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Why you should do preventive maintenance on your boat and how [music] that's going to make your boating experience more peaceful. We have a big announcement. You can now become a YouTube member. You can join as a YouTube member right now here on screen for custom loyalty badges and [music] emojis. Or if you are looking for exclusive early access to our videos, live Q&As, and more direct support [music] on your project, we also launched our brand new Patreon page linked in the description below. Thank you so much [music] for watching and being part of the Pacific Yacht Systems community. Now, let's get back to the video. Hi everyone. Jeff Cote here from Pacific Yacht Systems. We've got another installment of Tech Talk. We've got a question from Andy. Andy asks, "Jeff, when is it the right time to change my electrical or electronics on my boat?" So, Andy asks a really good question and that's it on the topic of preventative maintenance. And it's something that some of us do on our boats. Like for example, on my boat, I change the hoses on my engine before they fail. That means that I have a certain life on my hoses on my engine. I've got an old boat, really old boat, and was built in 1990, and I don't wait until my hoses crack or something and I'm trying to make them last as long as possible. I'd have a bunch of preventative maintenance that I do on my boat. And I think the same applies with electrical equipment. So, I'm going to run through certain things that what are typical lives and why you should consider doing something about them. So, one of them first would be batteries. The reality is batteries never or rarely fail at the dock or while not used. Meaning, when you've got your boat plugged into shore power and you've got your charger plugged in, your batteries are not really being used, they're being charged. And they're not going to fail if you're not really using your boat, meaning if you're not away from the dock. At the dock, it's really on a life support system and you're not going to see failure. So, for some of us that have lead-acid batteries, uh the rules of thumb are generally um you know, batteries you can Yes, and there's outliers for some of you that have had really amazing battery life, of course. But, the rule of thumb for batteries is anywhere between probably 6 to 8 to 9 years is probably a really got long life. 10 years is really, really long and 11 is just incredible. And yes, there are outliers, but for most of us, it's going to be between 6 and 9 years. So, the question and I have this question happen all the time from either new boat owners or boat owners that are doing a long trip and they're asking, "When would be the right time to change my batteries?" What I tell them is, especially depending on the number of seasons and how they've taken care of them, like do you have a battery monitor? Do you know your depth of discharge? Have you always recharged the batteries properly? Have they ever suffered like a chronicle like a deep discharge and not been recharged away like basically almost like the life story of the battery, right? Like people People who have really, really hard lives generally tend to live shorter lives. People that have better lives tend to have longer lives. So, that analogy does work and again, all rules have exceptions, but like you can sort of imagine that this sort of It does work with batteries. And then I tell them, especially when they're at like year and if they've had a good life and they've been well treated, well maintained, I'm around 8, 9 years. I really ask them like, "What are you going to be with doing with your boat this summer and what happens if your batteries fail when you're out boating?" Because generally when that happens and you're out boating, your costs go way up and because you're urgent and also your options are reduced because you're not doing it at a time and place of your choosing, you're doing it to save a trip. I would say, not everyone agrees, right? Some people wait till the batteries die and there's nothing wrong with that. It's not Again, that's someone that values more money than time, and that is not a bad idea. But for others, it's their value more time than money. So, meaning they value less downtime than money. And so, I would say with batteries, if you made it up to 8 years, it should be on your radar, and don't wait for the batteries to die for them to be changed. Because again, you're going to have less options either with the work, with the quality of the work, with the battery choices, and also the cost of the batteries. You're not going to be able to shop around, choose the right battery for you. You're going to basically choose what you have versus what you want. Electronics are the same thing. Um inverters uh generally about 20 years is what we see. Of course, there's outliers, but about 20 years uh is a good amount of time with an inverter. And I would say that inverters in a lot of boats are not a nice-to-have, but a must-to-have. Some of us are running our refrigeration only on inverters, meaning if you don't have an inverter, you can't run your refrigeration. Some of these fridges are AC only refrigeration now. So, if you lose your inverter, you're stuck to the dock. And if you're not close to a dock, you're going to lose whatever's in the fridge, and then your trip is going to be changed. And for some of them, it would be a big deal, because some of us want to stay at anchorage and don't want to be at a dock. So, inverters I say generally about 20 years. And of course, I've seen some last 25, but at one point, you need to ask yourself, is it time to have something that's very critical in my boat operation be ready to fail and fail at a time that and a place of not my choosing? So, that would be one. The other one, too, would be let's say navigation suites electronics. Electronics, I would say I rarely ever seen someone change them after 10 years. Uh rarely. It does happen, but rarely. I would say probably a 15-20 year uh lifespan is what's expected. So, again, if you're doing a big trip, if you're preparing for an adventure, if something on the horizon is important, and you're going to be out on the water for a long time, or you're going to have family and friends, those would be factors that you would take into consideration in terms of figuring out when would be a good time. The theme here with preventative maintenance is not to spend money you don't have to, and that could certainly be one way to look at it. I decide to have a different uh perspective. And remember, uh perspective is a choice. My perspective on the matter is that it's very important for me when I'm out boating for my boat to be reliable and to be operating well. I I just don't personally enjoy surprises. I try to reduce surprises to a minimum when I'm boating. So, my off-season is spent getting my boat ready for cruising. And when I'm on the water, I cherish and really value that time cuz it is rare. And what I do in the off-season is get my boat ready for the cruising season. Uh not to say that I don't have stuff happen on my boat. It happens to all of us. The question is, what can you reduce by doing not exaggerated, but some preventative maintenance? And so, uh that's basically my answer to the topic on preventative maintenance. Every single object in your boat has a different life, and again, you could ask around and see what the respected life expectancy is, but don't wait till it dies to change it because then you will not control the cost and or the quality of the install or the timing of the install if you do it last minute. So, if you've got further questions and you'd like to have PYS in your corner, uh we've got links to our consultation and design services where we help voters answer one-on-one questions about what's required for their boat. Help us grow the channel by subscribing, and if [music] you have subscribed already, it means a lot to all of us here at Pacific Yacht Systems. Thanks all again for watching, and safe boating. Take care. Hey, fellow boaters. [music] We're going to be doing a lot more tech talk videos. If you've got any suggestions for future videos, leave them in the comments below. Once again, thank you for watching.