Boat Maintenance

[Basfis]

FWIW I put a BPS XPS single bank charger into a diesel engine test cell 4 years ago. Been on 24/7 365 on the same battery without issue since that day. In a wash down environment too. Lord knows how many cranking cycles it’s been through with purging fuel and starting diesels, has to 1000’s. 

No idea if they are all that good....bargain price. 

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, jdmidwest said:

My main battery always seems to have ghost useage somewhere in the system as it drains 15% and the trolling battery stays full.  Probably electronics on the motor?

A bad rectifier will do that.  So will some older key switches.  If you get a little spark when connecting the battery to the motor battery leads, disconnect the main harness plug under the cowling and see if the spark goes away, if it does then your key switch is mildly shorted to ground.  If it doesn't then the short to ground is most likely in the rectifier or voltage regulator.  Disconnect the red wire to the rectifier or regulator (whichever your motor has) and the spark will probably go away.  

About the only other thing that will cause a constant draw on the battery is if you have a stereo in the boat. They draw constant micro voltage to maintain channel memory.

[LittleRedFisherman]

With all my winter fishing winterizing a boat isn’t needed for me, but I do always run a stabilizer in like in the summer when I can go a month without running, I might rethink that now?  I got a blazer like Pete has 4 years ago and now don’t run my trout boat much.  In fact I didn’t take it to Jigfest because it hasnt ran in a year,  gonna take out this week with fresh gas and hoping the stabilizer has kept from a big problem.  

Sounds like I need to grease the zerk some more on the pump,  I’m about out of that marine grease I guess grease like I use to grease combines and cotton pickers are not recommended? Lol 

Bret

[shrapnel]

On 12/12/2017 at 10:26 PM, fishinwrench said:

Excellent!  

The only thing I'd add is to not let it set for extended periods.  Even if all you can do is hook up a hose to it every few DAYS and let it run for 5 minutes in your driveway, then by all means do it.  The worst thing you can do to an outboard motor is to let it set for a DAY or TWO without running it.

 

Great advice!  I'll make sure to show this to the wife, since mine lives on a lift with no running water option, might as well grab some rods while I'm out running it...last thing she wants is a big repair bill. 

[jdmidwest]

If mine was on a lift, it would get used weekly.  Unfortunately, its an hour to ok fishing for me and 4-5 hours for good fishing.  Mine sits and waits alot.

[fishinwrench]

19 minutes ago, jdmidwest said:

Unfortunately, its an hour to ok fishing for me and 4-5 hours for good fishing.  Mine sits and waits alot.

It's the same for MOST folks, thankfully!  Otherwise I'd be poor as a church mouse.  

[jdmidwest]

My buddy is the kind of guy you like Wrench.  He seems to jack his boats up every time we use them.  I feel sorry and drag my along just to give his wallet a rest every now and then.