I've relocated my batteries into the cave where the A4 used to reside. In my case two group 27s weigh ALOT and I felt it is best to keep them low and in the center of boat.
Regarding keeping the batteries charged up, I have two Coleman (ala Wal-Mart) 5 watt solar panels that I mounted to a sheet of Star-Board. The contraption plugs into a standard 12v plug and I leave it on the cockpit seat when the boat is not underway. It works great, haven't had a dead battery in years. ~Dan --- On Sat, 4/10/10, The Emmerichs <[email protected]> wrote: From: The Emmerichs <[email protected]> Subject: RE: [IC27A] Inconvenient battery installation on Catalina 27 To: [email protected] Date: Saturday, April 10, 2010, 9:38 PM I’m in Louisville, KY and it doesn’t normally get that cold down here. I don’t take my batteries out but go down to the yard every month or two and plug into electric power for a day or two or till they un-plug me. It’s been eight years now and have not had a problem. Have replaced both of the over that time but have not had any problems during the season. John Emmerich C27 TR Louisville, KY From: ic...@yahoogroups. com [mailto:IC27A@ yahoogroups. com] On Behalf Of Andrew Sent: Saturday, April 10, 2010 5:04 PM To: ic...@yahoogroups. com Subject: [IC27A] Inconvenient battery installation on Catalina 27 I have a 1986 Catalina 27 that I have had since 1990. I have always found the battery box at the bottom of the sail locker (portside) very difficult to reach. It's just too darn far down in the locker for me to reach easily during installation and removal of the batteries. The real challange is to hang my 69 year-old upper body over the lip of that locker as I try to reach the battery terminals to attach the cables. I use battery boxes to for each of the two batteries. I have thought of some kind of modification to raise the batteries up a bit. Perhaps I could build a false bottom into the battery well to raise the batteries up five or six inches. Or, I could attatch something to the bottom of the battery boxes to raise them up. Has anyone had a similar problem and, if so, what have you done about it? I would really like to hear of any solutions that you guys have employed. Andy Dalzell Catalina-27 #6298 Rebizak Sandusky Bay
