Engine start

[runner911]

I run a Merry Fisher 655 fitted with a Volvo Penta D3 110 HP engine.

I use the boat mainly for fishing and have tended this year so far to do long distance trips of up to 35 miles out from Plymouth .

Whilst hitherto I have had no problems in starting the engine , a niggling worry has always been the scenario where the engine fails to start because one of the batteries goes down whilst at sea.

What do you folks tend to do ? Carry a spare battery with jump leads or buy a mains chargeable power pack ( expensive ) and keep it on the boat charged up ?

 

[volvopaul]

Your boat should have been built with a dedicated engine start battery whereby no other services draw from it at all, you should have domestic banks for the boats services ie lights, pumps, nav gear etc, these batteries should also have a solenoid linking to the engines start battery, this will provide emergency back up in the event the start battery should fail. As you have a modern engine it relies on a minimum voltage to function, in the event should you loose your alternator, or drive belt it will run until the start battery goes below its req voltage to make the ecu function, you could then with a simple linkwire join the engine start battery to the domestic to get you home.