BLUEMOMENT

Why is it they can't be nice sometimes? Mrs McP went to arrange replacement batteries today for the ones that failed during the SIPR. People in the chandlers, and marina office, both laughed her off saying that no way would out little boat be fitted with 12V, 480A, 63Ah batteries, don't be silly dear, run along now and do some girls work.

Having worked on them for hours to get the motor going again at Jura and Arran, she was spot on with her specs, so tempted to go down there and ram the bloody battery through the marina window.

Rant over.

I would think the 480A is the cold cranking amps (maximum current delivery ) 63AH is the amps per hour (capacity) and usually the bit that is quoted. If there was some misunderstanding about the figures I could see how it could happen. 63AH is quite small, is that just the starter battery?

Yup, it's the starter battery, the main one is a 110AH thing. She had scribbled all the bits down (phoned me first to check she had the right info) and gone to find out how to go about replacing them. It just seems incredibly rude to then be laughed off and essentially given no help at all, rather than try and assist someone who is trying to sort out a problem.

MrMcP wrote:Yup, it's the starter battery, the main one is a 110AH thing. She had scribbled all the bits down (phoned me first to check she had the right info) and gone to find out how to go about replacing them. It just seems incredibly rude to then be laughed off and essentially given no help at all, rather than try and assist someone who is trying to sort out a problem.

You're absolutely right. Was this Kip marina? I've usually found them helpful there.

Sneering at people makes the feeble-minded feel big. I know, cos I just did it, didn't I!

63AH is actually quite small & would suit a little hatchback. You can order them direct off the Internet (e-bay) to be delivered direct to the marina for you. Then you can pick them up & tell the "assistants" that you managed to get exactly the spec you wanted elsewhere. That should make them think about how they talk to lady customers.

Booby Trapper wrote: You're absolutely right. Was this Kip marina? I've usually found them helpful there.

No, Troon. Like you we've always found Kip very helpful, and to be fair we've never had problems with Troon before. Anyway, maybe it was a bad day, but just one I could have done without.

So, maybe not the marina personnel then, but the chandlers or one of the marine service companies within the harbour area?
Next time you could possibly try BJ's autoshop across the road...

It was unfortunately both the marina staff and the service people on site. Shame - we got a great welcome when we first arrived there and some excellent service last year.

We've taken quite some time to track down replacement batteries in the end anyway. Apparently one of the large battery manufacturers went bust last year, and almost all those now stocked are the ones with the terminals sitting proud of the main battery unit. As our batteries sit very neatly under the aft bunk base, we need the recessed terminals to be able to accommodate battery + wiring and still have a flush fitting base board. Eventually tracked down a suitable size, power and capacity battery at Halfords for the starter, and a 110AH main battery online. Every chandlers and marina sparky we spoke to only carried the ones that wouldn't fit. Still, at least the engine starts again now....