So, where to begin about today…… The first morning we were here, the batteries didn’t quite have a full charge. We arrived late the night before and the batteries only had a chance to charge for 6 hours, so I wasn't too concerned. With multiple boats plugged into the same outlet, that’s definitely not enough time. The batteries ran out about 4 that afternoon. Yesterday the batteries were not fully charged even after being plugged in for almost 12 hours. I thought maybe it was because I was sharing an outlet with another boat, so I ran the cord into my room and plugged it in there. When we got up this morning the cranking battery was fully charged, 2 of the trolling motor batteries were mostly charged, and one had not charged at all. We get out on the river and fished until 1:30 before the trolling motor was completely dead. I didn’t know what the problem was. The batteries are brand new, the trolling motor is brand new, and the onboard charger is brand new. Luckily, Spanky was there with the Ranger Support trailer. He tested the batteries and found that the one optima battery was completely dead. I don’t know what we would do without the service trailers. Ranger Boats and Evinrude motors send a trailer and technicians to every Stren event.
I called optima to see where the closest dealer was so I could exchange the battery. She said there was one fairly close and gave me the number so I could call and make sure they had them in stock. I called the store and they told me they had the batteries in stock and I could come in and trade it. The store was an hours drive away, but I needed the battery so I was willing to drive there. We arrive at the store and they proceed to tell us that they don’t carry that one. There went two hours of my life I can never get back. I drive 25 miles away to Wal-Mart in hopes of getting a temporary battery that I can use until I get home. No dice! They’re all out. They call 2 other Wal-Mart’s and they’re all out too. I go across the street to advanced auto, and they have 3. I go up to the counter and ask about the warranty on the batteries. I go back to get the battery and another guy has just taken all three. What are the chances of that? I’m running out of options here. We go down the street to auto zone. First they bring out an optima battery to try and sell me that’s already been used and returned. I tell them that if I’m going to pay $250 for a battery I don’t want a used one. They find one 27 and I snatch it up before anyone else wearing a fishing shirt can get there hands on it. Apparently 6 boats at this hotel had to get new batteries today, and one more had to get a new charger. I’ve never seen anything like this happen before. Hopefully it was just a fluke thing and it doesn’t continue to happen. As for the fishing, we pretty much ruled out allot of unproductive water. We didn’t do that great today, but now that the battery problem is fixed I can concentrate better on our last day of practice.