"Tow" insurance

dlochner · Sep 28, 2017

Justin,
Have you tried it yet? There are some decent jump packs out there and a lot that are hype. The leads on the alligator clips look a little small to carry the current a diesel needs to start.

Allan Frey · Sep 28, 2017

If you have a house battery and a start battery, another alternative is what I did. I bought a set of auto jumper cables and carry them aboard. If the start battery would ever fail, I would connect the house battery to the start battery.

allan

Head Sail · Sep 28, 2017

That device would work if you are safely anchored but if your drifting towards the rocks you need to start fast. A dedicated start battery would be a better choice for emergencies.

JamesG161 · Sep 28, 2017

I have this one I bought at WM for $45 on special.
Note that is has a 12VDC plug so it is portable to inflate a dingy or charge your USB device. It has been borrowed in the marina more than I have used it, but it starts my 50 hp diesel.

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-marine--700-amp-jump-starter--15808504?recordNum=1
Jim...

shemandr · Sep 28, 2017

I have one in my car, which goes through batteries about once a year. It has started my car. I'm trying to develop a habit of taking it aboard the boat since the batteries have a past. I can also report that once I had to sail to the dock in the Thames River because I couldn't start the motor. The dockmaster used one to start the motor. Worked great.

Don S/V ILLusion · Sep 28, 2017

Appreciate the irony of sailors having these but power boaters likely don't...

pateco · Sep 28, 2017

Justin_NSA said:
I was looking for a better word, but 'irony" it is. At least we have a 'backup' drive force. If anyone needed one these, it would be stinkpot drivers.

Yeah, but they just call the coastguard and declare an emergency. LOL

JamesG161 · Sep 28, 2017

pateco said:
they just call the coastguard

Unless there is hazard to people, like sinking, fire or unresponsive person...

USCG: Call sea tow @ 123-456-7890
Jim...

Benny17441 · Sep 28, 2017

Those battery packs work with a discharged battery but if the battery is dead they will not work. Their main feature is their small size but if you have a place in the boat to store an automotive type battery pack there is no substitute. A battery pack will start the engine whether the main battery is just low or dead.

Richard19068 · Sep 28, 2017

Benny17441 said:
Those battery packs work with a discharged battery but if the battery is dead they will not work. .... A battery pack will start the engine whether the main battery is just low or dead.

I am not familiar with battery packs. Can you explain the difference between the two you are talking about? Thanks.

Scott T-Bird · Sep 28, 2017

I received one of those battery pack things as a present maybe 10 years ago or so. Never used it, not even once. I think it died from never being needed. It is probably in a landfill now ... not a good thing. These things are probably a waste. Are you really going to transfer from car to boat everytime? I bet that gets old real fast. Not ever for the car, not ever for the boat. I can't imagine a circumstance where it would ever be needed. Boat batteries are always charged. Cars are built with safeguards these days to prevent dead batteries (lights and radio turn off automatically). Dead batteries are a thing of the past. I can't remember the last time I suffered with one.

dlochner · Sep 28, 2017

Our favorite marine electrician, MaineSail, has posted on this before on his forum and in other places. I can never get the search feature on this website to work right, so I can't post the link. Some of these products are best thought of as battery boosters and not as a replacement for a battery. As I recall he is especially leery of the inexpensive ones from China. A clue is the the cable size. Little 10 ga wires can't handle the current needed to start an engine from a dead battery. Perhaps they can boost a battery a bit, if it is only partially discharged, say around 11.9 volts, just to pick a number.

As sailors who are not dependent on others to rescue us from our bad decisions (unless truly life or environment threatening) we are better served by designing our systems to be redundant and to prevent simple human error from rendering our boats disabled.

With proper design and adequate systems monitoring, ending up with batteries so dead that they can't start a small diesel, should be a very low probability event.

Prevention is always better than a cure.

shemandr · Sep 28, 2017

I guess I'm living in the past, then. My car goes thru batteries like crap through a goose. I've told the dealer there's likely a problem with the charging system but they don't want to spend the time chasing down the problem. They just slap a new battery in, charge me a pro rata rate, pat me on the backside and send me on. They'll come to my location to do it but they aren't at all interested in why the batteries are failing.
My boat batteries are of uncertain pasts and will be replaced. I expect to have a reasonable charging system by next season. I also have Sea Tow. I pay them and don't have a problem using their service if I've been responsible.

Kings Gambit · Sep 28, 2017

I'm 29 years of boating I've had five "assists" attributable to equipment failure that might be considered a tow or rescue; three inside the harbor or marina and two of 'em when I was driving/piloting a powerboat. Two were on my own sailboat: 1) my propeller flew off while backing out of my slip; the light breeze sent me into the riprap and I had to be pulled off; 2) the starter fried and I had to shut down the engine in the middle of the fairway inside the harbor and be "escorted" back to my slip. Last one, on a chartered sailboat, the battery was dead but discovered while I was under sail home. I called the company for assistance; he told my to keep sailing (it was a beat

) and when I got closer to the marina he'd come out and escort me in. So, I could have carried one of those jumpers for nearly 30 yr w/o much chance to use it even if/when I needed a tow.

jssailem · Sep 28, 2017

Allan Frey said:
If you have a house battery and a start battery, another alternative is what I did. I bought a set of auto jumper cables and carry them aboard. If the start battery would ever fail, I would connect the house battery to the start battery.

allan

Allan, You can use jumper cables or you can wire the boat to accomplish the same thing and just flick the switches. (See MaineSail's posts.)
You do not want to connect the House battery to the Starter battery. That will just draw down the house battery perhaps kill both batteries.
If you need to start the motor, then jump the house battery to the starter and start the motor. Let the motor alternator supply a charge to the starter battery until you get to port and can assess the condition of the starter battery.

"Tow" insurance

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SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John

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SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John

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SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John