Echelon Owners

[JDubya]

Since I bought my Echelon, I have delt with the engine cover being not mounted. I have not mounted it because the holes where the hinges were mounted are stripped from it being improperly attached.

First of all I need to see the way it "should" be attached. Where the anchors are for the shocks and what type of hinges are used.

My goal is to make it as secure as possible so that I don't have to worry about it pulling out of the floor again.

It has been bugging me for ever. Everytime I take off quickly the cover slides back 3 or 4 inches and I am afraid it is going to get damaged by the belt or alternator, as it somtimes rubs on it.

Any pictures or ideas on how it should be done and done right.

Edited August 15, 2006 by Ramman17

[danadog]

Ramman17,

I can take some pictures tonight for ya.

Mine has anchors like the kind you put in a wall for hanging a towel bar at all screw locations.

The shocks at mounted to a small angle mount.

Anyway send me a pm with your address and I will send you pics

[Skiline00]

As far as I know, most of the engine covers are just screwed into the floor with course threaded screws, at least thats the way mine is.. My buddy used to own an Echelon and he had a similar problem. We fixed it with a couple pieces of flat stainless stock that we drilled holes in, ran some stainless machine screws through them, and placed a washer and a nylock nut on them.. I don't remember it taking more than an hour or so and it held tight the last three years he had that boat.

Hope this helps,

Chris

[Skiline00]

Ramman17,

I can take some pictures tonight for ya.

Mine has anchors like the kind you put in a wall for hanging a towel bar at all screw locations.

The shocks at mounted to a small angle mount.

Anyway send me a pm with your address and I will send you pics

Did Malibu do this from the factory or did you do this as an upgrade?

[danadog]

mine was like that when I bought it last fall.

Not sure if they came like that or not.

[Big Dubya]

if the old holes (that are stripped) turn out to be the correct location...

just coat the threads of your screws with a light coat of wax (surfboard wax/car wax) then put epoxy on the screw threads, and then squeeze some epoxy in the holes,

then shove it in.

most of the time that will take care of it - unless your floorboards are totally rotten (then you've got more work to do)

by waxing the threads before you epoxy them, the screws should be removable without too much effort

[JDubya]

if the old holes (that are stripped) turn out to be the correct location...

just coat the threads of your screws with a light coat of wax (surfboard wax/car wax) then put epoxy on the screw threads, and then squeeze some epoxy in the holes,

then shove it in.

most of the time that will take care of it - unless your floorboards are totally rotten (then you've got more work to do)

by waxing the threads before you epoxy them, the screws should be removable without too much effort

Since I have fiberglass floors I am wondering how hard it would be to re-glass the holes and then bolt it to the floor. I had hoepd to try this once before but got discouraged when I saw that reaching the location of the underside to mount the backing plate and nuts would be difficult.

It looks like you would be unable to do this for the shock mount on the drivers side. But that it could be done for the anchors.

[Big Dubya]

if you (or a buddy) are at all experienced in fiberglass, it would be a breeze.

i'm assuming you have carpet that can be pulled back to expose the holes.

some light sanding & roughing-up of the old holes.

i'd use some chopped-up fiberglass cloth or "cat hair" to shove into the large gaps, then cover with a thin coat of fiberglass cloth & polyester resin.

sand it smooth, then glue your carpet back down over the repair.

drill-out & re-bolt

point of note: if you're threading wood screws into fiberglass, it's better to over-drill the hole a bit, and use the epoxy method mentioned above - rather than making a really tight fit with a screw thread. the screws will crack the fiberglass, and it's only a matter of time before that crack will run... and break.

this is especially true of gel-coat (no reinforcement in gel-coat).

if you're making new holes for screws in gel-coat, overdrill through the gel-coat with a larger bit (or dremmel) so that the screw threads do not touch the gelcoat. otherwise, it will probably chip off around your screw