Marine Batteries

At 6am this morning my boat needed a boost at the marina..lol. Can you believe that?? My boat package is only 3 years old! Ha! I have two marine batteries in my boat - Cranking and Deep Cycle - and they were both dead this morning. :(

So anyway, thank gawd there was this guy is having a coffee chatting up the cute security attendant. I asked him for a boost and he was able to maneuver his truck to my boat at the launch (which was still on the trailer) and i had a jumper cables in my truck. Got it fired up and away we went. BUT, i was too nervous to turn it off, so i idled it the entire morning - its a 115hp 4 stroke so it's very quiet. And with the rear bench seat up, you can barely hear it.

When i returned to the marina and drove it on the trailer and secured it in place, I turned it off and re started it. It fired up but i didn't trust it so i bought a new cranking battery after i got home. I think i may be able to salvage one of them (deep cycle) by sloooowly charging it for a few days at 2-5amps.

Whats the point of this thread? Be prepared boys/girls. Don't think your batteries are fine just because they are only 3 years old. And if you can, carry a set of cables with you for a jump start should you ever need it. They dont cost much and take up very little room. This could have been a lot worse had i gone out and my battery failed on there water in windy weather.

Be safe, be prepared. :)