Stephen Trapani wrote in news:JTN1o.45739
:

So since I have no shore power, could the bilge switch itself be
eating
up a whole zinc within six months? There seems to be an unexplained
drain of the batteries also.



I've got one more interesting phenomenon for you to trace....acid paths
at and around the battery.

If there is ANY, and I mean ANY, hint of acid leaking out around a
battery terminal that may have made even the tiniest path to the
bilgewater and underwater metal fittings, thruhulls, a current will be
forced, by the batteries' normal voltage, through that CONDUCTIVE acid
path making another giant plating machine to the sea....eating zincs.

Pull each battery out of its box and look carefully at the surface of
the battery, especially around the terminals. If any terminals have an
encrusted salt around them, that terminal's seal is leaking. The acid
that climbs up by capillary action from inside the battery, by the leaky
post, will, eventually, make a path down into the battery box to leak
out "somewhere" and make a DC path to the bilge.

Don't washdown any batteries in the boat. That just spreads any acid
around and makes it worse. Inspect the batteries with your finger.
Acid bites your tongue if there's any on your finger. There will always
be "some" from the bubbling of overcharging batteries around the
vents....but not in the bottom of the battery box and beyond.

While you got em out, if you don't find any leakages, washdown the
batteries on the dock with lots of fresh water and let them dry before
putting them back in their boxes, which you will also washdown with wet
towels you don't treasure as the acid the towel hits will simply eat it
in no time....along with those jeans you were wearing when hauling the
batteries out of the bilge. Make sure you're only wearing clothes you
can throw out without crying next month if holes get eaten in them.
Battery acid loves cotton!

Replace anything that is leaking, of course. They get banged around
hard in the surf, especially most boat batteries that aren't strapped
down properly. Imagine your boat just pitchpoled, mast pointing down.
Do you think those batteries will stay in place and NOT move if the boat
is upside down? If not, fix that too! I'm amazed at the number of
sailboats whos batteries are just sitting in unsecured boxes waiting to
smash "something" or "someone" in a laydown emergency situation. Little
dinky cheap plastic strapping ISN'T going to hold a 300AH beast in its
pasteboard box.





--
iPhone 4 is to cellular technology what the Titanic is to cruise ships.

Larry