Pull batteries for the winter?

Fin

Member
Sep 14, 2017
35
Nininger, Minnesota
Boat Info
2004 Sea Ray 390 Motor Yacht
Engines
Twin Mercruiser
hi...newer member here. Question, do you pull the batteries out for the winter?

Thanks in advance for the information.

Fin
 
No. I leave them in and turn the charger on for a day or so about once a month.
 
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If you are in a position where the boat is out of the water and you have no power source to run your built in charger ...... I would pull and put them on a battery maintainer in the garage.

My boat stays in the water plugged in and charging all year around but I do use a 4 bank battery tender in the garage for cars, lawn care equipment and motorcycle and it works great at extending the life of those batteries.

The boat batteries can be a bit pricey so I would do everything you can to maintain your investment.
 
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If you are in a position where the boat is out of the water and you have no power source to run your built in charger ...... I would pull and put them on a battery maintainer in the garage.

My boat stays in the water plugged in and charging all year around but I do use a 4 bank battery tender in the garage for cars, lawn care equipment and motorcycle and it works great at extending the life of those batteries.

The boat batteries can be a bit pricey so I would do everything you can to maintain your investment.
Sound advice!
 
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My boat stays in underground storage so not much access to it throughout the winter so I pull my batteries and keep them in my basement office and have a smart charger tender that I alternate batteries on.
 
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Out of the water on shore power, I leave the charger on for a week, pull the plug after that for two weeks.
 
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Put the boat away with batteries fully charged and all switches in off position. Six months later, switches on and she starts right up. Been doing this for more years than I care to admit with absolutely no battery issues.
 
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All I've ever done is remove the negative terminals when on the hard. A fully charged battery should not freeze during the winter. If the negative terminals are off, the battery cannot be accidentally depleted by some electrical system while stored. In the spring, I'll reattach the negative terminals while working on the boat and plug in the shore power plug to a 110 outlet (using an adapter) which will recharge the batteries to full strength. Just ensure that the converter breaker is left in the "on" position when stored. All other A/C breakers other than the converter and outlets are flipped off when stored.
Oh, and be sure to check the battery fluid levels before storing to ensure they don't start the storage season dry!
 
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I've done both, but feel better if I take them out and maintenance charge them on the bench all winter.

When I had smaller boats and brought them home for the winter, I plugged the on board charger into the garage, but with limited access to my marina over the winter, I pull them. No fun since there are four 27 series batteries way down in the engine room.
 

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