One single battery on boat,

[Karen Lea Rainey]

Hi all,, just took ownership of a part project boat,  on checking the battery bank, i couldnt find one. It is just one single battery rated at 110 amp,

My question is, is this unusual ?. The boat was built in 89 by Severn valley cruisers, obviously careful management of its use when the engine isnt running but it seems very strange to me.

 

[Laurie Booth]

When I bought my boat (1989 Springer) secondhand it only had one battery. I soon added two more.

[rusty69]

Its often preferable to have at least two batteries on a boat. One for engine starting and one (or more) for the domestic services.

 

These are often separated through a switch or relay so that the engine battery is still able to start the engine in the event that the domestic is flat(and hence recharge one/both with the engine driven alternator) 

[system 4-50]

17 minutes ago, Karen Lea Rainey said:

Hi all,, just took ownership of a part project boat,  on checking the battery bank, i couldnt find one. It is just one single battery rated at 110 amp,

My question is, is this unusual ?. The boat was built in 89 by Severn valley cruisers, obviously careful management of its use when the engine isnt running but it seems very strange to me.

 

Have you got a pic of the boat and of the battery? What is the size / type of the boat? Could other batteries have been removed?

[Karen Lea Rainey]

Thanks if i get a second battery, and there is space for it so i presume it once had 2, can i not just wire them up in parallel, (positive from one to electrical source, negative from the opposite battery to earth ?

The battery is pretty much dead so i would need 2 new batteries

Edited May 20, 2017 by Karen Lea Rainey

[Scholar Gypsy]

You could, but that won't really deal with the risk that you flatten the batteries and so can't start the engine in the morning. As noted above, a relay, switch or blocking diode will stop that happening.

[zenataomm]

Of course you can.

Might it have been Valley Cruisers of Atherstone?

[Karen Lea Rainey]

I believe Severn valley cruisers were from the Stourport area

[Paul C]

Its not unusual for secondhand things, or projects, to be missing items. I dare say there's evidence of a battery bank installed somewhere, but with the extra batteries gone you'd be looking for wiring including battery terminals, and of course its possible to remove this too. Once wiring is removed, I can't see how anyone could tell what WAS there.

Its usual - for good reason - for canal boats with a 'living'/'accommodation' part to have 2 separate battery banks, one for the engine/start and one for domestics. Of course, if a boat had little/no domestic electrics, its perfectly possible that it wouldn't do this and could suffice with one battery (bank), just like, for example, a car has one battery, even though someone might sit in it and listen to the radio without the engine running  etc etc.

[Neil2]

Yes our first boat only had one battery, as did our old VW camper.  20-30 years ago folk were a lot less demanding when it came to on board electrics.  If the previous owner used it just for leisure in the summer months they would have got away with it.

 

 

[Ex Brummie]

Severn Valley Cruisers built many boats, some timeshare and some hire, so I would think that at one time your boat would have had two battery systems. How old is the boat? Does your battery have two leads from the +ve terminal or one that splits elsewhere on the boat?

[David Mack]

On 5/20/2017 at 22:38, Scholar Gypsy said:

You could, but that won't really deal with the risk that you flatten the batteries and so can't start the engine in the morning. 

It will if you have a hand-startable engine.