I used to store my previous boat at a RV/Boat storage facility as I didn't have the storage space at my house. For security I would take everything "loose" out of the boat including the battery, portable gas, fishing poles etc. My house was approx 2 miles away from the facility and so would put everything in the pickup bed for the ride home.
Being clever (or so I thought) to prevent the life jackets from blowing away I put them in my pickup bed "Storage Box", and to prevent the battery from falling over I put it in the box also.
Upon getting to the security gate I was told by a passerby that I had white smoke coming from my "Storage Box"
I learned physics very quickly that day. I quickly opened the lockable lid only to discover a small fire of burning plastic and rubber. Stupidly I had put the battery on top of a life jacket which (unknowingly) meant that it was just tall enough for both terminals come in touch with metal lid of the box.
I managed to smother the flames with a rag and found that the negative terminal had gotten so hot that it melted off and fallen to the box floor igniting the rubber floor mat and plastic packaging of lures that I had bought.
That battery was history while the replacement cost $80. An expensive lesson learnt. Now I have a different boat and have moved to a different house where luckily there is enough room that I can store my boat beside the house
Being clever (or so I thought) to prevent the life jackets from blowing away I put them in my pickup bed "Storage Box", and to prevent the battery from falling over I put it in the box also.
Upon getting to the security gate I was told by a passerby that I had white smoke coming from my "Storage Box"
I learned physics very quickly that day. I quickly opened the lockable lid only to discover a small fire of burning plastic and rubber. Stupidly I had put the battery on top of a life jacket which (unknowingly) meant that it was just tall enough for both terminals come in touch with metal lid of the box.
I managed to smother the flames with a rag and found that the negative terminal had gotten so hot that it melted off and fallen to the box floor igniting the rubber floor mat and plastic packaging of lures that I had bought.
That battery was history while the replacement cost $80. An expensive lesson learnt. Now I have a different boat and have moved to a different house where luckily there is enough room that I can store my boat beside the house
