OK ... had plenty to occupy ourselves with when only small fish biting by trying to fathom out the workings of the new sonar, chartplotter.
Shifted a short distance about four times, with the motor firing ok each time, but with about nine fish in the bin finally decided we might as well head for home as the constant wash from the various ferries & large boats etc. was making things a tad uncomfy. Always run the motor when using the anchor winch in what I now know is the mistaken belief that it won't be putting a drain on the battery. However this time when the key was turned the only response was that dreaded sickly sound of insufficient power !!!
What to do ... I know from experience attempting a cord start is merely an exercise in futility but without power, cannot start, VHF is dead, cannot use anchor winch or even tilt the motor !
Therefore after some deliberation decided we best call the coast guard on Vinnies' mobile which we did only to find his battery was fading fast so had to switch to mine that fortunately this time I had brought along.
In due course the CG arrived, attempted unsuccessfully to start the motor so with true CG efficiency set about towing us to the ramp. All good apart from the fact the motor was still fully down therefore needed to be lifted manually which was no easy task, nevertheless managed to do so. Is a really busy time at the moment, with trying to get fit enough to do the Tongariro crossing on Tues followed by having arranged to tow the boat north when attending a family function a couple of days after, so could have well done without any further complications.
Anyway once home put the battery on charge, rang around to find a replacement the same so as to suit the fittings & arranged with my service mechanic to have the battery charging function checked over despite the fact he had done so when servicing on Monday but I wanted to know what had caused the battery to flatten when only about 27 mths old with a 24 month warranty.
Battery was fine after being on the charger overnight & when installed back in the boat worked fine, started the motor & gave it a good flush. Despite being told by a couple of sources now that it was charged & tested ok that it would probably be fine to continue to use it ... but to my mind if it has failed once is likely to again, so was off to Westhaven this morning to buy a new identical battery so as everything would fit. Was bout 30 mins or so in the store investigating the various options, having original tested ( read OK )
finally opting for one the same.
I swear I am NOT making this up but after loading both batteries into the wagon THE BLOODY WAGON WOULD NOT START !!!!!!
To rub salt into the wound these modern cars with so many electronic functions start going haywire with the little power left in the battery by sending messages in all directions for varius functions to grab their share of what is left .... windscreen wipers start working that cannot be switched off, various doors lock then refuse to open, any custom settings are lost & a bloody annoying American female voice on the GPS kept on telling me to turn every which way
& continues to do so but have no idea where she is trying to take me ... only know cannot turn her off ... a problem I have otherwise seldom encountered with women! About this time remembered I had one of those Cobra battery jump starters in the car as had brought it along to check it would be OK to start the boat motor but of course as had never been out of its' box it had never been charged ... if it had then apparently would have been fine to start the wagon.
Nothing left but to ring the AA for assistance & they arrived in a relatively short time with a very obliging technician not only getting it jump started but offered to test the overall condition using a nifty little handheld thing that gave a comprehensive printed copy of the results which found the battery was not in the best of health. Would have gladly have purchased a new one fro him, in fact asked to do so but he advised to take the print report to the Mitsi dealer & see what they say. Was in two minds over this as would use more valuable time & altho still had 6 mths warrantee remaining presumed at best they might give a proportional credit towards a much more expensive OEM. Nevertheless called into Simon Lucas where upon I told of my tale of woe, showed the AA report & to their
they set about installing a new one free of charge whilst I had a much needed complimentary cup of coffee from their machine. At last something was going right apart from it took a fairly long time
but at that stage was past caring. Got the new battery, rushed home
installed new boat battery, went to o/b service mechanic albeit now
about 3 hrs late & received the news I wanted to hear, namely that everything checked out fine. Was then he told me what had been the likely combination of causes, which could have been easily avoided had we known & suspect many others would be aware either so as this post is already far to long will list them in a following post, plus am off to check all the torches & battery operated gizmos to se if they all have flat batteries !!!
AARRGH ... could well do without all this drama !
When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT
fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!!