by Ken
(Hernando Beach, FL)
Yesterday the boat was running great and on our way back in from 10 miles offshore. We had some problems with our batteries going dead very quickly while offshore fishing even though the only thing on on the boat was the new Garmin GPS. A couple of times I would get one motor started but the battery was weak and then when I tried to start the other motor the one that was running would die.
Finally got both started and headed in. The voltmeter on the starboard side motor was only readying about 10 volts while port side motor's voltmeter read a solid 12-13 volts. The oil pressure guage on the starboard side motor seemed a bit low as well.
About 5 miles in the starboard side motor sounded like it was running out of fuel, even though I know there is over 1/2 tank in the starboard side gas tank. I was able to get the starboard motor to crank but when I would try to give it fuel it would just die. I just left it idling so I could have steering and limped my way back to the dock.
Could this be the battery's are weak and not holding enough charge for the starboard motor to run?