Mounting Shelf For Air Conditioner Beneath Forepeak

[Mike Smith]

I know that several folks have installed air conditioners beneath the forepeak.  Does anyone who has done so have advice, suggestions, tips or tricks for mounting the shelf the air conditioner sits on?  I'll be using 3/4" marine plywood and West System epoxy and fabric. The West System Projects page does not list this application and the only orther guidance I can find is something like "mount the air conditioner on a tabbed in shelf."

Mike

[Gene Regan]

Mike ,
   I'll be down the boat this weekend and I'll measure it. Also the plywood should be cut on an angle to fit slope of hull I believe its 34 degrees The shape of the board in trapezoidal. I followed Terry Cl arks install in the projects section.

[Mike Smith]

Thanks, Gene

I've been looking at Terry Clark's Project for several months. Ken Juul was kind enough to e-mail me several detailed photographs of his installation, too.  They have both provided a lot of information about routing the ductwork and wiring the system.  However, neither actually fabricated the shelf and glassed it in.  What I'm looking for is a template or jig that I can use to shape, level, and attach the shelf.  Jere Allen has a forepeak AC unit on Trilogy, and I'll check it out this weekend.  As always, any advice will be appreciated.

Mike

[Tom Soko]

Mike,
If you are trying to make a shelf from scratch, you might try using either cardboard or rigid sheet of insulation for a template.  Both are light, easy to work with, and most importantly, easy to cut with a utility knife.  You can keep shaving until you have the template exact, and then transfer the pattern to plywood or whatever.

[Ted Pounds]

Mike,

Tom is right.  Cardboard works great for making a template.  That's what I've used on similar projects.  When you cut the shelf bevel the edge to approximate the slope of the hull.  After sanding the joint area on the hull to ensure a good bond bed the shelf with some 5200.  When that cures put down the fiberglass and epoxy tabbing around the edges and, voila, a shelf .  

[Mike Smith]

Got the shelf in today, easier than I thought.  I used cardboard for the template and a two way level to set the shelf.  I removed the cushions and replaced them with a piece of 3'x2' cardboard, with the longer side athwart midships.  I squared the cardboard and pushed it forward until the two forward corners touched the hull.  I drew lines parallel to the hull about 1' in on both sides and cut the template out with scissors. I test fitted the template and the angle needed only a small adjustment. I cut the shelf out with a circular saw angled at 30 degrees to approximate the hull flare angle from a piece of precut 2'x4', 3/4 marine plywood from Lowe's.  I used 3M Adhesive Remover to clean the hull mounting surfaces and scuffed them up with a wire brush.  I used a thick bead of 3M 4200 as the adhesive along each side. I had to lightly shim the shelf at two places to get it level.  I wet out the shelf and hull areas with West system epoxy and Fast Cure hardener. I used two layers of 6" x 22" fiberglass tape wetted out and applied about 2 hours apart along each joint, giving me a 3" overlap on the shelf and hull surfaces.  I also epoxied the entire top surface of the platform for appearance and the fact that I had some leftover mixed epoxy and hardener.  Now, all I have to do is trim the rough edges a bit, sand it smooth, paint it, and mount the AC unit and accessories.  There is plenty of room for the strainer, pump, AC unit, and control box on the shelf.

Mike