Battery compartment

[Dmarie26]

Hubby and I have a 1986 Capri 18 that we moor in front of the family cottage. The battery compartment is suppose to hold a series 24 battery, but hubby can't get it to fit. We've been using a lawn tractor battery. It isn't holding a charge to keep our mooring light lit. Any advice or suggestions on a battery or what we're doing wrong with the series 24 would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[sinnettc]

Where does your battery go? In a locker in the cockpit or somewhere else? Mine is supposed to go in the cockpit but prior owner moved it into the cabin between the portapotty and the compression post for better balancing of the boat. Not sure if that will work on a Cp 18.

Another option would be to try replacing your incandescent anchor light with a LED. I did that on Verboten and my power consumption dropped immensely. A solar panel to keep the battery topped off won't hurt either.

 

[Dmarie26]

The battery compartment is in the cabin under the floor (molded in) above the keel.

 

[CaptDon01]

It's a tight fit for a group-24 for sure, but it should fit, ours did. If I remember, I think I removed the strap. There seems that there was a wood support that ran across the access, besides, there isn't any way for the battery to fall out short of turning the boat up-side-down, and if that happens, you've got other problems to worry about. Before we sold the boat, I was playing with the idea of cutting out the factory battery box so I could install a group-27. But in reality, we never had any power issues with a group-24 running an auto-pilot and VHF all day long.

Here's an idea.....for a mooring light, have you thought of those solar powered LED garden lights? They charge all day, and last all night. We have one that fits into a fishing rod holder that's fastened to the stern pulpit.

Great boat by the way!

Don