I moved across the country about 4 months ago. I parked the boat when I got to my destination. I havent been able to fish until this weekend. The starting battery was dead. When I pulled the battery out, I noticed a nice big crack in the battery case. Im assuming it happened on the trip. All the acid leaked out. I tried to rinse it all out, but its been sitting for 4 months with acid in the bottom of the boat. I really cant see the entire surface where the acid was, so I cant tell the extent of the damage. How bad should I expect it to be? I know no one can say for sure. Im just bummed right now.

Did you put baking soda to neutralize what is there? Sorry to hear that sucks.

4 months without neutralizing the acid is a problem.

Not knowing the boat make or type of aluminum the hull is made of it’s impossible to suggest a cure.

Most aluminum hulls are 5052 and weldable. I would 1st use baking soda and warm water to neutralize the acid. Take everything out and turn the boat over to inspect the bottom for any weak spot and to drain out the soda water. You can push on the aluminum with your hand palm to determine thin spots.

Tom

2 hours ago, GaryH said:

Did you put baking soda to neutralize what is there? Sorry to hear that sucks.

That is what im going to do tomorrow. I ordered a 4lb box from amazon.

2 hours ago, WRB said:

4 months without neutralizing the acid is a problem.

Not knowing the boat make or type of aluminum the hull is made of it’s impossible to suggest a cure.

Most aluminum hulls are 5052 and weldable. I would 1st use baking soda and warm water to neutralize the acid. Take everything out and turn the boat over to inspect the bottom for any weak spot and to drain out the soda water. You can push on the aluminum with your hand palm to determine thin spots.

Tom

Its a 2023 Tracker pro 170. I did push and knock on a few spots. It seems sound, but there is really no way to look for damage. Thanks tracker, for cramming everything in the back. 

Flush with water, throw baking soda on it, rinse extremely well, check the metal you can see, replace the battery, install a Seaflo 4700 GPH pump, and go fish.

There is Ultra Sonic thickness measurement gages around $150 to accurately check the aluminum thickness. 

To the best of my knowledge Trackers are 5052-T3 aluminum and can be repaired.

Tom

Was there other water in the hull that may have diluted the acid ??  While it sounds scary, there is not that much acid in a battery, so if there was any other water in there it may not be to bad...  Not fun, but gotta get stuff out of way to see !!  This winter I am replacing the fuel line from built in tank to the outboard....gotta remove the live well and rear decking just to disconnect line from tank fitting !!

Theres a lot that could go into how bad it turned out. Some metals if I recall correctly form kind of a barrier when the surface layer is eaten by an acid that significantly slows down any reactions unless you routinely clean it off and put it back in the acid. Acid can also absorb water from the atmosphere and dilute itself over some time (no idea how long. 

 

Your best bet if you wanted to check is get a gauge to measure. Ultrasonic would be best but you can probably slip a caliper through the drain in the back and get 1 or 2 measurements.

 

You could take a rubber mallet and smack around a bit, should give a better indication the "bumb" way. Either way I'd make sure you have a good working high flow bilge pump JUST in case. 

Was the plug out? 

I tipped a battery over in a garage of a place I was renting a long time ago and didn’t notice for about a day. It made the most lovely stalagmites 

Battery acid is undiluted sulfuric acid that is very aggressive attacking aluminum sheet alloys. Trackers have battery trays that should have prevented the battery from cracking tied down properly and contain acid leakage. 

The fact the OP didn’t discover the cracked battery and do anything to mitigate the acid spill is troubling. As long as the acid is wet and in contact with air it continues to corrode the metal.

If the drain plug was out the acid could also damage trailer metals and the OB lower unit if sprayed from towing speeds.

Any white corrosion products indicate aluminum oxide. Clean off the corrosion products with baking soda solution and rinse throughly. 

Tom

The drain plug was out. I did have it strapped down, but some how it came loose and broke the battery and tray. I was able to cover it with baking soda and rinse it out. Its not as bad as i thought it would be. It still looks sound from what i can tell. Thank you all for the advice. That baking soda foamed like crazy.

Glad you came out OK...

You should be alright. Muriatic acid would have ate a hole right through it. We used that to get aluminum build up off of carbide tooling for our CNCs.

Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate and battery acid is sulfuric acid that react aggressively when acid contacts alkaline. You can add 50-50 white vinegar and water to reactivate baking soda to cancel any remains acid then rinse throughly with water to eliminate the corrosive acid and any byproducts like salt.

Tom