Who stores their Batteries in the boat all winter?

I have a 320 with the hydraulic hatch, You can activate the opening of the hatch by placing a 12 volt accessory plug in the 12V acc opening and with an external battery you can raise the hatch.This is the way it is done on my 320. Call Sea Ray and ask how you can operate the hatch if you choose to remove the batterys.
 
As previously highlighted, I have always left my batteries in and kept them fully charged as we still visit the boat during the winter months.

I also coat my battery terminals with CorrosionX, which many boaters, to include myself, swear by. Their website follows: http://www.corrosionx.com/.

In addition and since my last posting, I've asked my certified Sea Ray mechanic the other day on what they recommend at our dealership. His response was instantaneous: if you take the boat out of the water, pull the batteries; if you leave the boat in the water, keep the batteris in and charged.

Hope this adds additional thoughts since my last posting.
 
Al Gross said:
In addition and since my last posting, I've asked my certified Sea Ray mechanic the other day on what they recommend at our dealership. His response was instantaneous: if you take the boat out of the water, pull the batteries; if you leave the boat in the water, keep the batteris in and charged.
Hope this adds additional thoughts since my last posting.
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They probably charge a fee to pull the batteries. If he gets paid to pull them he has a conflict of interest. Our marina does not recommend this practice as it is not necessary.
 
I leave mine in the boat all year long with the charger on. This has never been a problem with any boat I have owned.
 
Guess I'm in the minority here. I take them out and store in the basement. The port (starting battery) will be serving it's 8th season next summer and still performs like a champ. The twin starboard (deep cycle) batts will be put out to pasture after 4 full seasons of faithful service (they don't hold a charge any longer).
 
charlieft said:
This is our first year with the 300DA ... it has an electrically operated engine hatch with no obvious way to open the hatch manually. I think I have no choice but to leave the batteries in the boat and connected. (If anyone knows the recommended process for my situation then please set me straight)

-Charlie
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My friends 34 went totally dead and the charger blew the breaker in the bilge. he was really stuck. I stuck a booster pack into the cigarette lighter socket and was able to lift the hatch. then chargedthe batteries. Hope this can help
 
Mine stay in through Iowa winters. Got to 33 below last winter. No problems. But, I hear that it's gonna get really cold this winter.
 
Keep boat pluuged in all winter..low wattage heater (west marine}in cabin with blower runs from late october to mid april to keep air moving=no mold from moisture...keep baterries/charger hooked up til late nov. in MA. boston..COLD.. then dc neg .leads and shut off charger..no problem!!!!!
 
starve rock said:
JUST LOOK AT IT AS BEING A CAR ON WATER, IN THE WINTER IN CHICAGO WE NEVER TOOK OUR BATTERY OUT OF OUR CAR AND IT STARTED WHY DO IT IN A BOAT??????????????????????:thumbsup:
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The key to long lasting battery is to maintain it's charge. The primary difference is that as soon as you start your car the battery gets charged. If you don't use your car for few days the battery discharges only slightly (assuming it's a good functional battery). With boat that's stored and not used for several months is very different. You don't charge the batteries every day or every week. So, the batteries loose the charge more and more and freezing temp doesn't help. I always took my batteries out, but if I had the opportinity to charge them every couple of weeks or so I guess, it could be ok to leave them in the boat.

Having to deal with 1-2 batteries in my previous boats I never questioned this, but now I have 4 batteries and it's a little different. But, I'm still thinking that it's better to take them home where I charge them 2-3 times during winter months.
 
In addition to the above, it's not exactly practical to be taking your car's battery out every night.

Access to the battery aside, it is much more practical to do this with a boat.

I do it because I can get to them easily. Otherwise I would just charge them up and disconnect the negative.
 
I disconnect mine and leave in the boat. Been doing it this way with all my boats over the last 20 or so years. I know, I'll probably go down this spring and have to replace all 3.......
 
charlieft said:
This is our first year with the 300DA ... it has an electrically operated engine hatch with no obvious way to open the hatch manually. I think I have no choice but to leave the batteries in the boat and connected. (If anyone knows the recommended process for my situation then please set me straight)

-Charlie
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I disconnect both starting batteries and leave the house battery connected. In the spring I hook the shore power up and the converter/charger takes care of the rest. No way you're gonna lift that hatch manually!
 
larryp said:
No way you're gonna lift that hatch manually!
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This is not necessary, as posted earlier, Sea Ray provided special connection from a battery to plug in to cigarette lighter and this will supply the boat with 12v. All you do is click the open hatch button.
 
While visitng the boat last weekend and performing final winterizing steps I was thinking about this topic and whether there's a good way to avoid the trouble of taking all batteries out. So, here are my analyses:

1. The first question I asked myself "should the batteries be disconnected?". While working on other items I had noticed that my shower pump periodically triggers due to antifreeze level in the pump reservior. This might sound like a bad or not strong anough pump to others, but it worked fine all season long by triggerring like that when shower is used. So, I don't consider it a problem. However, this was a first indication that I have to disconnect the batteries, b/c even in off position the pump will trigger. So, I tuned the AC Converter off and other breakers and proceeded disconncting the batteries. Finally, I disconnected all batteries and had noticed that when taking the wires off the last battery there was a slight spark. This was an indication that some DC components (e.g. audio and vedio units memory, ect.) were still using the 12v side power, therefore would drain the batteries if I left them connected and didn't charge on time.

2. The final and kind of conflicting question I asked myself "if I disconnect the batteries how will I be charging them over the winter?" I was thinking that if I leave the shore power cord connected in the stern locker I could just plug the other end anytime I visit the boat. So, now that the batteries are disconnected it's not possible to use shore power to charge them. This means that I would have to use portable charger and have each battery charged individually. But, this would require lifting the hatch, which is not an option do to the shrinkwrap preventing it by being too tight at the stern.

So, my final conclusion was that it's really not worth the hassle and I rather spend extra 30min to take all 4 batteries out and sleep well all winter long keeping the batteries in my garage and having easy access to keep them charged.

Hope this helps,
Alex.
 
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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.
 
Maybe I'm the only idiot here but if my boat is in the water, there is no way the batteries would be coming out... nor would I leave it unplugged with a converter/charger turned off. If the marina made me unplug during the winter, I would find a new marina. How in the world do your bilge pumps work without a battery? The statistics are something like 67% of all boats that sink do so at the dock. Pulling the batteries out and not leaving a charger on can turn a small leak into something that can sink your boat that bilge pumps could have otherwise kept up with until you discovered it. With all the thru-hulls sitting in the water and freezing temps (even with the seacocks closed), it's not rocket science to see how things can come lose/break in the winter.

Explain to your insurance company that you removed the batteries and the boat sank... That would be a great discussion... I think my policy states that if the boat is in the water, all the mechanical systems need to be operational or under active repair it they are not... something like that.

My 2 cents.
 
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Gary,

I guess, the title shuld have been more spesific to be applicable to boats stored on land or in water. So far I was always assuming this is for boats stored on land. I totally agree with you. If the boat stays in water there's no way one should unplug the shore power and specially disconnecting the batteries.
 
Alex F said:
Gary,

I guess, the title shuld have been more spesific to be applicable to boats stored on land or in water. So far I was always assuming this is for boats stored on land. I totally agree with you. If the boat stays in water there's no way one should unplug the shore power and specially disconnecting the batteries.
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I agree... I just saw some people mixing it up.

If boat in water... batteries should be installed and charger turned on when unattended... especially in winter.
 
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