Mounting Terminal Strips, Bus Bars, etc. to Hull

[Celestialsailor]

What I do (and just finished doing it to this boat) is use a 4" grinder with a sand-flap wheel, grind/sand back the hull paint to fresh F/G, use West Systems epoxy with cabosil and mill fibers to make a pancake batter. Then use mahogany ply,sticking it to the cleaned hull and hold it there with Duct tape. Then I screw the buss to it. I've done this for years. If you take the time to paint it later before mounting the block, it looks professional.

[knottybuoyz]

I've used epoxy to mount terminal strips on the back of my electrical panel. It's never coming off!

I've been thinking of trying these:



Glue on mounting studs.

Sea-Lect Glue-on Studs & Mounting Kit

[Saltyhog]

I did the plywood block thing with great results. I just cut up some scrap 3/4 marine ply into mounting blocks. I coated these with CPES (penetrating epoxy). To mount them, grind the hull to clean glass, apply thickened epoxy and tape the block in place till the epoxy sets. You can paint the block, but I leave em as is, as they're usually not readily visible. I'm rewiring a boat and did this all the way around the cockpit at the deck to hull joint. This has been a great way to keep wiring and the propane line up and out of harm's way.

[davisr]

This is all really helpful information. I did a good bit of searching on the internet before I made the original posting, and I could not find a thread on any forum that addressed this subject. It's also not a subject that Don Casey or Nigel Calder cover in their books on electrical systems.

I'd never heard of King E-Board. It's difficult to get a good sense of its appearance/texture from the company website. I did some Googling and could only discover one picture out there of someone's application of this product. It is, though a pretty good picture.

From a Bare Hull: Building A Westsail 42, Hull #60: E-Board

I wonder why there is not more demand for E-Board? Doesn't look like Defender, Jamestown, Hamilton, etc. carry this. Seems to be a useful product that could be used not only for zip ties but also termial strips and bus bars.

[HopCar]

One adhesive mounting method that nobody has mentioned is double faced mounting tape or adhesive transfer tape. 3M makes some very agressive mounting tapes that I bet would easily hold small objects like buss bars.

[sartorst]

Dont! forget to pick up to pick up the zip tie tails as they will just fit perfectly in the bilge pump slots and stop it from working I KNOW the hard way!!!

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by HopCar

One adhesive mounting method that nobody has mentioned is double faced mounting tape or adhesive transfer tape. 3M makes some very agressive mounting tapes that I bet would easily hold small objects like buss bars.

Not sure that would be the way to go. I work with high tech double backs. While they have great initial strength, it deteriorates with time. I hate to have a positive buss fall loose against something in the middle of a voyage or worst...when I'm not there.

[HopCar]

Celestialsailor, If that's the case maybe using a variation of Jim Kate's idea would work. Instead of using hot melt glue to hold the piece, use small tabs of double faced tape to hold it until the 5200 sets up.

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by davisr

Has anyone ever used the Weld Mount system? It seems that the chief benefit of this system is that it allows you quickly to adhere cable tie mounts, etc to the hull. The downside appears to be that it's expensive, and it's permanent. In other words, those plastic zip tie mounts will be there forever, even when they've grown old, become cracked, or are no longer needed in that particular spot.

Weld Mount AT-4020 Adhesive

I use Weld Mount almost daily. You'd have to pry it from my dead fingers to get me to give it up. Expensive but worth every single penny.. And no the Devcon is not the same already BTDT... It works but is not as thick and takes far longer to kick. I use the 2010 6 minute adhesive and it is GREAT stuff and very, very strong..

I especially love the WM studs...


They work great for mounting back planes etc... Heck my water heater is mounted with WM studs..

[HopCar]

Take a look at the 3M Permant Assembly Tapes. http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/mediawe...709-4056-7.pdf
They advertise it as a replacement to screws, rivits, and welds.

[davisr]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

I use Weld Mount almost daily. You'd have to pry it from my dead fingers to get me to give it up. Expensive but worth every single penny.. And no the Devcon is not the same already BTDT... It works but is not as thick and takes far longer to kick. I use the 2010 6 minute adhesive and it is GREAT stuff and very, very strong..

I especially love the WM studs...


They work great for mounting back planes etc... Heck my water heater is mounted with WM studs..

From the picture above it appears that, after you have used Weld Mount to secure the studs and install the back plane, you use screws in the back plane itself to secure the bus bars and terminal strips.

Do you also use Weld Mount for other bus bars and terminal strips in other parts of the boat where there are just bare pieces of fiberglass hull and no back plane? Just wondering if you've experienced any problems in terms of the compatibility of this product with the plastic bases of standard Blue Sea Systems bus bars or terminal strips.

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by davisr

From the picture above it appears that, after you have used Weld Mount to secure the studs and install the back plane, you use screws in the back plane itself to secure the bus bars and terminal strips.

Do you also use Weld Mount for other bus bars and terminal strips in other parts of the boat where there are just bare pieces of fiberglass hull and no back plane? Just wondering if you've experienced any problems in terms of the compatibility of this product with the plastic bases of standard Blue Sea Systems bus bars or terminal strips.

For electrical stuff I almost always use a back plane. It keeps the back plane off the hull so if water is dripping, or tracking down the hull interior it goes behind the back plane or electrical items not over it unless the drip is directly over head.. I usually put nuts and washers on the back side so the back plane "stands off" the hull slightly.

I generally use 1/2" thick Seaboard (same thing as Starboard only less money) in black & white depending upon the job and this allows for any future upgrades including an entire new back plane if needed somewhere down the road..

Weld Mounting something to the hull is pretty darn permanent and buss bars etc. simply won't last forever thus I like them to be removable. A new back plane can be easily retrofitted with new devices re-using the old WM studs.

Even small items like this Tack Tick in-hull transmitter get a back plane.


Sometimes I don't use a back plane like when installing Balmar regs or duo chargers. I do this so they cool better.



On my remote oil filter I went direct to the gelcoat. This was really more to see how strong it was as the force required to remove the filter can be a at odd angles to the bracket.. I just left it bare shiny gelcoat and cleaned it with Acetone. Still going strong.


And I wasn't kidding about our water heater, she's been installed with WM studs for five years now...

[davisr]

Those are really helpful pictures. It looks like Weld Mount has many more uses than I had originally envisioned.

Since Starboard and Seaboard are both HDPE, sheets of both these products are essentially big cutting boards. At least that's what they look like and feel like. In fact, the product info for both says that they meet FDA standards. It seems that the only thing that differentiates them from standard HDPE cutting board material is that they are infused with UV inhibitors. This makes me wonder if standard HDPE cutting board material is suitable for small back planes for bus bars and terminal strips here and there around the boat. After all, these things will be hidden behind mahogany panels and tucked away in other out-of-the-way places and will rarely see the light of day.

Seaboard

Seaboard® High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) Sheet | U.S. Plastic Corp.

HDPE

High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) Sheeting | U.S. Plastic Corp.

Onlinemetals.com has good prices on HDPE

Order Plastic HDPE Plate in Small Quantities at OnlineMetals.com

[Maine Sail]

I just use Seaboard because it costs me less than stocking UV and non-UV HDPE....