[C320-list] New skipper seeks advice on battery issues

[Jason Alexander]

Mike,

I have a 2001 320 down in Deltaville down the bay from you.  The 4D
replacement as you says is a no brainer.   When I bought my boat I replaced
my batteries with Interstate SRD-4M.   At that time I put in a 3 bank
Xantrex 2 40 amp charger.    This allowed me to follow some of the advice
from the website glass in a new shelf in front of the existing batteries
and put in a  group 24 starting battery.   I wired the house batteries
together onto bank 2 and the starting battery onto bank 1 of my combiner
switch following some advise from 320 website.   I have refrigeration,
music, chartplotter and ST50 instrumentation.   I have not done the
alternator upgrade like many here have.    The charger replacement was plug
and play except that I ran a new wire for the third bank and the remote
control pannel.   I didn't move it out of the locker.  I actually did all
the work myself and did not consider it to be a difficult project skill
wise.   To be fair I am an electrical engineer but this is nothing more
than basic 12 volt wiring.

Jason



On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 8:15 PM, Michael Shirley <jmshirley1 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hello. I am new to the Catalina 320 Association, and this is my first
> post. It's a long post, and I appreciate your patience. In October I
> acquired a 2000 Catalina 320 after selling my Beneteau. Really like
> the Catalina! The boat has been stored on land for 2-3 years and
> neglected. Needless to say, there are issues I must address that have
> resulted from lack of use and inattention to routine maintenance, and
> I seek your advice about how I might prioritize what needs to be done
> factoring in cost and how I plan to use the boat. Except for the
> initial sail from the Patapsco River down to my slip in Annapolis, I
> haven’t used the boat. The upcoming sailing season will be an
> extensive shakedown to determine what needs to be replaced and what
> added as an upgrade. I will be spending some weekends at anchor and
> there will be the occasional 3-4 day trip. In May I hope to take a
> week-long cruise. Ultimately I plan to go down the ICW to the Keys and
> over to the Bahamas, but I’m still a coastal cruiser. Here is my first
> dilemma. The 4D batteries are not holding a charge, so they must be
> replaced soon with new 4D deep cycle. I do not believe any changes
> have been made to the original set-up to the batteries and charging
> system. My electronics guy believes I also need a 40 amp battery
> charger (Mastervolt Power Charger) at a minimum, an external regulator
> on the stock 55 amp alternator, and a separate Group 27 engine start
> battery.  He proposes to relocate the battery charger out of the port
> cockpit locker to be nearer the batteries and locate the new start
> battery in front of the house bank.The biggest load is refrigeration.
> I will be adding a stereo system soon (high priority as I must have my
> tunes and Orioles baseball while at anchor). I will be replacing all
> cabin light bulbs with LEDs. I have the standard Raymarine electronics
> including autopilot but no chartplotter. I agree with his
> recommendations but I need you to help me prioritize. The new
> batteries right off the bat seem a no-brainer, but what else, the
> battery charger or the external regulator on the alternator? Does the
> battery charger really need to be relocated? The engine start battery
> can wait, I think. Following all I have read here about installing an
> engine start battery, I think I can do that myself. I also believe I
> can install a new battery charger, just changing out the old charger
> (plug and play, I hope). I’m hesitant to do too much immediately
> having not yet spent time on the water with this boat. Any thoughts
> you have to share and guidance to offer would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Mike
> "Further"
> Annapolis
>