marine battery question

W

wis boz

Well-known member
Thinking of converting a 72 Starcraft runabout to a duck hunting boat, I dusted it off, charged the battery and ran it on a local lake. The batt hesitated when I started the engine but turned it over on the second try. Intially charging that batt the charger never went to complete charge and after coming home I recharged it over nite with the charger never going to complete charge. What's my problem---new batt?
wis boz
 
Bad cell.

Make sure all cells are topped off properly with distilled water.

Charge for (24) twenty-four hours.

Do a hydrometer test on each cell & it will show the bad one.
 
I just bought a new battery for the boat. It cost about $100. My experience has been that once a battery starts going bad, it is all down hill. Although my 90 hp has an emergency pull cord, I don't think there is anyway I could get it going that way.

Buying the new battery is better than find out on the water that you should have already bought one. Better to find out on the ramp, than across the lake though.
 
Probably a good rule of thumb is " if in doubt,throw it out". As Andy said,better to find out before being on the water.
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I'm pretty paranoid about batteries on cold weather hunting boats, so I carry one of those battery jumper power pack things with me in the boat.

John
 
One or more cells are shorted. Over time the contaminants (lead oxide etc) fall to the bottom of the battery and start to short out the cells. One option is to dump the electrolyte wash out the battery and refill with new electrolyte. It will work but you still have a suspect battery may work for a long time but then again maybe not. Buy a new battery and have the peace of mind that its new and dont have to worry about it for a while.
 
After running thru all the above suggestions, a new battery is coming up. Thanks all you guys.
wis boz
 
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