Hey,

Thanks to the group for advice on my last post about my propane sniffer
meltdown. Sniffer is now replaced, remounted, rewired (with fuse.)

On to the next project: My 1978 Catalina 30 has a painted wood battery
tray which is basically crumbling with wet rot.

The way I figure it, I can either:

1) Use the drill and fill method to saturate it with epoxy and maybe
glass over it.

Pros: pretty easy

Cons: I'll never get the "wood" (more like wood-chowder at this point)
dry, it will eventually just rot again

2) Build a new battery tray out of Starboard

Pros: easy to build, rot/corrosion/proof

Cons: old wood is bonded to raised fiberglass area on the bottom of the
hull. would need to rip that out and figure out a way to fasten the
Starboard to the fiberglass (maybe SS bolts epoxied in place?) Plus
Starboard is expensive. (But I've already got a big sheet of it laying
around, so not a big deal.

3) Build a new battery tray out of epoxy coated marine ply

Pros: Will bond nicely to the fiberglass. With proper care, I can make
it rotproof.

Cons: Bigger pain in the butt to assemble, coat, etc.


What do y'all think? Any other options?

- Ari