At less than 3 years old the amount of rust in the battery area worried me. On top of that, the way Thor laid it out meant that fuses and breakers were hidden behind the batteries. Another issue was the positive terminals of the batteries had several cables running to them, which isn't the best way to do it.
So lets start with a before:
So I pulled the old batteries out. My I replaced them with AGM's as I have no reasonable way to water these batteries. I got them at
Sam's, they were on sale for around $100 each at the time.
I also bought
this so I can connect the positive cables to a fixed point and just connect one cable to the battery.
I used CRC Battery cleaner with acid indicator to clean the battery compartment until the indicator was no longer present. I hit it with navel jelly a few times on any rust and washed it off. After it dried hit it with a wire brush on any loose flaky stuff, and then blew it out with an air hose. The final job was painting it, I used this
stuff:.. I really like the hammered finish for durability. Two quick coats and let it dry.
Then I installed the power bar, and moved a few things around. I had trouble with the Trombetta, so I replaced it with a similar product ( Cole Hersee 24213 ) that I could get in town. If you look at the first after picture you will see two red fuse holders. I had no idea those were there before I did this, and before I did this you could only get to them by removing the batteries.
As I put the compartment back together, I hit all connectors with CRC Battery Terminal Protector spray. I also used it on the pump for the jacks where the metal ends of hose were unprotected.
(In second picture, the tray floor is covered in sand. Florida, it happens)
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