unusable, but not convenient either). Plus, I can cut out cubbies for anything I want in the future, like maybe for a small dry box or tool bag or something. I was also concerned about the force of two large batteries coming down on small areas of the hull when I'm running in bad conditions, but now I feel really comfortable with how the load is distributed.


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## K3anderson (Jan 23, 2013)

I have cut 45 degree slots in starboard with a circular saw about half its thinckness on the side you want stuck to the surface. If you do that, 5200 will hold it no problem.Just make an x on the back and your're done.


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## MariettaMike (Jun 14, 2012)

If I had your boat I would put the group 31 battery box I have with two PC1200's in it setting on piece of starboard that is held down by the fuel tank and up by wooden wedges (stringers) underneath it. Strap the starboard to the fuel tank bolts so it can't slide out, and strap the box to the starboard.

You could take it out, and never know it was there.

[did this in my old Super Skiff and it worked great for keeping the batteries dry. Still have the box somewhere.]


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## KnotHome (Jul 21, 2009)

bryson said:


> Kind of hard to describe what I did, but I'll try to get some pictures tonight.
> 
> I stacked 5/8" thick, closed-cell neoprene foam to build up a flat deck in the anchor locker. The first triangle was small, and they got larger and larger as they stacked up. Once I got to where the battery boxes go, I start cutting out rectangles to create a recess for the boxes to sit in. I did lose a good bit of space up there, but I had way more space in the bow than I needed anyway and the space I lost was relatively difficult to use (not completely unusable, but not convenient either). Plus, I can cut out cubbies for anything I want in the future, like maybe for a small dry box or tool bag or something. I was also concerned about the force of two large batteries coming down on small areas of the hull when I'm running in bad conditions, but now I feel really comfortable with how the load is distributed.


Please post those pictures. I'm wanting to do something similar with my Redfisher.


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## bryson (Jun 22, 2015)

@KnotHome Sorry for the picture quality, I put this back together temporarily last night so that I could measure cable lengths (changing my trolling motor plug and location).

All the foam, top row goes left to right, bottom goes right to left in order of size:








Start stacking small to large to match the shape of the hull








Once they are all in, there are 2 cavities for the battery trays to sit in:








I know they aren't strapped down or anything, but I haven't had them move at all, even in pretty snotty stuff. I'll probably make a legit shelf later on, but I did this all in a few hours, and it works well enough for the time being. The foam is 5/8" thick, closed cell foam. It was scrap from a local shop's contract work -- they had lots of large scrap circles from making the gaskets to go underneath the turrets on military ground vehicles. I don't remember exactly how much I gave for them, but it wasn't much.


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## Tx_Whipray (Sep 4, 2015)

That looks great, and it's a cool idea. I finally got mine put together on Sunday.


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## bryson (Jun 22, 2015)

Looks good! I'm guessing those are two on-board chargers, one powered from a 110V outlet and the other off the boat's charging system?


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## not2shabby (Sep 14, 2016)

@bryson - mind sharing your source for that 5/8" foam? Super cool idea, by the way.


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## Tx_Whipray (Sep 4, 2015)

bryson said:


> Looks good! I'm guessing those are two on-board chargers, one powered from a 110V outlet and the other off the boat's charging system?


Correct. The Minn Kota charger is their new "Alternator" product. Connects to both batteries and the ignition switch. Will charge the TM battery while the boat is running as long as the rear battery is fully charged.


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## backbone (Jan 4, 2016)

I would be interested in your opinion of the alternator after you run it for a while.


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## Financekid1 (Jul 19, 2012)

Tx_Whipray said:


> That looks great, and it's a cool idea. I finally got mine put together on Sunday.


How is this holding up and what did you bond it with?


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