Hello everyone and thank you in advance for reading and I apologize for being long winded. Not only am I new to this forum, but to boating in general. I convinced my wife to buy a used 2006 Bayliner 195 runaboutbowrider with a Mercruiser 3.0 stern drive in favor of a new 185 with the same engine because it was literally half the price. Her concern (and probably anyone's when buying a used boat) was unknown mechanical problems.
The first three days we owned the boat we took it out and it started just fine. We then waited 3 days and went out and dropped it into the water and it wouldn't start. I checked the battery and it was at 11 volts. I charged it up using a trickle charger to 12.8 and watched it drop over the next 3 days to 12.4, 12.1, then 11.7. I figured bad battery so I went and bought a new, larger battery with more "reserve" and about the same cold cranking amps as the battery I was replacing. I installed it in the boat and a day later took her down to the lake.
As you might guess, this was time NUMBER 2 on the boat launch where the damn thing WOULD NOT START. What was different here is that now my wife, feeling bold with the new battery left the blower on for 2 to 3 minutes while I parked the trailer. She had read that you are supposed to run these for 4 minutes before starting the engine to avoid global thermonuclear war (or something equally terrifying).
So we took the battery back to the store where they tested it and said it couldn't have been the battery. We hooked it back up to the boat and used the hose to test it and it started right up with no problem. Trying to duplicate the issue, I ran the blower and hooked the battery to the multi-meter and watched the voltage drop from 12.61 to 12.6 to 12.59 etc. at the rate of about 1/10th per second. My current theory is that the combination of a new, poorly charged battery and a quick discharging blower have caused my strife. I feel the following steps should be considered:
1. I should always check to see if my engine will start before leaving my driveway (the lake is 15 minutes away)
2. Despite the risk of exploding boats, I should NOT run that damn blower (I never fuel on the water anyway)
3. I should look into installing a multi-battery setup
Am I on the right track?
The first three days we owned the boat we took it out and it started just fine. We then waited 3 days and went out and dropped it into the water and it wouldn't start. I checked the battery and it was at 11 volts. I charged it up using a trickle charger to 12.8 and watched it drop over the next 3 days to 12.4, 12.1, then 11.7. I figured bad battery so I went and bought a new, larger battery with more "reserve" and about the same cold cranking amps as the battery I was replacing. I installed it in the boat and a day later took her down to the lake.
As you might guess, this was time NUMBER 2 on the boat launch where the damn thing WOULD NOT START. What was different here is that now my wife, feeling bold with the new battery left the blower on for 2 to 3 minutes while I parked the trailer. She had read that you are supposed to run these for 4 minutes before starting the engine to avoid global thermonuclear war (or something equally terrifying).
So we took the battery back to the store where they tested it and said it couldn't have been the battery. We hooked it back up to the boat and used the hose to test it and it started right up with no problem. Trying to duplicate the issue, I ran the blower and hooked the battery to the multi-meter and watched the voltage drop from 12.61 to 12.6 to 12.59 etc. at the rate of about 1/10th per second. My current theory is that the combination of a new, poorly charged battery and a quick discharging blower have caused my strife. I feel the following steps should be considered:
1. I should always check to see if my engine will start before leaving my driveway (the lake is 15 minutes away)
2. Despite the risk of exploding boats, I should NOT run that damn blower (I never fuel on the water anyway)
3. I should look into installing a multi-battery setup
Am I on the right track?
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