I have 4 wet cell batteries on Yesterday's Dream. Two 6 volt golf cart batteries in the molded in "battery well" in the Starbord lazerette, and two 12 volt batteries positioned behind the transmission on a wooden shelf over the shaft as described in a by Steve Dion in the archives of this website. All batteries are in commercial plastic Battery boxes with commercial Webing tie downs. The webing rots quickly due to battery gassing (HCl Gas?) as they are continually being floated by my guest charger when docked. The webbing does not last a season. I never feel secure that the webbing solution is adequate, particularly for the very heavy golf cart batteries. I fear that a loose Golf cart battery will crash through the hull during a knock down. Has anyone Hunter 31 owner devised a more substantial wooden or metal brace/bracket to go over their batteries? I want to get this fixed before I go offshore this summer on my planned circumnavigation of DELMARVA. Bill Ebling Yesterday's Dream 1985 H31 Crab Alley Bay, Kent Island MD
- Status
- Not open for further replies.
Plastic Coated Metal?
Bill: Have you considered a metal battery tie down like used in an automobile. These usually have some type of plastic coating. The other option would be to get a rod and drill through the bulk head into the 'PIT' and run it through the fiberglass on the port side. We have never experienced these problem because we have been using either Gel or AGM batteries. They also make them in 6 volt models too. Where is your circumnavigation going to take you? What are you going to do about the seats over the lazarettes? I suppose that you have put latches on them but what are you going to do to keep water out incase of a knock down? There is about a 1/2-3/4" gap around the seats!
Bill: Have you considered a metal battery tie down like used in an automobile. These usually have some type of plastic coating. The other option would be to get a rod and drill through the bulk head into the 'PIT' and run it through the fiberglass on the port side. We have never experienced these problem because we have been using either Gel or AGM batteries. They also make them in 6 volt models too. Where is your circumnavigation going to take you? What are you going to do about the seats over the lazarettes? I suppose that you have put latches on them but what are you going to do to keep water out incase of a knock down? There is about a 1/2-3/4" gap around the seats!
B
Bill Ebling
Delmarva
Steve, I plan to go around the Delmarva peninsula. Its what Delaware and the eastern shore of Maryland sits on between the chesepeake and Delaware bays. Its about 400 nM around. Up to head of the Chesapeake, through the C&D canal to the Delaware bay, Down the dDlaware bay to Cape May NJ, out into the Atlantic and south to Cape Charles at the opening of the chesapeake near Norfolk VA, Back into the chesapeake and then and back up to Kent Island. About 36 hours of Atlantic Coastal sailing, no more than 20 mile offshore. Total trip about 7 to 10 days depending how aggressive I want to be. I have attached a link to a travel log by Matt Jenkins who did this last year in a H28. My lazeretts already have latches. I was thinking of cutting and shaping some High density foam to make a "gasket" and glueing it to the top of the lazeretts to make this seal. I also need to secure the hatchboards. I experiances a bad broach that was close to a knockdown in the chesapeake at on an overnight sail 4 AM last summer. It was very enlightning. I will look a what I can find in the auto stores for the tiedowns.
Steve, I plan to go around the Delmarva peninsula. Its what Delaware and the eastern shore of Maryland sits on between the chesepeake and Delaware bays. Its about 400 nM around. Up to head of the Chesapeake, through the C&D canal to the Delaware bay, Down the dDlaware bay to Cape May NJ, out into the Atlantic and south to Cape Charles at the opening of the chesapeake near Norfolk VA, Back into the chesapeake and then and back up to Kent Island. About 36 hours of Atlantic Coastal sailing, no more than 20 mile offshore. Total trip about 7 to 10 days depending how aggressive I want to be. I have attached a link to a travel log by Matt Jenkins who did this last year in a H28. My lazeretts already have latches. I was thinking of cutting and shaping some High density foam to make a "gasket" and glueing it to the top of the lazeretts to make this seal. I also need to secure the hatchboards. I experiances a bad broach that was close to a knockdown in the chesapeake at on an overnight sail 4 AM last summer. It was very enlightning. I will look a what I can find in the auto stores for the tiedowns.
If you cannot find one.
Bill: If you cannot find one that is plastic coated, you may want to check on some of the plastic coatings that you can use on tools. They make some types of coats that you can use on the handles of tools to protect them. This may be a good alternative. You could also have something fabricated that may not be too expensive and do the same thing.
Bill: If you cannot find one that is plastic coated, you may want to check on some of the plastic coatings that you can use on tools. They make some types of coats that you can use on the handles of tools to protect them. This may be a good alternative. You could also have something fabricated that may not be too expensive and do the same thing.
J
John
Question
Should they even be gassing like that? I thought they only gassed like that when they were in the equalization stage, not the float stage.
Should they even be gassing like that? I thought they only gassed like that when they were in the equalization stage, not the float stage.
B
Bill Ebling
Charger, gassing, equilization question
I don't know..they may be being equalized automatically each week when I return to the dock. I am using a two bank Guest multistage charger(model 2611). The charger description states "This three-stage charger gives bulk charge for fast recovery, followed by an absoroption charge, and then finally a float/ready stage to keep the batteries fully charged, but never over charged. The circuit brings each battery up to an absorption voltage of 14.1 volts until the battery accepts 4 amps, and then lowers the voltage to 13.3 volts for minimal water use and a full charge state". Does "Bulk charge" the same thing as "equilize"? The charger is perminately built in, when I return to the dock at the end of a weekend, I hook up to the power cable, turn the charger on at my breaker panel, turn the D/C main off and go home. BTW The golf cart batteries are wired in series and then wired in parallel to a 12 volt battery to make up my house bank, the other 12 volt is reserved as my cranking battery. All four of the batteries only need to be topped off with water 2 to 3 times a year. What ever the chargers doing, the batteries do seem to like it. Nerver had any problems, always plenty of power, energizer bunnies. I've been running on these batteries for more than 4 years now and they were in the boat when I bought her. I generaly go out overnight each weekend putting a good load on the house bank which also drives my autohelm. Bill Ebling Yesterday's Dream 1985 H31 Crab Alley Bay, Kent Island Md
I don't know..they may be being equalized automatically each week when I return to the dock. I am using a two bank Guest multistage charger(model 2611). The charger description states "This three-stage charger gives bulk charge for fast recovery, followed by an absoroption charge, and then finally a float/ready stage to keep the batteries fully charged, but never over charged. The circuit brings each battery up to an absorption voltage of 14.1 volts until the battery accepts 4 amps, and then lowers the voltage to 13.3 volts for minimal water use and a full charge state". Does "Bulk charge" the same thing as "equilize"? The charger is perminately built in, when I return to the dock at the end of a weekend, I hook up to the power cable, turn the charger on at my breaker panel, turn the D/C main off and go home. BTW The golf cart batteries are wired in series and then wired in parallel to a 12 volt battery to make up my house bank, the other 12 volt is reserved as my cranking battery. All four of the batteries only need to be topped off with water 2 to 3 times a year. What ever the chargers doing, the batteries do seem to like it. Nerver had any problems, always plenty of power, energizer bunnies. I've been running on these batteries for more than 4 years now and they were in the boat when I bought her. I generaly go out overnight each weekend putting a good load on the house bank which also drives my autohelm. Bill Ebling Yesterday's Dream 1985 H31 Crab Alley Bay, Kent Island Md
B
Bob Schmit
in Practical Sailor 7/96
I believe bulk charging is the voltage that is set for the"bulk" of the charging period. With the smart chargers (vs the ferroresonant types) the voltage is maintained at a certain level depending on whether the batteries are flooded or gel. Whereas the equilization charge is accomplished on some chargers (possibly yours doesn't have this feature) for the purpose of equalizing the differences in sulfation of the individual cells in the battery that can lead to a limiting of battery discharge as it can only be discharged to the level of the weakest cell. Equilization is done with a controlled overcharge and on the smarter chargers can be programed in for once a month or so, although there are some that have a manual switch. I'm thinking Practical Sailor was talking about only flooded batteries for the equilzation phase. They did mention a Guest Charge Pro 2610 and said it was probably better suited for gel batteries as the peak charge was in the low range. But they felt the best overall charger was the Statpower Truecharge 20. BOB Schmit
I believe bulk charging is the voltage that is set for the"bulk" of the charging period. With the smart chargers (vs the ferroresonant types) the voltage is maintained at a certain level depending on whether the batteries are flooded or gel. Whereas the equilization charge is accomplished on some chargers (possibly yours doesn't have this feature) for the purpose of equalizing the differences in sulfation of the individual cells in the battery that can lead to a limiting of battery discharge as it can only be discharged to the level of the weakest cell. Equilization is done with a controlled overcharge and on the smarter chargers can be programed in for once a month or so, although there are some that have a manual switch. I'm thinking Practical Sailor was talking about only flooded batteries for the equilzation phase. They did mention a Guest Charge Pro 2610 and said it was probably better suited for gel batteries as the peak charge was in the low range. But they felt the best overall charger was the Statpower Truecharge 20. BOB Schmit
- Status
- Not open for further replies.