<HTML>
Pete,
<BR> My boat is # 275 and the batteries are under the
cabin sole just forward of the engine compartment bulkhead where the steps
are. They are on a shelf maybe 10-12" below the sole. At first when I got
the boat I thought the bottom of the compartment was the bottom of the
bilge and the top of the keel, but I later found a small hole (into which,
as always, some piece of hardware I was working with, fell) and found there
was space <U>below</U> the battery compartment. In my boat it is open at
its aft end under the engine and forms the "lower bilge." With great contortions
I can reach into it to retrieve lost articles. Very great contortions.
I think there has to be a space there though whether it is accessible (!)
on various boats is probably different.
<BR> Forward of that compartment is another one where
I also have a battery but which does not seem to have a lower section,
in fact I think the bottom of that one <U>is</U> the top of the keel. Even
further forward is a very shallow compartment which obviously is right
on top of the keel.
<BR>
- Gordon White</HTML>