The other day the boat smelled like dead fish/sulfur/crappy blocked up head. Being as we’re in a marina amidst a fishing fleet we leaned towards dead fish. The next morning the smell was still there, and when I went up on deck it wasn’t. I had to admit the smell was coming from inside. I went below, checked the toilet hoses and checked the holding tank—thank you, thank you, thank you, this was not the source.
Eventually my nose led me to the couch, which doubles as our kitchen table seating, which means Lowe and Ouest drop three out of four bites of food there. I thought I’d find some putrefying scrambled eggs and we’d be done. But I didn’t find eggs, and when I got down on hands and knees I found the smell was coming from underneath the couch. I opened things up and continued letting my nose lead the way right up until I heard the fizzing/bubbling noise coming from one of our house batteries. One-hundred and five amp hours of West Marine gel cell technology was bulging and hissing. I put my hand on the battery and recoiled instantly—it was burning hot. I hid my face behind a cushion and blindly removed the battery cables. I covered the seat back up and let things cool down for a few hours before finally removing it. I carried it up—still hissing—next to the dumpster until I could ask the office where I should bring it or if they could take care of it for me. Twenty minutes later it was gone. Some local Mexican family probably repaired it somehow and are now running their entire home off of it.
I’ve no real idea why a battery does that, or if it was really toast because of it, but either way we’re now out 1/6th of our battery storage capacity. Not a big deal really. I’m not even sure that I’ll bother replacing it. Big battery banks are nice to have but ultimately unnecessary if the boat has a decent charging system—which ours doesn’t, but should have by the end of the summer.
Spent a hot day drinking aguas frescas and trying to stay in the shade.
5 Comments on “Battery Hiss”
I like the picture of the shadow taking a picture.
Oh mystery boat smells, aren’t they fun? Our latest smell is no mystery… the baby chickens in the guest cabin are ripe when it’s hot out. I walk in there and OOOMPH! They’ll be finding a new home soon and I can detox that room. But they sure are cute.
I have had batteries do the same thing after being overcharged constantly. My problem was a faulty alternator(internal regulator not properly working). A battery can and will explode if overcharged over time. May be worth keeping an eye on the rest of the bank to be sure they are not being overcharged. I know house batteries can get expensive, even more so when you dont get a full life out of them.
I’m pretty sure the alternator is the culprit. It’s an old POS car alternator. I’ve got a new one in the works and will have it hooked up before next season. Thanks.
We had the dead fish smell the other day on our boat. Then we realized it was the whole marina. Three days later the marina owner realized it was a DEAD GUY in the boat on the next dock. So, it could be worse. You marinated in stinky battery fumes…we marinated in corpse fumes.