By Rich

The second and final step in repairing the collapsing battery floor is now complete. The floor had a large unsupported section in the middle of the sail locker that had started to give way. Once I had used the car jack to persuade the floor and related cleats back into position, I re drilled several of the cleat’s screws, then fashioned two wood “feet” to distribute the load of the batteries more widely across the bottom of the boat. I coated the back sides of these feet with epoxy and affixed them to the hull.

While that epoxy dried I fabricated two legs for the floor and two cleats to be sure the legs were discouraged from breaking loose from the feet and sliding downhill.

The cleats were both epoxied and screwed to the feet, and the legs, once they were sanded to the correct length, were epoxied to the feet and both epoxied and screwed to the flooring above. This reinforcement should be plenty to support the load of both the batteries and the holding tank. Once the batteries are hoisted back into position, it’s on to other projects!