What's under the fiberglass floor, and is it ok to screw down on it?

[Vtonian]

I'm getting closer on my E38 wiring update and have repurposed the little area under the seat at the nav station as the central electrical cabinet for all the battery cabling. I'm trying to decide whether it matters to try to clamp all these down or leave them 'loose', although as stiff as they are, loose isn't accurate.
One thing that would help decide is whether there's any issue running screws into the floor there: if there is, I'd think of another way to minimize any vibration wear; if there isn't, I'd probably just use regular nylon clamps and screw each down separately.
A caveat here us that this whole project started because the dorade drain hose above it came loose and drained water in there, flooding it, because there is no drain in it. I don't know if that indicates anything about the space onder there but it looks like just glassed in plywood. Frankly, I'd prefer there was a drain under there, now that I've recommitted to having the electrical foundation of the boat installed there.
Any wisdom or knowledge out there on what lurks beneath?

 

[Vtonian]

And another argume t for not fastening them down is it's almost guaranteed that I will continue to drop screws, terminals and other tiny things down there, and moving cables around has been practical.
The rest of the system is above here and every old wire now has a jumper to extend it, so an additional 4 bits added in line: terminal in, screw, terminal out and screw...
Still in progress but you get the idea.

 

[Prairie Schooner]

Regarding screws in the bottom of a boat, A Cautionary Tale:
- https://ericsonyachts.org/ie/threads/e35-3-yet-another-thread-on-sole-replacement.19702/post-176941



I make a little block of teak with a hole and 5200 it to the hull. That becomes the anchor for a zip tie. You can buy similar industrial mounts, but I find the cost prohibitive. To make it removable, you could glue a block of wood to the hull surface and screw a cable tie to it. - The black stuff is cable chafe guard. I can't remember where I got it.





It probably doesn't matter, but are you using 'floor' in the technical nautical sense or more generic civilian?
"a structural member in the bottom of a ship, usually at every frame, and running athwartships from bilge to bilge"
"a horizontal surface more or less at the bottom"

Btw, the electrical work looks great. I need to do that but am procrastinating furiously.

 

[Christian Williams]

E381 - Mysteries of the Ericson Deck Dorade

Somewhere in the marketing mind of the Ericson design team, way back when, was a sensation of lack. What distinguished the boats from their expensive competition? On the showroom floor, what was the close that could make the sale? After all, a...

ericsonyachts.org

 

[Vtonian]

Regarding screws in the bottom of a boat, A Cautionary Tale:
- https://ericsonyachts.org/ie/threads/e35-3-yet-another-thread-on-sole-replacement.19702/post-176941
View attachment 55646


I make a little block of teak with a hole and 5200 it to the hull. That becomes the anchor for a zip tie. You can buy similar industrial mounts, but I find the cost prohibitive. To make it removable, you could glue a block of wood to the hull surface and screw a cable tie to it. - The black stuff is cable chafe guard. I can't remember where I got it.

View attachment 55644
View attachment 55645


It probably doesn't matter, but are you using 'floor' in the technical nautical sense or more generic civilian?
"a structural member in the bottom of a ship, usually at every frame, and running athwartships from bilge to bilge"
"a horizontal surface more or less at the bottom"

Btw, the electrical work looks great. I need to do that but am procrastinating furiously.

Exactly the problem I want to avoid!

Yes, thank you, I've put in screw blocks other places and it's worked well. In this case, I don't have much space to raise the cables, due to the mounting board for the emergency cut-off switch and SH150 fuse block. I think that would probably be the correct solution though.

I'd forgotten about the chafe guard, excellent thought, I can dig some of that up.

Yeah, no, just 'floor' like the thing we walk on, although in this application, arguably the most valuable feature of this installation is the floor space left open, which is just barely enough to snuggle my foot down into, so I have been able to sit mostly facing the work, rather than twisting and leaning, which wrecks my back in about 5 minutes. I've got more hours riding that seat now than I'll ever have navigating.

 

[Vtonian]

E381 - Mysteries of the Ericson Deck Dorade

Somewhere in the marketing mind of the Ericson design team, way back when, was a sensation of lack. What distinguished the boats from their expensive competition? On the showroom floor, what was the close that could make the sale? After all, a...

ericsonyachts.org

Ha! Hilarious *and* informative, the best use of time. I wanted to just plug that thing off but thought it might be bad juju or something. Thanks for the comic and real relief.