On Sun, 19 Feb 2006 10:35:27 -0500, Larry wrote:

He's correct. No car or truck on the street has some $4000 supercharger
computerized charging system sold to affluent yachties at amazing profits.
They all seem to function just fine for years and years.

There is a BIG difference between the charging requirements of a car
versus a boat. When things are working normally on a car the battery
never gets deep cycled. The only charging that takes place is for the
relatively small amount of power drawn during engine cranking. After
that the alternator supplies all of the power needed and the battery
just floats across the output, usually at about 13.8 volts.

On a boat however, the house bank routinely gets deeply discharged,
often to as low as 50% of capacity. To replace that amount of power
as quickly as possible, 3 stage charging is required.