On Aug 22, 4:08 pm, "Lee Bell" wrote:
KingOfTheApes wrote
Well, there are islands on the water and the batteries are left behind
on the islands.
I suppose it's happened, but it darned sure doesn't happen often. Boats big
enough to carry batteries, don't work without them. They have to have them
to start the motors. It's really unlikely that anybody would go to all the
trouble to drive their boat out to an island with a spare battery on board,
change the battery while on the island and go to all the touble to take the
battery off the boat just so they can leave it someplace where it will later
have to be collected by another power boater. It could happne, but I don't
know why.
Batteries may get damaged by sea water or just get depleted. I have
one on my canoe to power my trolling motor. I changed to AGM though
because they are water and leakproof.
It's much more likely that any batteries you round were taken to the island
for use by somebody camping there. They may or may not have gotten to the
island by power boat, but the batteries you see almost certainly weren't
lift there because they are power boaters.
Many people that are into motorboating are poorly educated and
couldn't care less about the consequences of their actions. I think
MOTORBOATING IS LARGELY FOR COUCH POTATOES THAT WANT TO HAVE A DEGREE
OF ADVENTURE IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS. I, personally, would prefer that
they stay home watching baseball and drinking beer.
Well, maybe they heard of the coral reefs in the tropical waters of
the Caribbean dying because of all the pollution and motorboats that
anchor in the wrong places.
In more than 45 years of diving, and boating in the Caribbean, no, I've
never heard of it. I have heard of them dying because of fertilizer,
sewerage and other chemicals washed our from those on land who have less
consideration than either you or I do. I have heard of reefs destroyed by
sewage outfalls operated by Miami Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties. I
have heard of reefs destroyed by "accidental" leaks of millions of gallons
of raw sewage from Miami Dade about twice a year. I have heard of reefs
destroyed by those that dispose of thousands of tires as "artificial reefs"
that nothing ever lives on.
Here's a clue. Gas floats. Reefs don't. Anchors don't do much damage and
their use is not limited to motor boats. Sailboats and even kayaks carry
them too.
Lee
My anchor weighs 1 1/2 lbs... Terrible threat to the reefs.
How much you need for a motorboat?
But motorboat pollution contributes to "the soup" out there too. You
can even smell the gas, and I doubt it that it would be safe to swim
in the intracostal anymore.
Their main threat though is to life and property...
"Here are some startling statistics regarding boating accidents from
the United States Coast Guard:
In 2005, states and jurisdictions reported a total of 12,942,414
registered recreational boats compared with 12,781,476 in 2004.
The 4,969 boating accidents reported in 2005 resulted in 697
fatalities, 3,451 injuries, and $38,721,088 in property damage.
Florida had 973,859 registered motorboats and 603 boating accidents in
2005.
Approximately 70% of all fatal boating accident victims drowned.
The most reported type of accident was a collision with another
vessel.
Overall, carelessness/reckless operation, operator inattention,
excessive speed, and operator inexperience are the leading
contributing factors of all reported accidents.
The most common types of boats involved in reported accidents were
open motorboats (45%), personal watercraft (PWC) (26%), and cabin
motorboats (14%). Increases were observed in the number of reported
fatalities involving PWC, cabin motorboats, inflatables, sailboats,
and houseboats from 2004. A decrease was observed in the number of
fatalities involving canoes/kayaks and rowboats from the number of
fatalities reported in 2004."
http://www.rueziffra.com/practiceAreas.php?id=14