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Bailey Boat

Bailey Boat

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My ears still ring!! I was over at my marine mechanic's place today and a guy brought a raggledy ass bass boat in for service. He was describing the problems to the mechanic and he went to start the engine after they had hooked up the muffs to the water inlet but it wouldn't even make the dreaded "clicking" noise.

The owner say's "it does that all the time, all I need to do is wiggle the post". At this point I backed up maybe 20 feet and when the dude "wiggled the post" that damned battery went off like both barrels of a 12 gauge with a couple of 20 gauges thrown in for effect!! Pieces of the battery case came shooting out of the battery locker hitting him (owner) in the face and thoroughly soaking him with acid. Thank God the mechanic wasn't close enough to get hit with anything and neither was I.

My first reaction was to get water to him and rinse as much acid off as possible. The mechanic was on the phone with 911 and they agreed to flush with cold water while the ambulance was in route. They got there pretty quick and took over the flushing and began other treatment as well so I backed my dumbass out of the way and let the pro's take it from there. They transported him because of the acid in his eyes that needed specialized treatment from another source.

Moral of the story, don't be screwing with batteries that you KNOW have issues...
 
I still carry a hairless scar under my chin from a battery acid splash when I was 17 in a shop I worked in. All batteries used to come dry and have electrolyte ( eg sulphuric acid mix) added at the point of sale. I still remember that slippery greasy feel of the stuff and the way it quickly reminded you of any open cut it might get in.

BAU was no safety glasses, no gloves, no protective aprons, etc. just your polyester "uniform" and name badge for $2.50 an hour.
 
Alfred said:
I still carry a hairless scar under my chin from a battery acid splash when I was 17 in a shop I worked in. All batteries used to come dry and have electrolyte ( eg sulphuric acid mix) added at the point of sale. I still remember that slippery greasy feel of the stuff and the way it quickly reminded you of any open cut it might get in.

BAU was no safety glasses, no gloves, no protective aprons, etc. just your polyester "uniform" and name badge for $2.50 an hour.
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$2.50 AN HOUR!
You must have worked one of them high fluting places.
I worked at one in the late 6os for $1.25 cash.
 
Had one blow up in my face one night back in the 80s, I noticed my headlights were dim on my way home and my drunk dumb ass used my cigarette lighter instead of a flashlight to check the cells for electrolyte.

Luckily I wore glasses.
 
Always wear safety glasses when you are near any batteries.
Connect negative jumper cable on the no start car to the alternator bracket or housing,
should there be a spark on contact it will not be at the battery and lessen any explosion risk.

Buddy has huge scar on his right wrist, he is left handed, his stainless steel Casio watch shorted the
positive battery post to the car chassis. ER had to remove the watch band that was fused to his wrist.
Battery was installed wrong, should have neg post close to the body.

Had similar situation as above post, what they did not realize is that the VW station wagon had a
6V DC system not 12V and that little battery blew up. We picked up our buddy and dumped his head
into the slop sink with cold water. ER visit showed no damage. He was lucky.

One more tragic accident, man was recharging the golf cart he uses on his ranch, could not see if
the cells were low on solution, so he flipped his BIC and KABOOM.
He lost his eyesight that day, sad part about this is he was a top eye surgeon and just made a terrible mistake.

Like the Sarge would always say on Hill St. "Be careful out there".
 
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mikep7m10 said:
Beat me to it - that is exactly what I was going to post.
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Well, early 70's or thereabouts. And I might ( modestly) add that I was already the shizz as a mechanic so that wasn't a starting rate.
There was a guy in his 30's there with a family that made .50 cents an hour more than me. I fed him the higher commission stuff so he could make the nut.

A year later I was off to a $5 an hour dealership job - if I made Flat Rate, which was like, never. .6hr book time for a lube, oil , filter at a big dealership. Go get the work order, keys, go find the vehicle, bring it in, go to the parts counter and wait till Sir ScrewyouOverBigTime parts guy deigns to acknowledge your presence, get parts, drop the oil and filter, clean the mess, take car back out, return keys and work order. .8 hr later you are in the hole for .2hr and so it goes all day long.

6 Months later I found a salary position elsewhere and never touched flat rate work again.
 
After the dust settled and everyone had left we looked closely but couldn't tell a whole lot except there had been a battery explosion in that compartment. The owner wasn't in any condition to answer any questions about what he "wiggled". The mechanic moved the truck and boat to the side of the shop and hopefully someone from the family will call and come get the rig, or he'll get out and come back.....
 
I saw the results of a battery explosion many years ago. At the local gas station (remember those?) someone put a battery on the charger. This was before sealed batteries and they forgot to remove the caps on the battery. We heard an explosion and went into the grease room (remember those?) and saw what had happened. The lead plates were embedded into the ceiling right above where the battery had been.
 
I was planning to check/top off my solar battery bank today. Excellent timing.
I plan to put a set of safety glasses on a hook right by the battery bank.
 
Yup me too. Had one blow up in my face trying to jump the neighbor's car when I was about 18. I wear glasses and I got lucky there was no damage. They doused me with the garden hose until I could see and breath again and I just threw away everything I was wearing and jumped in the shower.
 
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Batteries can be nasty. At a previous job, we were doing R&D on an industrial sized UPS. We treated the batteries with the utmost caution. They were worse than the live 480Vac. Didn't help that the bank of them was at about 400Vdc either.
 
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Batteries are like ammo they can be dangerous if not treated with respect but they can be very useful when used properly.
 
I had one blow in the truck the other month honestly thought I was being shot at pulled over down the road a pc and listened for more shots after determining it was clear I got out looking for a bullet hole. Cam around the passenger side and a little gray fluid was running down the front fender I was like crap I blew a battery.
It will scare the crap out of you.
 
400VDC is way scarier than 480VAC.

Treat with utmost respect.


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Personally I think all 3 of us were VERY LUCKY. The mechanic had walked away to get a tool or something and when the owner said he was going to "wiggle the post" That was MY clue to de-ass the area. The boat owner was lucky we had a water hose right there hooked up preparing to start the motor on the muffs. Within 8 to 10 seconds I had freshwater running from the top of his head, down his face and chest to wash as much away as possible.
The Paramedics continued dousing him with water for a good 15 minutes after they arrived. They seemed to be more focused on his eyes at that point since he wasn't wearing any glasses. Haven't heard anything about his condition.........
 
Alfred said:
I still carry a hairless scar under my chin from a battery acid splash when I was 17 in a shop I worked in. All batteries used to come dry and have electrolyte ( eg sulphuric acid mix) added at the point of sale. I still remember that slippery greasy feel of the stuff and the way it quickly reminded you of any open cut it might get in.

BAU was no safety glasses, no gloves, no protective aprons, etc. just your polyester "uniform" and name badge for $2.50 an hour.
Click to expand...

This isn't an old practice. I was doing this in the early 2000s but I got a little more then $2.50 for my effort.
 
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