1978 16ft Super Sport Rustoration

[CBGale2]

Know how you buy a new car and you walk out from the store and see your first door ding. Well during the process of swapping motors, this happened........



That there and the brown spots tracked all over the back half of the flooring are what happens when your new marine battery fills up your battery box with leaking battery acid and you wrongly assume it's rain water because there is about an inch of it. So you pull it from the box, set the drenched battery on the floor and proceed to track it around on your shoes. Absolutely sick. =(

I contacted the manufacturer and they sent me a claim form and box to return the battery in, see what comes of that. You guys feel my pain on the amount of work it would take to replace that floor, it's all gotta come out. Ugh.

 

[Watermann]

Oh man what a sick feeling that is. So what brand of battery was that so we know to avoid it?

 

[CBGale2]

A well known and respected company. Yeah it really sucks. I put this thing back together planning on it being redone in 20 years, not 6 months. Just those side trim panels for example, how am I gonna drill out those big flange rivets and not slip off and screw up that vinyl. Ugh.

 

[g0nef1sshn]

Sorry for the bad luck with that one. I hope the claim covers at least the cost of everything new you will need to replace. Labor would be a push to but who knows. Im sure they would like to keep happy repeat customers than have a bad reputation begin from this.

 

[dozerII]

That really sucks Charlie, gonna have to be real patient with the drill on those rivets. If the mandrel is flush with the head give it a wack with a small punch to push it down a little so you have a good opening for the drill bit.

 

[CBGale2]

For now I can't do anything about it except feeling sick every time I look in there. Need to get the 70 on and get back fishing.

 

[BWR1953]

Would some baking powder paste clean it up a little? Maybe followed by some light bleach solution? :noidea:

 

[CBGale2]

I used the soda solution to neutralize and clean up the acid. I haven't tried bleach yet, did try some of that purple power stuff to no avail. =(

 

[Watermann]

Yeah the vinyl is stained I would imagine and nothing short of some ajax or comet with bleach mixed with water into a paste will remove the staining. Apply it and let it sit before wiping up with some water soaked rags.

 

[oldhaven]

I know how you feel and sympathize with you. I have to do the same thing to remove a leaking belly tank and I don't even have as much time on the water as you do. I can rationalize it when I do have to tear apart a new boat as touching up some annoying construction damage, and it will give me a chance to clean up the bilge again. You could consider inexpensive snap in carpet as a temporary cover up until you get to it.

Ron

 

[mbroughton02]

Hey CB, you didn't happen to keep those paper templates you made for the side swoop, did you? My boat had no swoop before I stripped the paint, so I'm trying to figure out how to create it.

 

[CBGale2]

Well a well known and respected company had me fill out a claim, sent pictures, video, estimate for repairs and shipped them the battery back. Despite overwhelming evidence of battery acid leaking all over, including drips on the sides of the battery case, they determined that there was nothing wrong with the battery and they are not liable to repair the damage. So either it is normal for a battery to leak or battery acid magically can appear, I'm waiting to find that out and the wearabouts of my perfectly fine battery.

 

[Watermann]

That's not cool, wonder what would cause the battery to expel it's caustic contents if not for a defect?

Did you also have to eat the cost of shipping a heavy battery?

 

[CBGale2]

No, they paid to ship it back. They are saying that they determined I had the battery stored on its side for it to leak that much acid. Told them it would be pretty hard to fill up a battery box with acid if it was tipped on its side. Total BS on their part. I sent pictures of it in the battery box, mounted to the floor standing upright.

 

[Watermann]

Yeah that's ridiculous for sure, they know people don't store a battery.on it's side, especially in their freshly restored boat..

 

[DLNorth]

This is terrible.

If there are truly no case leaks, there is only one other way for the acid to get there, overcharging the battery.
Several times I have completely drained my tractor batteries by overcharging.

Maybe getting that new motor fixed another problem.

Dan

 

[Brackett221]

Sorry to see the damage. Looking forward to see how the 70 performs compared to the 55.

 

[Watermann]

This is terrible.

If there are truly no case leaks, there is only one other way for the acid to get there, overcharging the battery.
Several times I have completely drained my tractor batteries by overcharging.

Maybe getting that new motor fixed another problem.

Dan

Now that I think about it, the only time I've seen a battery boil out it's contents was because there was a direct short in the system so maybe there is something like that going on.

 

[CBGale2]

Just going back through and realizing I never posted any updated on the 70 hp upgrade. Motor ran out beautifully on the 16. I picked up a couple extra Mph vs the 55, but it's the hole shot that was a huge change. You hit it now and she is up and going. I picked up a TNT unit for it and will be putting that in come spring along with a new water pump. She's got a fresh coat of paint on and will be getting new vinyl and stripes then also. For now she's all tucked away for the winter.

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[Watermann]

It's a nice power upgrade to the 3 cyl 70 over the 2 cyl 55. I wanted to do that with my 16' SN but now with the SS I'm at a 6 cyl 140 :lol: