Who stores their Batteries in the boat all winter?

[Alex F]

I have always taken mine out and put in the basement (on wood), and charged once a month. I never got more than 3 years out of them. My friend leaves his in and charges once a month, he gets 6 years.
I'm leaving mine in this year with chord near swim platform, I will charge every 3 weeks. The electrician at the marina said as long as there charged they won't freeze.

dmartin155,
I'm sure you know that the fact that your friend is getting 6 years out of the batteries has nothing to do with having them stored in the boat during the winter. It's the type of batteries he has and the way he maintains them. My boat is about 45min each way from my house, so it's no brainer that in my case makes more sense to take the batteries home. If I was much closer to the boat then it would be a different storry.

 

[sbw1]

I heard an ad for Diehard batteries on the radio yesterday. Their claim was "our batteries are so good, blah, blah, that they will hold a charge for 2 years without recharging in temperate climates."

Probably not much of a charge at the end of two years, but I think today's batteries are pretty good, given any sensible maintenance. Just got my winter tractor out of the barn. It started right up (It is a Diehard) without any maintenance for the past 7 months.

 

[rondds]

As I had mentioned earlier, I am a "take home" guy. I may have aleady mentioned the following but who the heck remembers...

I keep a scrap of paper near the batteries in the basement and everyn month put a meter on them and note the voltage. I do NOT charge them - they have always maintained btwn 12.7 and 13.1 volts all winter. With the exception of last winter. The two deep cycles (house duties in parallel) dropped below 12volts for the first time. Being stubborn and wanting to milk the 4th season, I put them back in the boat in spring '09 and nursed them through with a bit of distilled water added here and there. I won't chance another season - they'll be replaced but I did get 4 full seasons. My starting battery just finished it's 7th season and is still going strong. Never had to add water, never had a problem and the jury is still out on if it'll hold a charge all winter. But a change in the charge-holding characteristics of a battery is a warning sign of approaching failure. Better to find this out during the winter months.

 

[dmartin155]

Alex, Yes I know. I guess the point I was trying to make was leaving them on his boat for the winter defineatly didn't hurt the batteries. For the record he uses Die Hard. Mine were interstate.