When it comes to boating I am the voice of caution, probably to a much higher extent than is needed. If Sam tells me to watch out for something or that something could happen I listen intently and then tend to freak out if it actually starts to happen or even the possibility becomes apparent.
One of the items Sam said we should continually watch out for on the boat was the house batteries. He told me to ensure they stay above 11.5 and to turn on the engine if they started to get below 12. Of course this made me into a battery monitor and I have constantly checked since.
Sitting on the boat one day without Sam I was working away and suddenly thought maybe I should check out the batteries since we didn't have shore power. Unfortunately they were below 12 and dropping rapidly. I hurriedly turned on the engine and it seemed like they started to go up. A little bit later I noticed the batteries charge dropping rapidly with the engine on.
Time to go into panic mode. I called Sam but of course he didn't pick up. A few minutes later after hearing my panicked voicemail he called back. I explained the situation sure that the batteries were going to have to be replaced.
Sam told me that the boat actually needed to have more power since neutral wasn't cutting it. Visions of suddenly having to try and take the boat out by myself to get it charged had me almost hyperventilating. No he assured me I could do this at the dock. Well we weren't quite at the dock we were rafted to two other boats. Taking out our boat would be one thing but 2 others at the same time plus the boats close by seemed a more difficult thing to explain to the insurance adjuster. Exactly how much could my insurance go up by?
After talking me through it several times about how to get the engine revved up while remaining in place I took the gamble though I do admit I was frantically checking to ensure I wasn't moving. I am pretty sure Sam was laughing internally but for his own self preservation I didn't hear any laughter over the phone.
Having listened much more carefully than I usually do paid off and it worked. We remained in place and very slowly the batteries began to charge. Overall it was much more stress than I wanted. Of course really Sam had just meant to watch the batteries but since they were house batteries the engine would still start even if they were dead. Though it wasn't really the time to explain it all to me then.
So now I know how to keep the batteries charged even when I am all alone on the boat. It just means this is one less thing to worry about but I have plenty of others. After all I have read lately about keels falling off so now I need to convince Sam to use his dive gear and double-check ours. Hey while you are down there Sam I think the bottom could use cleaning (which is really what I want to have him do - that keel is just a handy excuse). I think we could use that extra 1/4 knot of speed.
