The deep-cycle battery that starts my '95 Mercruiser 5.7L (GM) TBI EFI crapped out yesterday. I've always bought deep-cycle, but then I read the diff between those and a starting battery. My ski boat that is constantly being stopped and started as we cut the engine to pick up a skier and restart to pull the next. Run time is less than 10 minutes per skier. We don’t hang out on the ski boat or run the stereo for hours (there’s a pontoon boat for that). I Ski season runs from June through mid-September, running the boat in fresh water for early morning skiing 2 or 3 times a week. I probably only put 10 hours a year on it, if that. The boat gets winterized, shrinkwrapped and stored outside over our cold Michigan winters. The battery goes in the garage where the temp never reaches freezing, I put it on a maintenance charger until the next season.
And I’ve just encountered the debate between maintenance-free and conventional or "low-maintenance." Old-school dudes (I'm 61) say there's no-place on boats for maintenance-free. They want to poke a hydrometer in there and top-off the cells. I've been using maintenance-free in my land vehicles for years with no problems. Is there something different for MY marine application that warrants using conventional? Deep-cycle or Starting? Or does it matter? Many thanks for your help, PW
And I’ve just encountered the debate between maintenance-free and conventional or "low-maintenance." Old-school dudes (I'm 61) say there's no-place on boats for maintenance-free. They want to poke a hydrometer in there and top-off the cells. I've been using maintenance-free in my land vehicles for years with no problems. Is there something different for MY marine application that warrants using conventional? Deep-cycle or Starting? Or does it matter? Many thanks for your help, PW