In the same situation many years ago (very impoverished) I bought a
newer secondhand battery for my ancient car and put the old car one
into the boat. With just one 10 watt tricolour nav light (the old
fluorescent type that gave loads of light for low wattage but rotten
colour cutoff) and a similar wattage single cabin fluorescent, plus
oil cabin and anchor lights, a charged old battery usually lasted a
couple of weeks summer cruising. Nights are short, and you don't put
the nav light on till it's genuinely fairly dark. If there's was
nothing around, I admit I turned it off.

Can you push-start your car?

Well, I don't think I could push-start it, but rolling down a slope
would work. Unfortunately there is no slope at the marina.
However, I think I won't risk it. Coming back from a cruise and not
being able to start the car will certainly make my wife mad, so I
would have to buy a new battery for this reason anyway.
I guess I just dislike the idea of the thing sitting in the boat doing
nothing, almost the whole year, but needing recharging and
attention...

"Jens K" wrote in message
om...
As a very basic answer, a 100 amp/hour battery should provide 100 amps
for
an hour or 1 amp for 100 hours, in reality of course it would probably
melt if required to do the former. Then you need to factor in age, type
of
use, deep charge trickle or whatever. At best it is a guide only as to
the
possible maximum the battery can provide.

As I normally daysail I do not need a battery in my boat. But when I
occasionally cruise for a few days, I would like one, but only for the
lights. I do not have other power consuming devices in my boat.

So now the question is this: could I simply move my car's battery to
the boat? Let's say for a four days cruise during summer time. Will it
still start the car afterwards? I guess there will be the pleasant
side-effect that the car will be less likely to be stolen.

I used to use a relay in the boot which would charge a second car battery
when the first was full. This I used successfully for several years
occationally i'd swap the (fully charged) batteries over.

The Q

John Wilson wrote:
Can you push-start your car?

Probably not, if it's a modern one with computerised engine management.

Andy

In article ,
(Jens K) wrote:


In the same situation many years ago (very impoverished) I bought a
newer secondhand battery for my ancient car and put the old car one
into the boat. With just one 10 watt tricolour nav light (the old
fluorescent type that gave loads of light for low wattage but rotten
colour cutoff) and a similar wattage single cabin fluorescent, plus
oil cabin and anchor lights, a charged old battery usually lasted a
couple of weeks summer cruising. Nights are short, and you don't put
the nav light on till it's genuinely fairly dark. If there's was
nothing around, I admit I turned it off.

Can you push-start your car?

Well, I don't think I could push-start it, but rolling down a slope
would work. Unfortunately there is no slope at the marina.
However, I think I won't risk it. Coming back from a cruise and not
being able to start the car will certainly make my wife mad, so I
would have to buy a new battery for this reason anyway.
I guess I just dislike the idea of the thing sitting in the boat doing
nothing, almost the whole year, but needing recharging and
attention...

Sure there is a slope at most marina's. It is called the Launching Ramp.
You just have to be really quick on the clutch, and breaks, and if you
don't get a start, you and your car take a swim........


me

In article , taz24taz24
@blueyonder.co.uk says...
They tend to be "high temperature" versions (gets warm in emergency
lighting luminaires) so separator design has to be good. Dendritic
crystal growth through separators is the usual failure mode of Nicd's


--
Keith Lewis

Is that a white powdery substance. Or I'm I just
thinking of corrosion that forms on the aluminium
casing sometimes.
taz.


FWIW, The white powder associated with (leaking/venting) NiCds is
usually potassium hydroxide, a rather caustic material. A chemical
"cousin" is soduim hydroxide (lye). Don't ingest or get in eyes,
needless to say...

Woody

Is that a white powdery substance. Or I'm I just
thinking of corrosion that forms on the aluminium
casing sometimes.
taz.


FWIW, The white powder associated with (leaking/venting) NiCds is
usually potassium hydroxide, a rather caustic material. A chemical
"cousin" is soduim hydroxide (lye). Don't ingest or get in eyes,
needless to say...

Woody

It did tend to sting the skin if it came into contact with it.
taz.

(Jens K) wrote in
om:


Well, I don't think I could push-start it, but rolling down a slope
would work. Unfortunately there is no slope at the marina.

The boat ramp is "sloped"......(c;

Woody wrote:


FWIW, The white powder associated with (leaking/venting) NiCds is
usually potassium hydroxide

That's actually a bit of a relief. I assumed it had a lot of cadmium in
it, and I'd rather a hydroxide burn than cadmium poisoning!

Andy.

I use an 80 a/h leisure battery ( £35- 40) with a £15 solar charger which
just about stops the natural discharge of the battery. It then requires
charging only about twice a year when the voltage falls to below 12v.

TonyB

As I normally daysail I do not need a battery in my boat. But when I
occasionally cruise for a few days, I would like one, but only for the
lights. I do not have other power consuming devices in my boat.

I have a friend that uses a car battery in his sailboat. He has no serious
problems. When the battery fails, he just removes it and takes it back for
warranty replacement. Because its not a deep cycle battery it actually has a
decent warranty. The shop does not know its in a boat, but think its in his
car.

Norm

"Jens K" wrote in message
om...
As a very basic answer, a 100 amp/hour battery should provide 100 amps
for
an hour or 1 amp for 100 hours, in reality of course it would probably
melt if required to do the former. Then you need to factor in age, type
of
use, deep charge trickle or whatever. At best it is a guide only as to
the
possible maximum the battery can provide.

As I normally daysail I do not need a battery in my boat. But when I
occasionally cruise for a few days, I would like one, but only for the
lights. I do not have other power consuming devices in my boat.

So now the question is this: could I simply move my car's battery to
the boat? Let's say for a four days cruise during summer time. Will it
still start the car afterwards? I guess there will be the pleasant
side-effect that the car will be less likely to be stolen.