Boating and Sailing.pdf - Moja ladja

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Part 6: Boating Maintenance
Get a Jump on Things
A set of jumper cables should also be part of your basic boating gear. These allow you to
tap power from one battery to another, getting the motor restarted when the main battery
is otherwise too tired to do the job. It can also be used to borrow a start from another
boat. Buy heavy-duty copper cables, not the cheap aluminum ones—the copper carries
the power much better and will last much longer. A waterproof storage bag for the cables
is a must—copper doesn’t get along well with salt air.
Getting a Charge Out of Chargers
Alternating current (AC) battery chargers aren’t exactly tools in the sense of being used to
fix something that has gone wrong, but they’re an extra most boaters want sooner or later
to give their boat’s alternator an assist. You’ll find the charger particularly useful if you
make use of your boat for overnights, have a lot of electrical accessories, or use an electric
trolling motor.
A basic 10-amp single or 20-amp two-battery charger is adequate to keep trolling motor
batteries charged, and some of these units are so compact they mount inside the boat and
stay there. To use them, you simply fit a special plug into the trolling motor panel.
They’re inexpensive, ranging from $40 to $100.
For jumbo boat accessory batteries, you need a marine charger. Many of these have a special
“amp boost” feature that gives a short jolt of added power if your engine is balky to
starting, and they put out lots of power, up to 50 amps, to keep all your accessories operational.
The best chargers are multistage—they charge the battery rapidly up to about 50 percent
of full charge, and then reduce the flow to gradually finish off the job without danger of
overcharging. They’re also shock-proof, which many chargers designed for automotive
use are not. Prices range from $200 to $500.
Solar panel battery chargers are useful for keeping batteries topped off while you’re on
the water or at the dock. They lie flat on a cabin roof, are unobtrusive, and you never
have to do anything to them. They do need a controller to prevent overcharging, though.
They range in price from $100 to $300, plus an added $100 for the controller.
Got a Light?
Without being able to see what you’re doing down in the engine box, all the rest of your
tools are worthless. Thus, several good flashlights should be standard equipment. These
should be waterproof, plastic, rubber-coated, or stainless steel. The Krypton bulbs used