Originally posted by sastanley
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Looking for advice on batteries placement.
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Alex
1976 Catalina 30
Perth Amboy, NJ
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for what it's worth, I put my house bank in the bow (two group 31's) and left the start battery by the engine. I tabbed in a cradle or shelf, for lack of a better term, and built battery box of plywood with resin lining which is strapped to the cradle. sorry I don't have better pix and this one is from my original set up in 2008 with three group 27'ssigpicjohn
'77 catalina 30 #783
the only way to be sure is to make sure
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Originally posted by jbsoukup View Postfor what it's worth, I put my house bank in the bow (two group 31's) and left the start battery by the engine. I tabbed in a cradle or shelf, for lack of a better term, and built battery box of plywood with resin lining which is strapped to the cradle. sorry I don't have better pix and this one is from my original set up in 2008 with three group 27'sAlex
1976 Catalina 30
Perth Amboy, NJ
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Originally posted by Wisakedjack View PostBut I did not want to have long cable runs to the engine and the main panel.
There is also a weight distribution consideration, which is really minor for me since I don't race my boat.Last edited by ndutton; 02-21-2021, 12:02 PM.Neil
1977 Catalina 30
San Pedro, California
prior boats 1987 Westsail 32, 1970 Catalina 22
Had my hands in a few others
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To add to Neil's point, if you have a tendency to have lots of "junk in the trunk", like 'roll bars' and dinghy + davits an outboard, etc...those 150 lbs of battery might help offset the stern weight.
Anyway, I decided to make my two settee tanks water since they are often full, and made my holding tank the bow tank (my boat only had the one little 17 gal tank to stbd) since I only fill the holding tank when necessary so it always starts a journey empty. It all makes a difference, but on big heavy boats like a C-30 weight distribution probably makes less difference than some others.-Shawn
"Holiday" - '89 Alura 35 #109
"Twice Around" - '77 C-30, #511 with original A-4 & MMI manifold - SOLD! (no longer a two boat owner!!)
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sigpicjohn
'77 catalina 30 #783
the only way to be sure is to make sure
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Shawn, you were right about small gap between batteries settee lid. I took this pictures yesterday trying to see where my battery box would fit.
And things got even worse when I tried to move boxes forward (thinking if I ever want to expand the battery bank). All of the sudden the idea of putting battery box in the bow started to become more appealing. John, I am now curious where your main switch is located. I am trying to think what wire run lengths you had to deal with. I don't have much weight aft to balance batteries in the bow though.
When I got home I took another look at different forums and thought more about this. So, I think there are other options that may work for me:
1. Replace G27 batteries with G24 and put them under starboard settee. They are shorted by few inches and that should be enough to sit a bit deeper.
2. I am revisiting my earlier idea of placing batteries under the navigation table and using 2 6V GC2 batteries. They are taller, so I cant put them under settee. But this will give me a good size main bank so that I won't need to upgrade it. I could then put one G24 under settee as a 'reserve' bank.
Decisions, decisions... Got to make up my mind, so I can finish this project before boat launch.Alex
1976 Catalina 30
Perth Amboy, NJ
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my main switch is in the galley below the stove and my panel is next to the icebox. those runs aren't too long, maybe 12-15 feet but i wanted to be able to start the A4 with the house bank just in case, hence the heavy wire. works like a charm.
my start battery is in the old location next to the engine. the negative lead goes from the house bank to the start battery negative and the positive goes straight to the switch.
regarding the weight in the stern, its all you baby (and hopefully someone special)sigpicjohn
'77 catalina 30 #783
the only way to be sure is to make sure
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Hi, John,
Thanks for sharing the details. Good to know what others are doing. Really helps me with decision making (aka overthinking) process. I can certainly add more weight to the stern by having more friends over and adding to my liquor locker
Cheers!Alex
1976 Catalina 30
Perth Amboy, NJ
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Jack, By the way...I see some standing water in the stbd settee in those pics. If you angle it correctly, you can drill a limber hole in the bottom of the stbd settee that will drain into the bilge underneath the cabin sole. The hull is 1" thick so you unlikely to drill thru that, and you are only drilling thru the settee fiberglass without drilling too shallow to come thru the cabin floor nor going to deep to drill into the hull.-Shawn
"Holiday" - '89 Alura 35 #109
"Twice Around" - '77 C-30, #511 with original A-4 & MMI manifold - SOLD! (no longer a two boat owner!!)
sigpic
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Originally posted by sastanley View PostJack, By the way...I see some standing water in the stbd settee in those pics. If you angle it correctly, you can drill a limber hole in the bottom of the stbd settee that will drain into the bilge underneath the cabin sole. The hull is 1" thick so you unlikely to drill thru that, and you are only drilling thru the settee fiberglass without drilling too shallow to come thru the cabin floor nor going to deep to drill into the hull.Alex
1976 Catalina 30
Perth Amboy, NJ
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I'd like to share the final result of this project. I ended up putting two G27 lead acid batteries under the navigation table. I removed two shelves to do this. The opening at the bottom inside Nav table is almost perfect size to accommodate two G27 batteries in port to starboard orientation.
I previously made a support for the battery shelf that I planned to use in the original location. While no longer necessary I used it for some extra support in the middle. Here it is shown attached to the battery shelf. The shelf itself was made from 3/4" plywood and painted with TotalBoat bilge paint.
I cut the ledge from a piece of marine wood that matched the angle of the hull. It was epoxied to the hull and then glassed over.
I cut two wood blocks and bolted them to the wall under the front of Navigation table as shown below:
This is similar to Shawn's installation that I linked in one of my earlier posts. Then I placed the battery shelf over and screwed it in, so it can be removed if needed (see pic in the next post). To be continued...Alex
1976 Catalina 30
Perth Amboy, NJ
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The following picture shows battery shelf inside navigation table secured with screws.
Next picture shows batteries in place. I placed a piece of wood between the batteries to prevent batteries from moving. All electrical components were placed on the right side of the batteries. Negative bus is located behind batteries.
And here is a picture of electrical components. Currently it is configured as a single bank, but it can be easily modified to add an extra reserve battery or use on the batteries as 'starter' one and another as 'house' battery. Power switch inside navigation table is a battery disconnect. If I add another bank I will put another battery disconnect switch on the left side. My 1-2 main batter switch is visible on the left side (4 large terminals with one unused). It is accessible from outside navigation table.
To be continued....Alex
1976 Catalina 30
Perth Amboy, NJ
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