A battleship is a sheetrock support clip, a thin strip of steel with tabs slid into the wall beside a box set in an existing wall, with its arms bent over into the box to pull the box ears tight to the surface. A pair of them holds a gem box where there is no stud to fasten to. The catalog name is a box support or Madison clip, after a maker, and many crews call it an F-strap or Madison bar.
No stud near that cut-in, slide a pair of battleships either side of the gem box and fold the tabs in tight.
Fold the tabs fully into the box and flat against its sides, or the device screws hit them and the device sits crooked. In St. Louis a pair of them goes by two men in a boat.
Also heard as
- Madison clip
- Madison bar
- F-strap
- box support
- ice skates
- steamboat
- two men in a boat
Related terms
Old work box
Box made to fit into an existing finished wall or ceiling through a cut hole, without access to the framing.
Gem box
Single-gang metal device box with removable sides, so several can be ganged together for a row of switches.
Caddy clip
Spring-steel fastener that snaps onto studs, rod, wire or beam flanges to hold boxes, conduit and cable.