We are delighted you have found your way to the best Jet Boaters Forum on the internet! Please consider Signing Up so that you can enjoy all the features and offers on the forum. We have members with boats from all the major manufacturers including Yamaha, Seadoo, Scarab and Chaparral. We don't email you SPAM, and the site is totally non-commercial. So what's to lose? IT IS FREE!
Membership allows you to ask questions (no matter how mundane), meet up with other jet boaters, see full images (not just thumbnails), browse the member map and qualifies you for members only discounts offered by vendors who run specials for our members only! (It also gets rid of this banner!)
Take it to an advanceauto or similar auto parts store. They all have test machines they can hook it up to and see if it is holding a charge (this will take an hour or so to do...so plan on leaving it there and coming back). Most auto parts stores will have sealed marine batteries to match the one you have now.
As mentioned you can have it tested. But it's probably the original - they have manufacture dates on them to confirm age. And since you've killed it once already, it's started to sulfate and probably down 10-20%. The worst thing for lead-acid batteries is discharging them below 75% for flooded marine and 50% for deep cycle AGM. I would confirm the date and if 6+ years old, I'd buy a deep cycle to replace it and get an on-board charger immediately to keep it topped up and maintained when not in use.
Thank you I’ll give it a go! But I’m thinking I’ll probably ending getting a new one!
If you have a single battery you’ll need a dual purpose marine battery, one that is deep cycle and a start battery.
I’ve had good luck with Duralast also, specifically AGM on the last few. I saw they had good ratings from consumer reports or somewhere like that a while ago and have been buying them since.
Picked it up at the Interstate store…. They only had two group 24’s….
no.co
That single battery was getting old from the sound of it, and it probably wasn't being taken care of over time. Since your power needs are not too heavy, any deep cycle replacement should do. Personally I find the Optima batteries over-rated for what they cost.
This is one of the most important upgrades for boats - people often forget that lead-acid batteries suffer from high electron loss which causes them to self-discharge a fair bit in just a few weeks. Boats tend to sit idle a lot more than cars which are driven regularly and get topped up by the alternator every time you drive them, so having a smart battery charger on your boat to keep the batteries in good shape is crucial to their life expectancy. If you've ever own a motorcycle or snowmobile in northern climates where it doesn't get used for months, you probably already know you need to keep the batteries in good shape when the "toy" is sitting idle.
