Boat Battery Blues 

I have a SX 190 2012' Second year I had a cut off switch installed. Any time the boat is going to sit idle I cut of the power- ie when beached and during the winter months which is usually Oct-March. Still have the same battery from 2013.

Great channel. Good vids…. Marine batts are usually good for 3 - 5 yrs. Not fond of Dual Purpose marine batteries. The DP batts don’t do either very well. Far better to go with a battery switch & dedicated start battery / house battery (deep cycle). Switch to house battery at the sand bar. Makes boating far more enjoyable. Start battery ready to go all the time…

Don’t worry Leon! We know you’ll figure this one out! 👍🏻👍🏻

I had an interstate battery in one of my corvettes that did the same thing. Always charged and tested fine, but randomly would have no power to crank the car. Then the power would come back 10-15mins later. The battery was only about a year and a half old. But I ended up just replacing it.

Could it possibly be auxiliary equipment such as GPS and radio, draining amperage below cranking amps. Besides focusing on the battery alone. A question might be could there be corroded cables and wiring to other equipment depleting the amperage, or loose terminal connectos? Also, if it happens again try tapping on both battery terminal connections with a mallet. And then recheck the continuity of the connectors when you get back to shore. It could be possible that the vibration in the boat from the sea/wave on hull could loosen the connectors enough to not get full effectiveness or efficiency from the battery but still enough to run auxiliary boat equipment ie, low amp equipment but not enough to crank the motor. Just the thought my friend. I'm changing the battery connectors on my boat right now, due to corrosion. I'm also probably going to do what you did and put in a second battery with switching capability.

I'm starting to see that on mine as well. Luckily I can use the house and starter battery in case of emergency.

I had an interstate battery in my 1979 Sanger (460 V8) for over 5 years. Never disconnected it, never charged it, and never checked the water. Amazing. I was young and dumb. But lucky as hell.

I still have have the original battery, however, I do use a Noco for maintenance whenever the battery is not in use. From what I've read is that our boats do not like the lower voltage. The Noco will maintain the battery much better than the traditional old school trickle charger. But you know this already. I also have a spare battery with me as well. The original battery will go down to around 11 when using the blower. After startup, it will be in the low 13 while the engine is running. I don't remember hitting 14 ever.

No trouble shoot suggestions but we have a 99 LS2000 w/ 2 engines and I installed a 2nd battery w/ a battery switch this year just to be on the safe side for this reason. It’s overkill I’m sure but we mainly use it on a small Reservoir beside our airport in a state park. It’s not uncommon to have a few miles of the river/lake all to ourself

Hi! Captain Leon, what is your FB account?

You need to use an onboard smart charger and always plug it in when the boat is not in use. They’re designed for that and it’s not going to hurt the battery to leave it plugged in for months not being used.

Great video Captain .. When I lived on Long Island over the winter I would keep my boat batteries on a trickle charger in my house… do you do the same ?

How about an update. You goid now?

oh yeah, did you clamp off that seawater coolant line fron the jet while in tow???

When my battery reads below 12 volts, car or boat my thoughts is that, a batt cell is going bad, or already bad, see this happen when batt drain due to light or anything left on. I have tried reconditioning battery in the past, use this a bit, but same behavior happens again, time for replacement. I’ve done this with cars, where easy to get a jump. Not sure if I do this with a boat, maybe having spare, a booster, or something is a good idea. I have a 2013 SX190, battery is over 3 years old.

I would get the battery properly tested with a load on it and measure the cca’s. Your battery may be boarder line on its way out. Batteries in my area last 3 years due to the FL heat. My Noco GB70 is always on my boat as a standard tool. I had a trickle charger go bad that drove me crazy why my battery was low at the start of my day. Nice video!

I can’t attach a file here but there are charts showing voltage compared to remaining capacity. At 12.1v you are down to 50% and needs to be read at no draw or charging.

Bad connection. You took it out and changed the connectors position every so slightly to were it's getting a charge again

The fact that it would still not start when boosted tells you that the problem is a connection downstream of the battery, and not the battery itself. Did you check the nut tightness and cleanliness of the cable connections, they are sometimes a source of intermittent problems on high-draw connections. Not just the ones at the battery, but all that are accessible at the other end of the cables, like at the Perko switch, etc. This would not only cause a problem with ingoing (charging) current, but also outgoing (starting) current.

It looks to me that your old battery probably has bad cells, take it to get load tested at the auto parts store to confirm.

Maybe the other equipment ran the battery down. Add another tray and keep that battery for starting and the other for everything else. They have a switch that will allow you to switch to both batteries if the starter battery ever gets low. Also get a Noco dual charger so you can have the boat always plugged-in. I still take a starter pack with me just in case. When you're no moving you can switch the secondary battery. Sucks it ruined your day and made you tipple guess all the equipment :(

How did you handle getting towed? Did you block any hoses off? I’m new to the jet boat world and just want to make sure I’m covered if I ever need to get towed and not take on engine damage. Thanks.