10M Express questions

[Bimmerbill]

Hello all,
I am enjoying my 1984 10M Express and am going thru a lot of the boat. There are projects everywhere!
I have a few questions:
The seat mounting bolts on the cockpit deck go right thru the engine hatches. I keep getting wet engines and wet sound deadening material and wonder if this is how it is supposed to be, or if the wood rotted out and the PO used too long of a bolt and punched a hole thru.

While reviewing the documents from my owners manual (Thanks Bob of Beacon) I see that fish boxs and a cockpit table were options. Does anyone have a picture of them? I'd like to add some fish boxes to my boat and would like to see where Trojan put them.

My battery boxes (starter and house) are a mess. I'd like to add a battery bus to each to clean it up. How do I know which size bus and wire to run? I'd like to stick a post fuse on there too. Can I use a big thick main power cable to a new bus, and move the other positive wires as is onto the bus?

It looks like my ceiling cabin hatches are all original. The hatch trim is in bad shape. I could probably remove it, clean, repair and paint but am wondering if there is a replacement that I can use instead.

One last question. I want to rehab my original dash. Has anyone used one of those premade switch panels for the job?

Thanks!
Bill

[BobCT]

I "think" the express seat locking setup is the same as the mid cabin. If so, it shouldn't go ALL the way through the bottom of the hatch. But, the factory setup is worse In a sense because if the water gets past the threads on the lockdown, or one isn't installed, the water goes right into the coring and you would never see it.

I've replaced 1/2 of each engine hatch and all of my rear hatch coring as a result (completely different on your model but same idea). Now I epoxy cored each so the water has nowhere to go.

Bob

[Bimmerbill]

Thanks Bob. Did you use thru bolts to mount the hold downs? Mine are held in with screws. My hatches are pretty solid. I plan to remove the hold downs, clear out some wood and fill with epoxy. Just trying to figure out if I should use thru bolts in addition to bedding them in.

[BobCT]

I stuck with the factory setup using screws to attach to the deck. I filled the center section with epoxy and the drilled down (but not all the way through) so the bolt just bottoms out in the epoxy and is totally sealed.

[Big D]

....I'd like to add a battery bus to each to clean it up. How do I know which size bus and wire to run? I'd like to stick a post fuse on there too. Can I use a big thick main power cable to a new bus, and move the other positive wires as is onto the bus?

That's the way it should be set up! There should not be any accessory wiring hooked up to the batteries, just main battery cables and the fewer the better so one main cable to a bus bar is best.

The size/capacity of the bar really depends on the total of all the loads working off the bar. Having said that, it's doubtfull that you'll be using all at once. Lean on the safe side and go with the highest capacity practical like 600 or 800 amp.
http://www.bluesea.com/products/categor ... s/PowerBar
You can use an ANL fuse for main feed protection if the bar is going to be away from the batteries:
http://www.bluesea.com/products/categor ... /ANL_Fuses
http://www.bluesea.com/products/categor ... use_Blocks
These are great for protecting branch circuits hooked up to the bus bar, they will fasten to the bar:
http://www.bluesea.com/products/categor ... tery_Fuses
http://www.bluesea.com/products/categor ... use_Blocks
The site also has some rules/recommendations to follow, and wiring size charts.

[Bimmerbill]

Thanks for the info!

I've never used fiberglass and resin before. Should I use straight epoxy or can I use poly or poly/vinyl mix?