Did They Kill My Batteries?

[catalinajack]

Yesterday, we returned to our boat after two weeks to find our batteries dead, dead, dead. The boat had been on the hard for a bottom job. Even though I specifically reminded the yard boss to ensure that the yard workers turned on the circuit breakers when they plugged in to the dock pedestal, well, of course, they did not. The batteries are eight Deka GC15 golf cars, three years old and never abused with probably 100 cycles of rarely less than 45%. So, anything to worry about? Shortened life? Equalize?

And, yes, we lost a chest freezer full of food and two 4.2 cubic foot reefers as well with associated stink. I already had a stern conversation with yard owner at the close of business yesterday. It's an open question whether we can get the stink out of these units. If not, I already told the owner I will expect them to replace them. The freezer is an inexpensive household unit but the two Vitrifrigo fridges will cost $1,150 each. I expect a battle. And the batteries, maybe.

And, to add insult to injury, after a six- hour drive we had been looking forward to an ice cold beer. Nope.

 

[catalinajack]

I just coincidentally came across another current thread wherein the same question was asked. Sorry guys for the redundant post. Twisted tree answered my question. I will check specific gravity and equalize, as needed.

 

[menzies]

Good luck, I suspect you will be fine if the batteries were in good condition to start with.

But I have to say, if our boat was going on the hard there would be nothing in the fridge freezer! We learned that lesson in the house once where our freezer went out and we were away for three months.

Now we know what a dead body smells like!

 

[catalinajack]

Ironically, the boat was plugged in while on the hard. Plus, we are live aboards so we had no way of removing all of our food from the freezer and fridges. I made sure she was plugged in when she went on the hard before we left the yard.

Good luck, I suspect you will be fine if the batteries were in good condition to start with.

But I have to say, if our boat was going on the hard there would be nothing in the fridge freezer! We learned that lesson in the house once where our freezer went out and we were away for three months.

Now we know what a dead body smells like!

 

[ScottC]

Ouch!!


Perhaps consider obtaining a power & battery monitoring device & app, so you can check up on your boat's power situation from wherever your are...and receive alerts and alarms too.


If your charger/inverter happens to be Victron, then check out the Victron Global Remote II. I've had one of these for several years. It gives me great peace-of-mind.

 

[Insequent]

I have some sympathy, as I am similarly vulnerable. If dock power is out, it will usually trip my Ground Fault Protection units when turned back on. The sequence I have to use is to turn off shore power on board, turn on at the pedestal then go aboard and turn shore power back on. There must be a surge that causes the trip, or perhaps a tiny fault somewhere. But the Ground Fault thingies never trip once shore power is up and running. It sounds like you have a similar kind of issue.

But your posts are confusing. Initially in post #1 it was implied that the yard plugged into the pedestal. But in post#4 you say you plugged into the pedestal before leaving the yard. In that case you would/should have checked the breakers?

I'm not sure that you have any grounds to get the yard to cover the cost of the spoiled food or damaged fridge/freezers. Unless of course it was specifically noted on your signed schedule of works for the yard for them to ensure breakers were on in the event of there being a power interruption for any reason. My guess is that there is not such a document. Stern conversations are all well and good, but your yard visit is headed for serious problems and possibly unexpected expense unless you can calmly resolve the breaker issue, and it very likely will be mostly or entirely on your dime.

I tend to agree: equalise the batteries, and realise that you've lost a few years life from them. And move on. Venting, and sharing your story here will hopefully help with that. In terms of the Vitrifigo fridges, something that usually works very well for getting rid of smells is vanilla extract.

 

[Frosty]

But your posts are confusing. Initially in post #1 it was implied that the yard plugged into the pedestal. But in post#4 you say you plugged into the pedestal before leaving the yard. In that case you would/should have checked the breakers?

I got the impression that the boat was hauled, at which time Catalina Jack made sure it was plugged in (on the hard). But then when the yard finished the work, they launched the boat and subsequently plugged it in to the dock pedestal, but then didn't turn the breaker on

That is aggravating. Especially when it's something like batteries which you don't really have a way to put a specific "number" on in terms of what you've lost.

And what a deflating scenario to get home to: No cold beer plus "science project" refrigerators. Really sorry this happened to you.

 

[swampu]

happens to me all the time at the hunting camp, I have a pile of cheep fridges that I target practice with, fill them with sand and they make a great back stop. Over the years I've lost 3 due to gfi's tripping or lighting strike and breaker thrown. I hope it works out for you, I only keep condiments for long periods of time. Good luck with the yard paying, I don't ever expect anything from anyone and I don't get disappointed.

 

[caltexflanc]

As full time liveaboards, we faced this situation a variety of times, including pulling the boat for hurricanes. If it was a planned haul, we made sure to "eat down" the inventory in the weeks leading up to it. We always removed the food from the refrigerators (the main one being a large Sub Zero househild side-by-side), shore power or not.

Where did you stay for those two weeks? Did you ever visit the boat?

What food we had we kept iced up in coolers. A couple times when we happened to stay at a hotel they had some space in their freezer/cooler and/or supplied an extra small refrigerator for the room.

There were a couple times when the haul was going to be relatively short and power was available. I always personally made sure it was on in the boat. I even posted little signs at the pedestal, boat inlet and boat electrical panel. Assume nothing! Most of the time, I visited the yard almost daily to check on and witness the work

We live now on land here in hurricane country, so go through the drill when evacuating. Some of our neighbors have had to face the stinking refrigerator challenge. A bleached based cleaner does the job. Awful work, but not impossible.

 

[catalinajack]

I have some sympathy, as I am similarly vulnerable. If dock power is out, it will usually trip my Ground Fault Protection units when turned back on. The sequence I have to use is to turn off shore power on board, turn on at the pedestal then go aboard and turn shore power back on. There must be a surge that causes the trip, or perhaps a tiny fault somewhere. But the Ground Fault thingies never trip once shore power is up and running. It sounds like you have a similar kind of issue.

But your posts are confusing. Initially in post #1 it was implied that the yard plugged into the pedestal. But in post#4 you say you plugged into the pedestal before leaving the yard. In that case you would/should have checked the breakers?

I'm not sure that you have any grounds to get the yard to cover the cost of the spoiled food or damaged fridge/freezers. Unless of course it was specifically noted on your signed schedule of works for the yard for them to ensure breakers were on in the event of there being a power interruption for any reason. My guess is that there is not such a document. Stern conversations are all well and good, but your yard visit is headed for serious problems and possibly unexpected expense unless you can calmly resolve the breaker issue, and it very likely will be mostly or entirely on your dime.

I tend to agree: equalize the batteries, and realise that you've lost a few years life from them. And move on. Venting, and sharing your story here will hopefully help with that. In terms of the Vitrifigo fridges, something that usually works very well for getting rid of smells is vanilla extract.

I made certain that the boat was plugged in on the hard before we left. When the bottom job was completed, the yard launched the boat and towed her to her berth where the yard guys plugged the boat into the pedestal. Unfortunately, the 50-amp circuit breaker was not flipped on. The yard manager came by earlier today to discuss. The yard had already agreed to replace the lost food, probably about $700 altogether Still, we are stuck with the nasty cleanup. The yard did offer to have someone come in to do the cleanup but that would probably means days of delay. So, we are doing it.

For mitigation of the odors we are using a product called Pure Arye which the Head Mistress, Peggy Hall, recommends. As for the batteries, well, getting the yard to replace them would likely have met stiff resistance, a battle I did not want to fight especially given that they quickly agreed to replace the spoiled food. Altogether, I am not happy but not angry either. Case closed.

 

[catalinajack]

I got the impression that the boat was hauled, at which time Catalina Jack made sure it was plugged in (on the hard). But then when the yard finished the work, they launched the boat and subsequently plugged it in to the dock pedestal, but then didn't turn the breaker on

That is aggravating. Especially when it's something like batteries which you don't really have a way to put a specific "number" on in terms of what you've lost.

And what a deflating scenario to get home to: No cold beer plus "science project" refrigerators. Really sorry this happened to you.

Yup, Frosty, that says it all. Look like eight new Trojan T-145s are in my future.

 

[catalinajack]

As full time liveaboards, we faced this situation a variety of times, including pulling the boat for hurricanes. If it was a planned haul, we made sure to "eat down" the inventory in the weeks leading up to it. We always removed the food from the refrigerators (the main one being a large Sub Zero househild side-by-side), shore power or not.

Where did you stay for those two weeks? Did you ever visit the boat?

What food we had we kept iced up in coolers. A couple times when we happened to stay at a hotel they had some space in their freezer/cooler and/or supplied an extra small refrigerator for the room.

There were a couple times when the haul was going to be relatively short and power was available. I always personally made sure it was on in the boat. I even posted little signs at the pedestal, boat inlet and boat electrical panel. Assume nothing! Most of the time, I visited the yard almost daily to check on and witness the work

We live now on land here in hurricane country, so go through the drill when evacuating. Some of our neighbors have had to face the stinking refrigerator challenge. A bleached based cleaner does the job. Awful work, but not impossible.

We were 350 miles away visiting relatives for two weeks.

 

[BandB]

I'd suggest two things for future.

1-Have remote monitoring of power along with other things.

2-If you are unable to check daily, I'd engage someone else to do so as your representative. I would think you could find someone to do daily checks for as little as $25 per day and no more than $50.

 

[Shrew]

Most yards (Every yard I've ever been too) has a policy about boats not being plugged in unattanded while hauled in the yard. This is mostly because..

1) Limited power needs to be shared
2) Limited power would get overloaded if everyone were plugged in
3) Commonly outlets in the yard are not large enough to carry the loads of a boats systems
4) overload, fire hazzard

Does your yard not have a similar policy? Plugging the boat in and turning on the breakers would not be normal operating procedure in most yards. Usually it is the other way around.

We snowbird and can manage to eat down our fridge and freezer and giveaway/throwaway the rest. We do this when we leave the boat for Florida and when we leave Florida for the boat. It's not that hard. How long did you have plans to haul??

 

[tozz]

Ironically, the boat was plugged in while on the hard. Plus, we are live aboards so we had no way of removing all of our food from the freezer and fridges. I made sure she was plugged in when she went on the hard before we left the yard.

We lost a fridge full of food once on our old boat. From then on we always empty everything out even if we have the ability to have someone check on her daily. Our yard has signage and policies on the estimates/work orders that state they are not liable for damages including lack of power and lift issues. It's a pain in the a$$ but there's no way to guarantee power as they move boats around the yard.

 

[Choices]

We bought a portable 12/120 frig & freezer that sits in the salon. When we leave all perishables go in it, then to the car. What doesn't fit I give to my neighbor to watch my boat.

Best money we have spent on the boat. On return we load it with Cajun food and feed our dock friends and select workers.

After the last trip people were offering to wax our boat while gone.....

 

[Insequent]

I made certain that the boat was plugged in on the hard before we left. When the bottom job was completed, the yard launched the boat and towed her to her berth where the yard guys plugged the boat into the pedestal. Unfortunately, the 50-amp circuit breaker was not flipped on. The yard manager came by earlier today to discuss. The yard had already agreed to replace the lost food, probably about $700 altogether Still, we are stuck with the nasty cleanup. The yard did offer to have someone come in to do the cleanup but that would probably means days of delay. So, we are doing it.

For mitigation of the odors we are using a product called Pure Arye which the Head Mistress, Peggy Hall, recommends. As for the batteries, well, getting the yard to replace them would likely have met stiff resistance, a battle I did not want to fight especially given that they quickly agreed to replace the spoiled food. Altogether, I am not happy but not angry either. Case closed.

OK, thanks for clarifying. Sorry I didn't catch the launch and re-plug aspect, and also if I came across as lecturing and harsh. Sounds like you, and the marina, are each sharing part of the pain.

From other posts there are suggestions for 'next time'. I live at home but just 2 miles from the boat, so I check the boat every other day to manage it.
I've been fortunate to only have a day or so of thawed food to deal with (so no rot/stink) on the 2 occasions I've ended up with no shore power and dead batteries. I still managed to get a bit over 7 years out of the batteries, so maybe lost about 3 years life?

 

[catalinajack]

Most yards (Every yard I've ever been too) has a policy about boats not being plugged in unattanded while hauled in the yard. This is mostly because..

1) Limited power needs to be shared
2) Limited power would get overloaded if everyone were plugged in
3) Commonly outlets in the yard are not large enough to carry the loads of a boats systems
4) overload, fire hazzard

Does your yard not have a similar policy? Plugging the boat in and turning on the breakers would not be normal operating procedure in most yards. Usually it is the other way around.

We snowbird and can manage to eat down our fridge and freezer and giveaway/throwaway the rest. We do this when we leave the boat for Florida and when we leave Florida for the boat. It's not that hard. How long did you have plans to haul??

Power loads not a problem here. Yard was just fine with us being plugged in while on the hard. They often do it. It's not that hard to eat down a two months' supply of food in a large freezer? I beg to differ. And then what?Throw away the remaining when there is absolutely no need to do so? Besides, that is not the point. The yard screwed up something that should not have been. This yard launches dozens of boats every year, berths them, and plugs them into power. It doesn't matter what the practice is in any other yard. As for our plans to haul, they were last minute after the yard offered a summer discount and we were planning on a trip anyway. Still, an immaterial fact it is.

 

[BandB]

Power loads not a problem here. Yard was just fine with us being plugged in while on the hard. They often do it. It's not that hard to eat down a two months' supply of food in a large freezer? I beg to differ. And then what?Throw away the remaining when there is absolutely no need to do so? Besides, that is not the point. The yard screwed up something that should not have been. This yard launches dozens of boats every year, berths them, and plugs them into power. It doesn't matter what the practice is in any other yard. As for our plans to haul, they were last minute after the yard offered a summer discount and we were planning on a trip anyway. Still, an immaterial fact it is.

Fact is simple. Yard made a commitment and didn't live up to it.