Glad you had a good trip Dennis and sorry about the batteries. Thanks for sharing the lesson. I just checked the water in mine (for the first time) last weekend. They were full despite being several years old. Loads and usage on my boat are pretty light.
Cheers, Randy Sent from my iPhone > On May 11, 2017, at 7:49 PM, Dennis C. via CnC-List <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Took Touche' from Mandeville, LA to Pensacola this past weekend. Fairly nice > transit with 100% engine assist. We spent 2nd night in marina on ICW. After > we returned to boat from a nice dinner, we smelled a weird odor in the boat. > Only in the main cabin. Could not locate source until next morning. Dinner > may have had effect on investigative skills. > > The odor had a sulfide smell. Duh! Ruling out some sort of iron eating > bacteria in the bilge I thought "where is only source of > sulfur/sulfate/sulfide on the boat?" Batteries, of course. > > Yup. Cooked off a battery due to low electrolyte level. Darn! Battery was > pretty hot to the touch. Second battery in the bank was warm but not hot. > > I typically get 7+ years out of these batteries (Delco Voyagers) without > maintenance. That is, with no addition of electrolyte. However, the recent > addition of refrigeration and running it 24/7 had greatly increased the > number of charge cycles. I'll replace both batteries. > > Lesson learned. Check the electrolyte levels frequently if I'm running the > refrigeration. > > Also, lost the temperature gauge for the engine. Sensor tested good. Wire > tested good. Grounding the sensor wire showed no movement of the gauge's > needle. Dead. Even grounded it on the back of the panel to further > eliminate the wire. No movement. (As an engine temp sensor heats up, the > resistance decreases. Grounding the sensor wire simulates high temp > condition. The needle should deflect to max.) > > Not like Touche'. Boat is normally breakdown free. It was still a nice trip. > > Dennis C. > Touche' 35-1 #83 > Mandeville, LA > _______________________________________________ > > This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you wish > to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: > https://www.paypal.me/stumurray > > All Contributions are greatly appreciated! _______________________________________________ This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you wish to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray All Contributions are greatly appreciated!
