Larry,

Satisfy my curiosity here. I've seen the aftermath of two battery
explosions so I know they happen and are serious when they do.
However, with all those cars racing around bouncing and jolting their
cheap, thin plate batteries that usually aren't replaced until the
motor won't turn over, I've never heard of an auto battery explosion.
I'm sure they happen but it's got to be statistically rare for one not
to have come to my direct notice.

I understand that the AGM cells in my boat are a wrapped sandwich of
glass mat and the lead plates. How can contact between these plates
be very likely? Is the boat just sitting there motionless more
likely to have these well supported plates bend than all those cars
sitting in unheated garages and out on the street? First, the
batteries have to discharge which seems pretty unlikely with the
cables disconnected. My wife has to have AAA jump start her car a
half dozen times a winter because she doesn't close the doors all the
way or leaves the lights on. No problem so far.

This seems like a several orders of magnitude lower risk than the boat
falling off the jackstands.

--

Roger Long