A home for the batteries

Batter compartment under the girls berth- Before

We now have a safe, secure and tidy home for the battery bank. Mark built and installed the ribs in order to get the batteries up off the curved bottom of the hull. He then built trays out of hardwood, painted them and installed them with stainless steel brackets. He's made a hardwood frame with  stainless steel brackets to fit on top so the batteries will be well secured.

This being a Captain Perfecto project, it has of course spawned two additional projects. The water heater in the forward left of the photo is according to Mark "looking tired" so of course he is now going to replace it. That wasn't on the list but if I comment on that fact I will only be stealing his joy. There is nothing worse than stealing another person's joy so I will just say "okay", hide my fear of never leaving the docks because the boat is never finished and start researching water heaters.

Ribs for hold in progress- this will hold the battery trays level

The other project was on the list but it has moved to the front of Mark's mind. The hose on the right of the photos is the rear head discharge line. It will be replumbed to discharge to a through hull right behind the head eliminating the run of hose through the battery compartment.

Ribs installed, ready for painting and installation of battery trays

Meanwhile, old copper wiring is being replaced by tinned wiring. So what camp are we in- solder or crimp? Both. Mark is adamant that all wires must be crimped and soldered. I had a good friend who disagrees with this as "you don't want to solder anything that moves". Mark's take is that if the wiring is moving he's done it wrong. Since electrical stuff is Mark's forte, we'll just go with it.

Painted, installed, secured and ready for new batteries and the top frame