What was he doing? Checking the water level with a cigarette lighter?

In my experience I have had only one battery explode and it was an AGM my
son had in his car. He had a big alternator to power his obscenely large
stereo amp. When the regulator failed the battery started overcharging and
blew up. Nobody hurt but it cost about $2,200 to replace the hood, grill,
radiator, fender liner and all the hoses.

I will stick to L-16s and recombinant caps thank you.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"Roger Long" wrote in message
.. .
While picking people's brains about batteries today, I learned why I
haven't
seen a friend of mine around the waterfront in a while. He isn't in
Florida.
He was bending over the battery in his boat a couple months ago when
it blew
up for no apparent cause. In addition to acid burns, the force of the
explosion threw him against the bulkhead of his boat so hard that he
broke
ribs and punctured his lungs. He's been laid up for weeks.

I don't think wet cells have any place on a boat except maybe one that
is
large enough to have a dedicated battery compartment.

--

Roger Long