2003 330 Express, addtl rod racks: Can I drill here?

[everwhom]

Hi - I want to add a couple more rod racks above the teak magazine holders in my v-berth. I've been assuming that the wall there (see picture) is the inside of the hull so I can't drill into it. Does anyone know for sure? If that's the case, I'm going to try some 3M VHB tape and see how it goes!

Anyone else do this or something similar? These would be for light spinning rods -- my heavy tuna trolling rods will go in the existing racks.

THANKS!

Joe

 

[Meanwhile]

Great question. I'm wondering the same for my 2007 Marlin.

 

[DennisG01]

It looks like it's the hull, but I don't know your boat - just looks like it is from my experience with other boats. If you knock on it with your knuckles, you can usually tell.

Thought... remove the mag holders and install rod holders onto the chocks that are already attached to the hull (possibly glassed in place?). Unless you normally carry, like, 63 magazines on board... :mrgreen:

 

[everwhom]

Knocking on that section feels very solid, which is why I'm thinking it's the interior of the hull. I'm going to go with that assumption unless I hear otherwise.

I thought about replacing the mag racks with rod holders but there isn't much separation between the supports... But that might work!

 

[DennisG01]

Another reason I think it's the hull is that it's slightly curved. Chances are, if a manufacturer was going to make a false, interior wall, they make it flat. As it is, it appears to have the same curvature as the the hull when viewed from the outside. If you had someone put their hand on the outside of the hull, in the same spot you are knocking, they should be able to feel the knock.

Even if you had to attach a strip of, say, 4" wide by 18" long starboard to those stand-offs using the existing holes... the starboard could extend upwards, past the top of the stand-offs. Then mount the rod holders to the starboard. Definitely doable - and multiple ways to do it, I'm sure.

 

[everwhom]

I ended up going with the VHB tape solution, using the exact stuff GoPro uses for their mounts. Here's how it came out! I won't know how well the tape will hold for a while, but will post back if it fails.

 

[ElyseM]

that is the hull. mag racks would have been attached with a simple bracket rather than expensive glass formed mount if it wasn't.

if you applied the hsb tape correctly, you'll be amazed at how much "hs" it has. if you do run into problems, re-seating with quick set epoxy will work. maybe with a mount base and rack screwed in. good luck, ron

 

[everwhom]

Yeah - I couldn't quite tell even after I stuck my head in the anchor locker and tried to feel the relative depths... I *think* it's actually a liner because it joins to the inside moldings and stuff. But even so, it seems to be bonded directly to the hull and is probably no more than 1/4" thick.

The VHB tape stuck really really well -- I cleaned the surfaces with alcohol first as per 3M's recommendations. If the surface had been polished, I wouldn't even worry, but the tape doesn't bond quite as strongly to roughened surfaces. Anyways, I am certain it will be fine with the light rods I'm using them for, and it was 10x easier to install than drilling, etc.

I also used some thinner transparent VHB tape to bed some deck fittings instead of messing with the 4200 goo (though I still used 4200 to bed the screws). I got the idea from this video: http://www.gemlux.com/aboutgem/properinstallation Applying the tape is super easy - you peel back the white side, stick your fixture on it and then use an xacto knife to cut the fixture loose. Then you just peel the red side and stick. So for my deck fixtures (bow cleats), I stuck them first, then drilled the holes and screwed them down (sealing the screws with 4200 as mentioned).

 

[ElyseM]

i use the 3m loop and lock's for many things, like mounting 2 fire extinguishers. very strong, i'm sure the hsb is similar compound. ron