Jump Starter

[BlueSky]

Some time after we bought a boat, my wife bought a Black & Decker Jump Starter, one of those things that has a built in air compressor with a claim of 500 amps on the side. I put it in the garage and didn't use it for years. This year I took it out of the box and it was dead and wouldn't charge. I took it apart and the battery inside was a 19 amp/hour motorcycle battery. I just took it to Sams Club and they accepted it as a core on a real marine battery that I will make sure it is kept fully charged. We kept the boat in the back yard with the battery disconnected and I charged it before going boating every time we used it. This year we put it in a wet slip and I have to leave the battery connected to power the bilge pump. The float switch stuck and ran the bilge pump until the battery was dead. It wouldn't take a charge, so I replaced it and now have a second real marine battery for a backup. I never signed up for Seatow and if we get stranded, they will charge an arm to get a tow back to the marina. So, I try to minimize that possibility. So, my recommendation is to buy a real battery for backup and forget about those "Jump Starters" unless it's one of those small ones for a motorcycle.

[mraf]

Seems like your luck and mine run the same. We were out in Montana last month and I carry a small compact {"Slime" I believe} air compresor I had gotten as a christmas gift. So I take it out of the spiffy little zip up holder, attach it to the bike tire, plug it in and Nothing, zippo, nada. JUNK! About the only thing its good for is showing you the air pressure. Not worth the extra weight, so in the trash it went.