Being that salt water conducts electricity, do batteries short out quickly when submerged by seawater? <br /><br />I´m trying to decide on location for my batteries.<br />I have been reading up on boat swampings & sinkings and since outboard boats usually go down stern first, I thought I would place them in the bow in an elevated position - the idea being that they would be out of the water for as long as possible, giving my two 1500 gph bilge pumps located on the floor in the stern, a chance to rapidly empty the boat, should i get swamped over the stern or side.<br /><br />But the bow is a rough place for batteries as they get bashed around more then they should. So I could probably accommodate them under the seats, which - location wise - is probably the best place and close to the boat´s center of gravity. But that means batteries and cables will be submerged quickly should more than just a few inches of water enter the boat - hence my question.<br /><br />Small boats fill up and sink a lot quicker than larger ones, and since mine is only 14' I decided to be over generous on bilge pump capacity, but then of course I need sufficient battery power to put it to use if needed. My floor is sealed but un-fomed and the hull cavity acts as a watertight float so I have installed another 1100 gph automatic pump there. There are a few other low-drain electrical gizmos installed, but I´m mostly thinking about being able to pump a lot of water quickly should the worst scenario happen, so I need to go with two batteries. Thanks.
