On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 13:03:26 -0500, DSK wrote:

OTOH I'm surprised Glenn isn't buying Surrette batteries for
his boat.

Surrette and Rolls both make great batteries, no question about that.

I'm certainly curious as to why Group 31s would have a higher self
discharge rate than others. I've never heard that before and wonder
if it could possibly have been related to a specific manufacturer or a
bad batch. Any boat left unattended should have some means of keeping
the batteries topped off in my opinion.

On my old boat I used golf cart batts for everything, never had a
problem, even starting up cold 454s. My new boat is set up for 8D
starting batts and I've left it that way but added 8 golf carts in two
separate house banks.

Wayne.B wrote in
:

Surrette and Rolls both make great batteries, no question about that.



They do? Why are they "better" to justify the awful price, probably
funding those fancy ads in the big boy boat rags?

Does their 400 AH battery put out more than the wetcell 400 AH battery?

Hell, for those prices the damned thing should use seawater to charge
itself!

On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 21:45:52 -0500, Larry wrote:

They do? Why are they "better" to justify the awful price, probably
funding those fancy ads in the big boy boat rags?

They take abuse really well, come with great warranties, and they
offer many different configurations for semi custom installations.


Does their 400 AH battery put out more than the wetcell 400 AH battery?

Of course not, but it will do it for many more years. Take a look at
their spec sheets for charge/recharge cycles. If you really rely on
your batteries, and especially if they are in a difficult location,
that's worth a few bucks. Replacing one of my 120 lb 8Ds from behind
a DD671 and generator without damaging your back or anything else is a
VERY interesting project, not soon to be repeated I hope.