Repair shop left my power switch on and now my cranking battery is dead and will not recharge.  Should I replace with a "Marine Battery" or an Automotive battery?  Since it is for cranking, what is the difference between automotive and cranking?

huge difference between the two...... you need a marine dual purpose.

 

sears pm1 is the best out there from all accounts, if you can swing it.

A marine battery is designed to get beat the hell out of. A car battery is not

Marine Dual Purpose, the only way to go.

 

A straight deep cycle TM battery is not designed to put out the cranking amps many of the bigger motors need.

 

An automotive cranking battery is not designed for the repeated discharges a bass boat places on them during a days fishing.

 

The Marine dual purpose has plates designed where about a portion of it is has a more open design like the automotive battery to supply a short burst of high current for cranking and the rest is design for deep cycle use.  Not the best cranking battery and not the best TM battery but it will do both pretty good, which is what's needed for bass boats. 

 

Now, if it's the family fun boat, without out all the demands a bass boat has, then a straight cranking battery.  Unless you are sitting with a stereo blasting away and p***sing people like me off, then you would be back to wanting a dual purpose.

No radio here . I've put it on a heavy duty charger and will test it to see if it can be salvaged. If not then I plan to go with a dual purpose.

_{I had to replace my starting battery this weekend...............or felt that I needed to replace it. I bought a dual purpose marine battery.}

Good news.  I was able to get it to charge and hold the charge by using a heavy duty automotive charger.  Looks like I can delay the purchase for a while.

You need to have that battery tested or checked out real good or that could be the most expensive battery you will ever own.  Don't screw around with batteries, the boat charging system will pay the price.  Or should I say you will pay the price for having the charging system replaced, if you are lucky and that's all that gets damaged.

 

Outboard motor charging system are not heavy duty, robust system like automobiles, even though bad batteries is what gets most automobile alternators also.  A bad battery places a constant demand on the alternator trying to keep it fully charged and burns itself out.  It can take out the stator, the Rec/Reg or both.  Either one can be fairly expensive to replace. 

 

Then you can get a double whammy if you have to hook jumper cables to it.  That little arc created connecting/disconnecting jumper cables can spike the ECM or power pack and take them out.  Again, very expensive parts.

 

If it was mine, I would replace that battery, that $100 is not worth the grief it can cause.

Thx for the advice!