[C320-list] Battery Woes

[Troy Dunn]

Dean

John and Jack got it right.  You would need a much more sophisticated set
of controls to have the reserve battery switch over to take on the bilge
pump duties, and then given the propensity of bilge pumps to stick and kill
a battery anyhow...it becomes a serious damned if you do damned if you
don’t problem.   Our boat was designed for recreational
cruising...so...back up to the back up types of redundancy really don't
make sense for production boats designed to a 'mass' market (as mass a
market as really exists in this industry LOL).

If you dig around enough or stare at your wiring diagram you may also find
that the windlass is only hooked up to the forward battery. It was/is on
Hull#514.   Why?   To avoid a long run of 4AWG all the way back to the
selector I think.   Why this trade for so little cost?  Because the little
costs add up I suppose and also because they really don’t think you will
ever be using the windlass without the diesel running from a safety
perspective anyhow.   Can you sail off the anchor.   Yep.  Is it always the
most prudent thing to do?   Well...that's a personal choice.   I like my
belt and suspenders approach but if you called me out...yeah sure..I’ve
done it.

@charger.  Oh boy the confusing world of Brunswick's product lines.     Pro
mariner is essentially a brand name for chargers sold by Brunswick under
that flag.   They own so many of the brands you see at West Marine it
defies belief.  What's really confusing to me is how the ProNautic chargers
look identical to chargers sold by other companies under different brand
names e.g. Sterling.  Do they all come out of the same factory in China and
get stamped with a different logo?  Dunno.   ProSport chargers..a different
product, same brand, seems to be a way different charger.   Not familiar
with the Promariner 12-30.   Couldn’t find a manual to see what type of
charger it is... there are definitely old school chargers on boats that are
really bad news actually....

Keep digging.

Nice hatch covers!

FWIW-

Troy