Rich,
Your comment intrigued me. When Bruce Skeggs owned my boat, he moved the batteries into the lazarette to allow for larger (group 27) batteries, and because of the water problems you mentioned. They are both on a low shelf next to the galley bulkhead. It's a nice clean arrangement and allows pretty good access overall, as long as you don't mind crawling into the lazarette. Still, I had actually thought about moving them back the next time I need to buy batteries (i.e., I'd go back to the smaller batteries). Primarily, I don't like their close proximity to the CNG tank. My batteries are in covered boxes, and of course, CNG goes up, so maybe I'm a bit paranoid. I also wouldn't mind getting the weight back into the middle of the boat. Finally, my switch never got moved, so the run on the cables is a bit far (although I haven't had any battery management problems). If I end up leaving them where they are, moving the switch sounds like a good idea.
-k-
Kelly Robinson
Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies
Rutgers University
47 Bleeker St.
Newark, NJ 07102
(973) 353-1750, ext. 226 (973) 353-1753 (FAX)
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-olson911@sailpix.com [mailto:owner-olson911@sailpix.com]On
Behalf Of Richard Canning
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2003 8:39 AM
To: olson911@SailPix.com
Subject: Re: Alternators and Gel Batteries
We moved our batteries aft after years of water problems in the bilge box for the batteries and failed switches. The switch is now on the bulkhead over the sink. The batteries are now in the port lazzarette, one on the hull and one up on the shelf. I use acid type batteries because they are lighter than gel. I have two. One is connected to the bilge pump and is a back up for starting. The Hamilton-Ferris alternator has a gizmo that sends the charge equally to each battery. I don't have an onboard battery charger, too much weight, being at the dock. We normally have to motor for twenty to thirty minutes to the start line in our summer series and this helps charge the batteries. I'm at a dock and can run shore power and the portable charger if needed.
By the way I replaced the bilge pump with one that has an internal float. It cycles more but keeps the bilge drier. The remote float just didn't do it with the shallow bilge.
Rich Canning
Spellbound
Received on Fri May 9 06:02:28 2003