Winter Battery Storage

[CapeCodFrank]

Last year, I had the marina pull and store my batteries. Is this necessary? If I were to pull them myself, where should I store them... basement, garage (below freezing), etc? Do they need to be charged over the winter?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[B-Faithful]

The only two months my boat didnt get used are Jan and Feb. However, I leave the batteries on the boat and just hook them up to a trickle charger every few weeks as the boat was in my driveway. I used to pull them and store in my garage for ease of putting them on the charger when I lived in my last community that didnt allow for boats to be stored on my property.

 

[In Agreement]

Keep them in the boat and do the trickle charger thing, or if you have the boat stored at the Marina you can still pull them and put trickle on them. When out of boat and sitting in garage/basement put them on a piece of wood or rubber to keep them off the concrete. May be a old wives tale but have been told that the concrete will suck them down just like leaving something on in the boat.

 

[Megabyte]

What kind of batteries are they?

If they are AGM's, leave them in and don't worry...
5 years on mine, and I haven't pulled them out for the winter yet. :wink:

 

[HM5]

Capt Kevin, What brand of AGM's do you have, and what size(series number)?

I have an Optima 24 dual purpose in my old Wellcraft that I left on the boat during winter, and it worked great in the spring. I am thinking of taking the 27 series lead acid batteries that work fine now out of my 2520XL (I bought it in June) and replacing them with a couple of Optima 24's One dual purpose and one deep cycle.

BTW I agree, leave them in the boat and charge once a month when weather is cold.

 

[Megabyte]

Capt Kevin, What brand of AGM's do you have, and what size(series number)?

The batteries in her right now are Optima blue-top D34M that are on their 5th year. No issues.
http://www.1st-optima-batteries.com/

 

[CapeCodFrank]

I don't know what type of battery, but I'll get down to the boat on Sat and check it out. I suspect lead-acid, but really not sure. They were supplied by Parker when I bought the boat last year.

The boat is stored at the marina, so if I leave the batteries on board, there is no way to charge them over the winter. If they need to be charged, I will have to pull them and store them at my house.

If they should be pulled and charged over the winter, any recommendation on what kind of charger to buy? As you can tell, I am really a novice with respect to boats (and cars, for that matter), so any advice is welcome. I am trying to save a few bucks on my annual cost, but don't want to be penny wise and pound foolish.

Thanks

 

[In Agreement]

I use the ones you can get at Wally World,,"BatteryCompanion" by Schumacher. Use one on my hotrod while stored with no problems so I figured they would do for the boat while it is stored for the winter.

Another is the Battery Tender brand also that I'm aware of. I'm sure there may be others, just not remembering them right now.

 

[Megabyte]

If they should be pulled and charged over the winter, any recommendation on what kind of charger to buy? As you can tell, I am really a novice with respect to boats (and cars, for that matter), so any advice is welcome. I am trying to save a few bucks on my annual cost, but don't want to be penny wise and pound foolish.

If you want to charge/maintain the batteries on the boat, this is one way to do it.
(for other solutions, search the "Projects" area)

http://classicparker.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4662

To charge/maintain them out of the boat, I use this float charger sourced from Harbor Freight. Can't beat it for the price. :wink:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=42292

Hope this helps!