Heavy Battery Removal

[dhays]

That is by far the best solution. Why go to the trouble and expense of re-wiring to accomodate 6 volt batteries??

Better Ah for the $$ and easier to change the next time?

 

[Maerin]

With help the trick is to use roped thru the handles , but the rope is made into a big loop so it can be lead over your back.

Now your back is straight and your legs do the lifting.

And the disc material between your vertebrae squishes out from the pressure and you spend months trying to recover from that move that saved you a whopping 50 bucks.
Yes, in my younger days I heaved submersible pumps out of 200 ft wells, cast iron boilers up stairs, old stone lined water heaters up on the truck.... fun stuff. It takes its toll! Nowadays, I'm not averse to swallowing a bit of machismo and admitting that the heavy work might be better left to the young bruisers!
Hire it out, back problems come quick, can shut you down, and last a LONG time!

 

[skipperguy]

I attached a 1/2” rope to each lifting loop at the ends of the 8D. Stood upright on the salon floor and lifted in small increments onto higher surfaces, bit by bit.
The last 36” was hardest- stooped and did a weightlifters move using legs and arms only .
Not easy but I was 75 at the time. The ropes made all the difference.....

 

[Gray Dog]

Hiring brute strength is a good start but strength alone can be a problem. If your 8D's are flooded lead acid they may have leaked some over the years of use. They weigh a lot and it is often necessary to tilt the batteries a bit to remove them. Acid can spill and do considerable damage to surroundings. Especially watch when moving from the boat to the dock that teak areas are not touched by the acid. From my experience, removal can be a nasty job and finding someone (or two) who is both strong and knowledgeable is a good approach. Take great care.

 

[Art]

Following is placed mostly as a safety warning for newbie boaters...

I'm a lifelong weightlifter. Started trained lifting in 6th grade. Now at 67 yrs have custom weight room down the hall from my office... built it there over 15 years ago. I used to several times a week spend evening hours at "World Gym". Also, my masonry, concrete and tile construction company uses nothing but heavy materials. When I feel like it [which is often] I join right in with my crew and hoist many 96 lb sacks of pure cement or 80 lb sacks of premixed mortar. 1989 [37 yrs old] I benched 400 lbs at World Gum... accomplished bench pressing that weight in two seperate lifts over the period of a week... strained my left shoulder the second time. Since then I stopped lifting too much weight... but, sometimes I still push it just a bit. From that 1989 shoulder strain... I still occasionally get twinges.

Reason I bring my weight lift capability background up is in correlation to moving battery weight around. It is not the weight as much as the position the weight is placed in relation to. Even with my multitudes of weight lifting experience I've thrown out my back by incorrectly positioning and then lifting as little as some 20 lbs. Even with a relatively low weight being lifted at construction site I have also strained other body portions. Each strain was due to incorrect position of weight being lifted and/or simply lifting too much weight.

No matter what weight your batteries are... be careful to make sure you are doing the lifting correctly. Get help and use leverage... batteries are heavy, cumbersome and dangerous blocks of weight if moved/positioned incorrectly.

 

[dhays]

No matter what weight your batteries are... be careful to make sure you are doing the lifting correctly. Get help and use leverage... batteries are heavy, cumbersome and dangerous blocks of weight if moved/positioned incorrectly.

Very good caution. I’m NOT a strong person (built like a long distance runner). I have chronic back and hip issues from past injuries. I also have knee problems. I have to be careful and I freely admit that I’m not careful enough simply due to impatience.

 

[Jeffg47]

Recently installed new 8d battery. I slid a section of 1 1/2” closet pole thru the two handles. With the help of a friend, us two geezers were able to move the beast around without injuring ourselves or the boat. I also brought a hand saw with me to trim the pole in case it was needed.

 

[Nitro23]

Battery Replacement

Go to Interstate Battery on Sabre Road in Norfolk.

 

[BruceK]

Following is placed mostly as a safety warning for newbie boaters...
It is not the weight as much as the position the weight is placed in relation to. Even with my multitudes of weight lifting experience I've thrown out my back by incorrectly positioning and then lifting as little as some 20 lbs. Even with a relatively low weight being lifted at construction site I have also strained other body portions. Each strain was due to incorrect position of weight being lifted and/or simply lifting too much weight.

No matter what weight your batteries are... be careful to make sure you are doing the lifting correctly. Get help and use leverage... batteries are heavy, cumbersome and dangerous blocks of weight if moved/positioned incorrectly.

Very true Art. Workplace lifting injuries are common. Back bent forward, twisted to the side, or worse still both,adds to the risk of disc injury. We think it through, and position ourselves best we can. Even then, with an old disc injury for which I swim regularly,my left lateral toes numb off, disc touching nerve. We`ve a new 52kg 8D to fit this weekend. Can`t wait.
Just don`t flick jobs like this to big but untrained teenagers. Their height, without being fully filled out, puts them at risk.

 

[SeaBreeze]

Follow-up to my OP:
I successfully removed the 2 8D's from the engine room using a block and tackle rig. Once they were out of the engine room we were able to slide them across the floor on a towel and move them to a dolly. I went to Sam's Club on the advice of this forum and found 4 Duracell 6v 215 ah wet cell golf cart batteries on sale for $70 each. Someone posted in one of the forum threads that the Duracell's at Sam's Club are rebranded DEKA batteries. While I don't know if that is true they definitely had some heft to them. I connected the four batteries in serial and in parallel to create a 12v 430 ah bank. All in all I am very happy with this set up knowing I can add more if needed and that I can manage movement and replacement by myself.



Thanks for all the great information and assistance!

 

[catalinajack]

The Duracell is likely made by Deka but it is not the same product as their GC15 Promaster. The clue is the number of amps. The Deka has 230 vs 215 in the Duracell. Probably thinner plates and will not last as long given similar usage. It matters to me. It may not to others. And, no, I don't care about paying a little more for a lot more amp-hour reserve, 60 amp-hours.

Follow-up to my OP:
I successfully removed the 2 8D's from the engine room using a block and tackle rig. Once they were out of the engine room we were able to slide them across the floor on a towel and move them to a dolly. I went to Sam's Club on the advice of this forum and found 4 Duracell 6v 215 ah wet cell golf cart batteries on sale for $70 each. Someone posted in one of the forum threads that the Duracell's at Sam's Club are rebranded DEKA batteries. While I don't know if that is true they definitely had some heft to them. I connected the four batteries in serial and in parallel to create a 12v 430 ah bank. All in all I am very happy with this set up knowing I can add more if needed and that I can manage movement and replacement by myself.



Thanks for all the great information and assistance!

 

[dhays]

The Duracell is likely made by Deka but it is not the same product as their GC15 Promaster. The clue is the number of amps. The Deka has 230 vs 215 in the Duracell. Probably thinner plates and will not last as long given similar usage. It matters to me. It may not to others. And, no, I don't care about paying a little more for a lot more amp-hour reserve, 60 amp-hours.

Usually a little detective work can uncover and equivalent battery sold by the manufacturer. For example, when I replaced my 2 x 4D bank in my sailboat with 4 x 6v GC2’s. I found that Costco had Interstate batteries. A little checking found that the Interstate batteries sold to Costco were labeled for Costco. However, they were the same battery as one of the Interstate’s “budget” batteries. Easy to compare specifications and make the $$$/Ah choice.

We each have our own definition of what “paying a little more” means as well as what the demands of our particular usage. Since I still am working, the longest my boats get used is two weeks at a a time. That is a big difference from a full time cruiser who spends most of their time in the hinterlands at anchor.

 

[SeaBreeze]

The Duracell is likely made by Deka but it is not the same product as their GC15 Promaster. The clue is the number of amps. The Deka has 230 vs 215 in the Duracell. Probably thinner plates and will not last as long given similar usage. It matters to me. It may not to others. And, no, I don't care about paying a little more for a lot more amp-hour reserve, 60 amp-hours.

Not sure about the differences in the plates etc., however I am not sure where you are getting a 60 ah difference from. Since the batteries are 6v connected in series then parallel, it only yields an additional 30 ah difference. For the way I am currently using my boat getting 430 ah total with quality batteries for less than $300 is a great value. So far so good.

 

[TDunn]

I have found that the easiest tool to use is my check book, but it still hurts - just not in my lower back.

 

[AusCan]

Just don`t flick jobs like this to big but untrained teenagers. Their height, without being fully filled out, puts them at risk.

I'm surprised at the numerous comments suggesting to just pay a couple teenagers $20. Why is it ok for a younger person to damage their back lifting oversized batteries?

If someone can afford a boat, they can afford to spend a few bucks to install a battery system that is safe to change out.

 

[Nightsky]

I just replaced 2 8D AGM's with ... 2 8D AGM's. Was all set to make the switch to 6v GC batteries but due to the location of the house bank (under the settee in the salo(o)n I would have had to 1) ventilate the space, 2) put the batteries in battery boxes, 3) set up a watering system and 4) rewire the batteries for series/parallel. All of this added up to more trouble than it was worth so went with the same for ease and ability to get on the road again. This should give us a few years before we switch to a LiFePO4 battery system, with a larger inverter/charger and more solar panels to increase our off grid capability. One of the added benefits to the lithium batteries is they are significantly lighter than lead acid batteries of the same Ah capacity.

 

[dhays]

I just replaced 2 8D AGM's with ... 2 8D AGM's. Was all set to make the switch to 6v GC batteries but due to the location of the house bank (under the settee in the salo(o)n I would have had to 1) ventilate the space, 2) put the batteries in battery boxes, 3) set up a watering system and 4) rewire the batteries for series/parallel. All of this added up to more trouble than it was worth so went with the same for ease and ability to get on the road again. This should give us a few years before we switch to a LiFePO4 battery system, with a larger inverter/charger and more solar panels to increase our off grid capability. One of the added benefits to the lithium batteries is they are significantly lighter than lead acid batteries of the same Ah capacity.

Ventilation is one reason I went with AGM instead of FLA. The other was the awkward location for watering. However, there are great AGM 6v deep cycle batteries available in a variety of sizes. FWIW, the three AGM 8D batteries that I still have are all in boxes.

 

[Nightsky]

My battery bank is not in a box, at present. It is enclosed in a shallow, fenced area (with 2x4's bolted to sole) and tied down to prevent them jumping out of their enclosure. If we had been in our own marina, and not on the road, and had time to do a proper install, would have made the switch to lithium now, rather than sink more $$ in to current setup. Oh well. Trying to find 6v AGM's would have required time and shipping costs as nothing like that was available locally.

 

[angus99]

I'm surprised at the numerous comments suggesting to just pay a couple teenagers $20. Why is it ok for a younger person to damage their back lifting oversized batteries?

If someone can afford a boat, they can afford to spend a few bucks to install a battery system that is safe to change out.

Think I mentioned employing teenagers first in a failed attempt at humor. In fact the two that helped me install my isolation transformer are weight-lifting football players, either of which could individually handle the weight that all three of us were shifting. I certainly wouldn’t mess with them.

 

[Group9]

I'm surprised at the numerous comments suggesting to just pay a couple teenagers $20. Why is it ok for a younger person to damage their back lifting oversized batteries?

If someone can afford a boat, they can afford to spend a few bucks to install a battery system that is safe to change out.

I think the point, is that being young and in much better shape, they don’t hurt their backs. I grew up on a farm, and did a lot of physical labor and lifting in my teens and twenties without any ill effects, that now, in my sixties, I am sure would send me to the ER.

But, I pulled my last set of 8Ds in 2010, and replaced them with six volt golf batteries. That’s all I use now and even I can still change those out.

 

[catalinajack]

Forgot to mention that I have eight 6v batteries. So, 4 x 15 = 60.

Not sure about the differences in the plates etc., however I am not sure where you are getting a 60 ah difference from. Since the batteries are 6v connected in series then parallel, it only yields an additional 30 ah difference. For the way I am currently using my boat getting 430 ah total with quality batteries for less than $300 is a great value. So far so good.