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I am the new owner of an '87 13 super sport and looking for advice on how and where to install the battery. I bought the boat without a battery. There are four screws in the deck on the starboard side of the transom well, where it appears that the former owner may have mounted the battery. The battery leads are also in this area. I have read that proper installation calls for mounting in the area directly forward of the drain sump (essentially in the middle of the transom well area) where there is supposedly a section of wood under the gelcoat deck. I plan to use a battery box with tie downs secured by two brackets or clips secured to the deck. Does anyone have any advice about where I should secure the box (should I follow what the original owner seems to have done and use the starboard area?). Also, when I screw in the brackets, does anyone have advice about how to do that? Should I pre-drill and fill the hole with silicone before putting in the screws. Any tips would be much appreciated!
I had the battery box screwed directly to the floor of my 15' with 4 #10 wood screws for several years. It was behind the seat (and offset to port) so it didn't get much pounding. I have since moved it forward under the console.
The wood diagram for the 13 shows a 1/2" x 4" x 12" piece of plywood right where you say it is. It runs parallel to the beam with the aft edge 7" forward of the point where the transom well meets the floor. Oh hell, here's the pic. (I bet Joe has it archived on the site somewhere too.)
I just finished mounting a battery in my 13' for a trolling motor and I researched it quite a bit.
You should use a battery box if the battery is out in the open. My installation is under the seat adjacent to the helm so I used a battery tray. There wasn't enough height to allow the box to fit. Attwood and Seasense make decent boxes. You can get either at Basspro or Cabela's online.
Mounting is a bit more difficult. I have no wood under the location I needed to use. I'll just tell you what I ended up doing. I first drilled holes for the mounts with a 5/16" drill bit through the floor. Then I fashioned a tool using some 1/4" threaded rod and shaped it like a "Z". I used it with a shop vac to remove some of the foam below the floor. I ended up removing about 3/4" deep and 3 to 4 inches around each mounting hole. Pretty easily done actually. Once the foam was removed, I loaded a large syringe (you can find these at ACE hardware in the paint department) with pre-mixed marine grade epoxy and injected it below the floor through the hole. You have to run a piece of wire in and out during this proces to make sure you don't have any air trapped under the floor. Once the hole is full of epoxy to the brim, let it cure. After it is cured, pre-drill for stainless screws. Make sure you use 3M 5200 sealant on the scres when you put them in to seal it from any water and improve the grip. You must drill the right size holes for the screws, not to big, not too small, or you'll crack the epoxy or strip it. This is critical. I cured a couple of wax cups with epoxy in them to try drilling a tapping before I drilled my boat!
Get the "footman Loops" from these guys to strap the battery down. These are stainless and very similar to ones on other Whalers- http://store.ryansproducts.com/1folostst.html
As far as I am concerned, the best straps in the world are the YETI straps from YETI coolers (also online).
Good luck with your 13. Best boat its size anywhere.
Thanks for the very helpful info. I am going to mount the battery in front of the transom well, where it looks like there is wood under the deck. However, I noticed that the battery cables (as currently configured) sweep along the starboard side of the transom rail and may not reach the new battery location. It looks like I have two choices: (1) re-configure the cables so that they come off the engine, and down the center of the transom to the new battery location or (2) use the current configuration by extending the cables (using butt joints or longer cables) along the back side of the bench seat storage locker (recall that this is a Super Sport model) and down to the new battery location. Any thoughts on this issue?
Thought: replace the battery cables with welding cable. Welding cable is finely stranded, tough and flexible, and has higher ampacity than the same guage "standard" cable. Wonderful stuff.
I would look at marine type cable if you intend to be in saltwater. It is tinned where welding cable is generally pure copper. Corrosion is your enemy. If terminated properly, I suppose welding cable might work.
