Bad Battery(s) and Long-Term Storage

[btrayfors]

Doodles,

I understand your reluctance to change things on a Hal Roth boat, and I understand very well your problem of being away for extended periods.

For 17 years I lived aboard a boat in a Washington DC marina with excellent facilities, good staff, good friends, etc. For most of this time I traveled frequently overseas to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Later, I kept another boat in the Caribbean for 11 years at an excellent marina and had to leave her for 3-4 months at a time.

Now, I work in the marine trades, doing electrical and mechanical and communications work. Given my own experience and learning (I hope) from others, it is a VERY GOOD IDEA to have a good automatic dewatering system aboard. This is not something to skimp on. When you do it -- and I'm sure you will come to the conclusion that you really need to -- pay particular attention to the bilge pump switches and the bilge pumps themselves. Pumps. At least two. Think also about a very loud high-water alarm, one which will wake the dead in your marina if the water level rises to a dangerous level.

As others have said, batteries shouldn't be left uncharged...even AGM and gels. Get a good multi-stage battery charger and leave it on. Mine are on 24/7. This not only helps keep the batteries in good condition, but it's very good backup in the event that your bilge pump has to work for a long period to deal with water ingress.

A final thought: if the worst should happen before you fit the bilge pumps, and the boat should go down or partially down, my guess is the insurance company will likely declare owner negligence for not having an automatic bilge pump aboard. And, remember, when a boat goes down there's not only the cost of raising it and salvaging it and fixing things -- if you can -- but there's the liability for pollution. In the Chesapeake and elsewhere, the Coast Guard takes this very seriously, and costs can be very high.

If you wanna talk about this, give me a buzz. Email is bill at wdsg dot com

Bill

[Stillraining]

Nice Post Bill and Bob and I agree 100%..

Doodles:
I too had a partial submersion...14" of intrusion in 6 hours...The bilge pump was wired through a breaker panel and it was determined the breaker was worn out after 20 + years of service and could not sustain the amperage draw from the pump long enough...My rigger fortunately noticed the boat sitting lower in the water and jumped aboard....So Yes A bilge pump can and will save your boat if wired and maintained and is big enough...I now have 2 electric pumps aboard and the second is wired to sound a 110 decibel alarm...
Were just passing on hard learned experience not so much opinions..do what you like with it.


Bill: Thanks for the Battery info..but whats TILT..mean?

[btrayfors]

Originally Posted by Stillraining

......
Bill: Thanks for the Battery info..but whats TILT..mean?

Sorry, showin' my age, I guess :-)

It's an expression which derives from playing pin ball machines. Typically, players would grasp each side of the machine and jog it a little to influence where the metal ball travelled. If you jogged it too hard, the game would stop and the "TILT" lights would shine.

Just means, OOPs....

Bill

[Stillraining]

Ah!...
Only video ( using the term loosely ) game worth playing in my mind!...Liked it quite well myself once upon a time !!

Thought it was code for some Internet thing your were referring to though..

I am horrible to my batteries I will admit..I think they squeal in agony seeing me walk through the store door..."Please mister wizard ..Please anybody but him"..


I will admit I have little experience with Deep Cycle bats and trying to squeeze out top performance for as long as possible...All my experience is with start batteries...which I have proven many times will take more beating then Rocky Marciano and still keep on ticking.

Were Never done learning..

[bobfnbw]

LOL... showing my age, but I understood the tilt thing without thinking about it....

And yes, if I was connected to shore power, and had all my batteries hooked up, and both bilge pumps on, it would have made a difference, I believe, but a alarm, wired to the high pump would have been noticed.
But since I was in the process of redesigning the battery system, I have removed all but 2, and not hooked up to shore power was due to being in a slip for a boat show and not having the correct adapter. I figured that since she was a dry boat, so what ?
Was a VERY costly mistake.
Bob