New Batteries - Check

Old batteries that must come out

s/v Honey Ryder's batteries have been doing fine but we knew it was only a matter of time before we would need new ones so we budgeted and planned on replacing them this fall.  However someone pointed out that we should think about replacing them now while we are at the dock with the availability of resources vs waking up in some remote anchorage to discover that we HAVE to replace them.  Good point. 

Tom disconnecting all the batteries - not much room to work

Further investigation revealed that our two 12v gel house batteries were installed in 2000.  The two starter batteries (27's) are original to the boat.....1998!  OMG!  Given this terrific performance and the fact that our system is set up and tuned to gel we decided to replace them with the same exact gel batteries.  Not an easy feat in today's world where perfectly good products are constantly upgraded, redesigned and then phased out.  However after extensive research, Tom was able to find the exact same batteries in Macon GA and the company delivers to Brunswick every Wednesday.  Yay!

Two of the four out

Next step was to get the old batteries out.  For those of you that don't know, boat batteries are big and heavy.  Seriously - our house batteries are approx. 2ft long by 1 ft wide by 1 ft deep and weigh approx. 130 lbs EACH if not more!  We have two of these.  The starter batteries are more the size of large car batteries (size 27's) and weigh approx. 60 lbs each.  We have two of these.  So...big ass batteries (BAB) that weigh a ton.  But wait....the fun doesn't end there.  Our batteries are center line on the boat, very low under the cockpit with limited space for a person to maneuver.  Most of the time this is a good thing, except when you need to get them out.  Think of it this way.....picture the average American dining room table - 6ft long.  Imagine that you have to get these two BAB + the two starters out from underneath the dining room table and up on top of it.  However you can't just drag them sideways until you have them out from underneath.  Oh no.  You must somehow hoist them up to the underneath side of the table ( so like up 1 ft or so) and then over so you can avoid crushing something valuable like your great grandmothers precious gravy bowl - or in our case a vital part of our watermaker that CANNOT take the weight of a 130 lbs battery sliding across the top of it.  And there is only room for one person under the table and you can't use the free space around the table - that is cheating.  And NO, I don't know why your great grandmother's gravy bowl would be under the table with four boat batteries - it's an example!  Anyway, I think you get the idea of the situation. 

Resting between batteries

Tom was able to build a temporary shelf over the watermaker to protect it and then he tied a dock line around the handles of the first BAB.  He used another length of wood as a slide and then pulled with his legs to wedge it free and onto the floor of the open lazarette.  I used my full body weight from the cockpit to help pull.  Then we worked together from the cockpit to hoist it out at an angle (being careful not to smash the Rancor fuel polishing system or any other vital boat components along the lazarette wall) and onto the cockpit floor and then ......blah blah blah... basically we moved it in small stages until we got it out and onto the dock.  Whew!  Then came the next BAB. 


All four out - whew

We thought the two tiny starter batteries  (Ha - compared to the BAB they are tiny)  would be easy but it turned out they were wedged into their low spot on the boat even more firmly than the house batteries.  Finally we were able to wiggle them free.   One by one we transported the batteries via dock cart to the top of the dock for pickup.  And we only blew one dock cart tire in the process - ga-BOOM!  Uh-oh!

Pre-tire blow out

The battery guy showed up and easily muscled our new batteries out of his truck and onto the dock - show off!  He took the old ones, giving us credit for the cores.  Even still, the cha-ching sound was painful!  The new batteries shine like a new diamonds and cost about the same!

Newbies ready to go in - ugh!

Now began the reverse process for us.  But we were experts at it by this point.  By mid-afternoon we had them wedged back into place and Tom had everything reconnected and flipped on to start calibrating these new batteries.     

New batteries sitting pretty in their new home on s/v Honey Ryder

Lesson we learned during switching out our batteries?  If you need to switch your battery out it helps to find a really super,-duper strong contortionist to assist you.