Battery Access 2017 R29LE

[droec]

Hello

Learning my new to me boat. My question is pertaining to the access of the house and engine batteries. The white board that the battery trays are screwed to appears to have two screws holding it in place. If I remove the two screws holding the white board in place can I then pull the battery group back for easier access, are the cables long enough?

Thanks

 

[trailertrawlerkismet]

I’ve been told by the factory that this was there intent. I’ve not tried to do this but when you do please report back to us.

Jim

 

[droec]

Thank you, will try in the fall when disconnecting the batteries.

 

[Rocky]

I was told the same thing...then later told by an FM Rep, that many of the "White Boards" got screwed down anyway.
I recently had the 2 most aft batteries out of my boat...I took out all the screws i could see....including the ones holding the battery trays in place - and the white board wouldn't move.. I didn't quite convince myself that the reason wasn't just friction due to the weight of the 3 remaining batteries.....

Frankly, the battery removal was less of a PIA than I had expected. It wouldn't be defined as easy, but with a little patience and boat yoga, it is doable with a reasonable amount of frustration.

I hope that helps.

Rocky

 

[Hydraulicjump]

I too found moving the starboard base for the batteries impossible. I even managed to fish a strap around the forward batteries and still had no luck pulling them out. So I took them out one by one. The two rear batteries--in my case House 1 and Engine--are easy since you can undo their cables with your head down the lazarette. Just undo the strap and tip them toward you and they slide out easy. The hard part is the three rear (forward) batteries. I have the good fortune of having a 10" hole underneath my outside fridge that gives decent access. It is not big enough to haul the batteries through but it is big enough that you can reach in and undo all of the cables (carefully labeling each!!!). Then, you need to get one of these batteries up and over the lip of its tray. Once that happens you can slide it out into the lazarette. The other two get easier because you can tip them.

Since these beasts weigh 67 lbs each, getting them back in is zero fun. But you basically slide them in on their sides and tip them into place (with the exception of one of the forward batteries which has to go in upright). This will be a painful process involving lots of cursing. I recommend you get someone young and strong to do this for you. Or take a thin piece of plywood that you can slide them on top of.

Finally, I cannot overstate the advantage of cutting a hole beneath the fridge for battery access. A sawzall or jigsaw will do the trick and the folks at the factory said this is OK (they did this, in fact). Just cover it with starboard or something to reduce the amount of water getting behind the fridge and into the batteries.

Good luck. Glad I have new batteries for this cruising season. I am dreading the next change-out.

Jeff

 

[droec]

Thanks everyone for your input. I am not looking forward to this task.

 

[Larry1030]

Recently the thruster battery went bad on my 2019 R27OB. Because of the location of that battery and difficulties posted here about removing I was not looking forward to the tasks. I tried removing the two screws on the white board so I could slide all three batteries aft. Like others have stated it wouldn’t budge. Once I removed each battery individually I found one additional screw on the forward part of the white board holding a wire harness with the wires stretched tight. That was keeping the white board from moving. Once I removed the third forward screw freeing the wires the board easily slide aft. In fact once I replaced the thruster battery I reattached the white board in the aft position. I did lose some storage in the compartment but now all three batteries are easily accessible for testing, cleaning, charging, and replacing.