Last weekend we fished our club tournament at Choke Canyon. The wind was raging all day and as a result we were pretty hard on the trolling motor batteries. Well, weigh in is at 3:00 and it's now 2:30 so we decide to crank up and head in. Click...click...click....nothing. Cranking battery is dead. Oops, we forgot to turn off the fill pumps on the live wells and they were auto-filling all day, which must have drained the battery. No big deal, we can just hook up one of the 3 trolling motor batteries and crank from that. Click...click...click.... still nothing. So we start getting worried. No jumper cables in the boat and weigh in time is approaching fast. We start calling for help, as we are now dead in the water. A nice guy comes to our aid and gives us his trolling motor battery to run back to the ramp with. He was about to take out and said he would stop by the ramp where we were weighing in and pick up the battery. Cool, and thank goodness for kind people!!! So we crank off his old uncharged trolling motor battery and make the run back. We made it back with just minutes to spare.

So why did the batteries just die like that?? They showed no signs of weakness all day. Here is the kicker. The batteries were brand new, fully charged Blue Top Optimas. Three on the trolling motor and one for cranking. All were too weak to turn over the motor when we tried. Anyone ever seen this before? I had heard that the gel batteries would run strong and then just die rather than fade out like an acid battery, is there this much truth to this? I thought I was a fan of gel cell batteries until this happened. I verified with the boat owner and his charger is 10 amps per battery. So what gives??? Any ideas?

I will see what i can find out for you my cousin works for interstate battery and he has access to all kinds of info on batteries. I will see if he has heard of if before and get back to you.

If the battery charger is on-board, check the battery charger for an open curcuit when not in use.

Mine failed a few weeks ago and took three batteries with it, showed charged that morning and then assisted in quickly discharging the batteries during the day. I was lucky and got back to the dock, but wound up replacing batteries and removing the on board charger.

I lost a trolling motor battery that I thought was fully charged too, but in reality the fuse was blown on my 3 bank charger and the batteries started out "less" than charged. Most likely something went wrong when the new batts were installed...

Yes batteries fail, in boats,cars, whatever...but it is not always just a "bad battery" something has to cause it to go down and that is where you have to start tracking the problem. I had a guy come to my warrehouse one day, new Ranger less than 6 months, upset about bad batteries. I pulled them out, checked them, charged them overnight, and they were good. He did not believe me but called me 2 days later saying sure enough bad charger, and good ole Ranger took care of it.

I never tried it but My 200 HP Merc has a pull cord on it. I carry jumpers on my boat all the time, dont trust batteries when on water. I once had the starting battery go bad and jump across both the trolling motor batteries to get the amperage to start the engine.

Tommy

with gel cell batteries, you would check the charger first. the gel cell batteries will last for a long time.

I had a 1998 200hp Merc once and saw that pull cord under the cowl and thought, "You have got to be kiddin?" I tried it and it was easier than the old 25-35 hp motors that I used to pull on. Granted the platform the 200 was on was a lot more stable and could stand up, but it would suprise how easy they pull off. Now I didn't ry it with a motor that set overnight or all week, but then again if I get to the ramp and it doesn't start, I aint gonna pull start it and go out and have an enjoyable day on the water. I did try it after a fishing trip and washed the boat down then thought I would try it after sitting for 4-5 hours. Started first pull.

I have been told that you need at least a 30 amp per battery on the gel cells. They told me they needed to be charged real fast or they wont get to full 100% charge.

Next time try this:

1. Get the boat to shallow water with what is left of the tm batteries.
2. Take off your shoes and socks.
3. Push the boat as fast as you can.
4. Jump in the cockpit.
5. Throw the boat in forward gear.
6. Drop the trim.

I really don't know if this will work, but I have always wanted to watch someone give it a try

Lakeguide that sounds like an Aggie joke

Just repower with a Yamaha, Susuki or Honda. I think those things have a kick starter on the cowl somewhere, just don't fall off that thing!

Thanks for all the input guys. I'll make sure the boat owner reads all this.

Catch a big un!

Hey AustinTXangler, Been back to Lydia lately? I have not been able to get there in quite a while and was wondering what the fishing was like?

P.S. We need to meet up there again.

Jody