No Question too Dumb?

[Tree]

I know, I know.... duh... so simple.

But I thought better to ask how others would do this than do it wrong.

I am planning a "clean up" of my electrical panel. One of the things I want to do is to install a neg. bus bar. It's one of those simple blue seas bus bars. Two holes (one on each end) to screw it down. But, the surface of the back area of my panel is the fiberglass that is the otherside of my fore cockpit wall. the place I lean against when I'm lazin' in the cockpit. Two screws would not be a nice thing sticking out there ....and the Fiberglass is not that great to screw into anyway. So two bolts through the Fiberglass?.... still not a good idea.... just another place to possibly leak .... and my electrical box is not a good place for moisture.

So my thoughts... Glue it on. This might work but with what? and since the back of the bus bar is not a flat surface but a lot of hollow places with a reinforcing bit hear and there, I don't know how well it would stick. Basically, I don't like this idea.

Second thought... Epoxy on an epoxy soaked strip of 3/4 inch marine plywood to screw the bus bar to. Possible. But now it's going to stick up higher than I really want. (maybe the plywood strip should have a couple of layers of glass to tab it down)

Third thought... epoxy (thickened) to the FRP a couple of little #10 stainless bolts (head buried in the epoxy) and fasten the bus bar down with a couple of nuts. I bolted on a shelf in my lazarette this way six years ago and it's still solid.

Or better ideas?

Thanks ...... looking forward to your thoughts. What great knowledge base this place is!!!!

[Faster]

What boat? if the fiberglass surface in question is a cored area it may be possible to fasten to the inner skin without penetration of the outer - but you're right in that it won't be the strongest of attachments.

Your last plan looks pretty good - esp if you've history to prove it's effectiveness. Perhaps attach the mounting bolts to a thin strip of FRP (easy to make yourself) and epoxy that assembly to the f/g surface - more bonding area without too much elevation gain.....

[fairbank56]

Countersink the holes and use flathead bolts so they are flush with the surface or glue it on with 5200. That stuff will hold it solidly forever.

Eric

[remetau]

I like the ideas of the wood or epoxied bolts. I prefer solid wood instead of plywood and you could use 1/2 inch instead of 3/4. The epoxied bolts seems simpler and may look cleaner.

[sailingdog]

Or you could use the WeldMount fasteners. They make 10-24 and 1/4-20 studs that you can mount to the fiberglass...cut them to the right length and you're off to the races...

[Tree]

Thankyou everyone for the great suggestions.

SD..... I'm very interested in the WeldMount Fasteners. Great idea.

I wrote to them and found that there are no venders in Alaska. And it's a ground only shipping item so... suddenly the shipping costs are absurd. ....and when I talked to Defender, they wouldn't even sell it to me because of the shipping restrictions.

I may be able to come up with a solution though......

Thanks again everyone!

[SlowButSteady]

Can you get the fasteners w/o the adhesive? You could probably just use an epoxy locally available to you and thus avoid the "ground transport only" problem.

Edit:
Jamestown has them as a separate item. No haz-mat restrictions.
Weld Mount Stainless Steel Studs

[sailingdog]

Slowbutsteady's suggestion is a very good one. The problem is the adhesive, which is a two-part methacrylate adhesive and qualifies as a hazmat. If you just were to order the fittings and use locally gotten adhesive, you'd be good to go.