Scott Vernon wrote:
"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in message
...

"Scott Vernon" wrote in message
...

Yes, a deep cycle will start your Yanmar, but you are reducing the
life of the battery by doing so.

Not by enough that you would even notice it. A recreational boat
starts so seldom and a load of 80A isn't enough to do any harm.



Right, I agree. But, being in the MD area, I've got to consider
sometimes starting in cold weather and cranking more than usual.


Actually, I think the bigger issue is the non-starter loads. If the
boat has a fridge or other high house loads, you want to add house bank
capacity, which then makes it hard to do the "swap 1 & 2" trick. Once
you have dedicated banks it pays to use a proper starting battery.

OTOH, my previous boat had a finicky Westerbeke, which has a pre-heater,
and it never had a problem starting off a Surrette deep cycle.