Re: 1981 Century 7000
Sparky,
welcome to the forums.
Typically there are no "owners manuals" available for the boat itself, but there is manuals for your motors. Go to the
I/O forum and look at the
adults only Sticky which has the service manuals for many Merc's. that is the absolute best way to start.
As for your questions:
Does it have a charging system: Yes, like your car, it has an alternator and will re-charge your battery as it runs.
Why does it have 2 batteries/How do I use the A/B Switch:
How most people use their switches is they have one battery designated as "Starting" and one as "House". You turn the switch to A or 1 and start the boat, then turn it to both when you run, to charge them. Once you are at your resting area, turn it to 2 to listen to tunes and have the lights on. repeat instructions when you want to start the boat to go home.
You may want take all 3 batteries in and have them tested. THere are a few types of batteries.
Starting battery -- same as your car batteries.. they are designed to make a lot of power really quickly to start the car.
Deep Cycle battery -- they like to support lights and stereo's. They like to produce a little power over a long time, but don't like to produce lots of power like a starting battery.
Hybrids --- kinda a little of both.
use hybrids or starting batteries on the #1 of your switch.
I would say the reason you have a spare is there is something draining batteries, or one of the other batteries are weak...
Welcome to boating!
