Okay, just started going through our electrical system yesterday to better understand how things are wired up and doing some general cleaning/maintenance in the process. I COULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT I FOUND!!

And FYI - these batteries were installed in 2020 - by supposed "professionals".

First, and the least of the problems - the "house" deep-cycle batteries are the type you need to check the electrolyte on and has the removable caps. Unfortunately, the caps are under a big sticker that says "REMOVE THIS LABEL AFTER THE BATTERIES ARE PLACED IN SERVICE TO MONITOR ELECTROLYTE LEVEL". The label was still firmly affixed and had obviously never been removed. So I pulled the label on both batteries and fortunately all plates were still fully covered but the level was just barely over the top of the plates. Not sure how full it should be but obviously they had never been checked or maintained.

Second - and more dangerous - the house batteries and the starting batteries were installed BACKWARDS!! There are two 1000CCA starting batteries, two 800MCA deep-cycle batteries and one generator starting battery. The deep-cycle batteries were connected to the main engines - one per engine. Okay - not terrible, but not ideal. However, the two 1000CCA starting batteries were wired in parallel and connected to the house loads! Everything I have ever read/watched warns about the dangers of using starting batteries as a deep-cycle house batteries. And I think I have watched just about every youtube video Jeff Cote from Pacific Yacht Systems has put out!

So today I am working through all of this and correcting everything. The boat has pretty much been a "marina boat" and never seen much time away from shore power so I am guessing that has something to do with why the batteries are holding up as good as they have.

Anyway, just wanted to share my latest saga and hopefully encourage others to verify your systems - especially if you didn't do the work yourself!