Battery for Atomic 4

[Jm2fly]

Our sea trial is this Saturday and the battery is probably a goner. What size cch should I get for a battery for this thing?


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[Jm2fly]

It's a C &C 33 for reference.


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[Ungvar]

My last boat had an atomic 4, I just had a small battery I believe it was a 675 MCA. She spun up fine with that.

[a64pilot]

Sea trial? Have the owner supply a battery, if your going to buy, go to Walmart and buy the biggest battery that will fit, you won't need that extra battery until one day when you inadvertently discharged it, and being that it was way bigger than it needed to be, it will still start the motor.

I know, Walmart is't the best batteries there are, but for a starting battery you don't need the best battery available.

[The Garbone]

A lot of folks use a pretty small battery. Myself, bigger is better as it is the same cell the bilge pump is directly wired to. I leave all my batteries ganged when I am off the boat just in case it springs a leak.

[S/V Alchemy]

You could make do with a single Group 24, but most 33 footers would have a pair of Group 27s.

The battery's size for a sea trial is irrelevent, really, compared to its state of charge. A fully charged car battery can start a car dozens of times before draining to 50% SOC; and the starter on an Atomic 4 is not as demanding a draw. Make sure all the terminals are clean and the wire runs are big enough and are non-corroded. Too many A4s have auto-grade/welder's cables, which can go green and get hot if exposed to marine conditions.

[Chuck Hawley]

There are two approaches to this question. One is the your engine requires very little starting current (low compression gas engine), so you don't NEED anything but a Group 24 starting battery. However, a C&C 33 should have a couple of quality batteries, so I would push the current owner into buying a pair of Group 27 deep cycle batteries, probably from West Marine since they are made by East Penn, and East Penn makes damned good batteries.

Don't worry about getting deep cycle batteries. They will crank your engine just fine, and be better for all other uses.

Chuck

[mkriley]

buy a jump pack and it will be useful if the deal falls through. I would be leery of buying a boat from someone who will let all the batteries run down and not keep one good one for the bilge pump
mike

[Ungvar]

Just a thought, but if it is literally just for a short sea trial for now, maybe you could just use your car battery, or a battery out of your tractor or whatever.

[hamburking]

For engine starting, a single group 24 starting battery (not deep cycle) is very common, and would work well. That's what I used on both my atomic 4 engines. These sell for under $100 here in canada, and you can lift/move them without breaking your back.

You should have a separate bank of batteries for running "house" loads.

[jeepbluetj]

What they all said. I can easily start the A4 with a G24 battery. If it's your $$$$ you'll need to look at the entire battery situation - i.e. Are there 2 banks? How are they wired? etc...

I have a pair of GC6's for my main bank (used for house and starting) and a G24 as my emergency battery - it's never used.