Larry (or whoever else jumps in),

I know there was a recent thread on this but Google didn't turn up the
clear answer I'm looking for.

I know it's theoretically better to keep batteries on a trickle charge
and warm over the winter but it costs me $70 to have them taken out of
the boat and stored by the yard. (Nevermind the reasons why I don't
want to take them out myself and home to my basement.)

I've got a good three stage charger in the boat. If I put a good
charge on my two AGM's just before the shrink wrap goes on and leave
them till early spring with no further attention, will I have reduced
their life and strength enough that the $70 would have been a good
investment? If the difference between warm, charged, and dead, cold
storage is just around the theoretical margins, I'm inclined to leave
them in place this year.

I'm in Maine which isn't quite as cold as people think, at least on
the coast. These two year old batteries get pretty light use with a
15 hp diesel, a few lights, and frequent dockside charging from shore
power. I don't leave the charger on all the time so they don't micro
cycle but they seldom get pulled down very far either.

--

Roger Long