Boatshed, as I'm not a speed freak, most of my boats run on 12v 7ah sla's, some have 2 of these giving me a good day out on the water. As LiFePO4 Battery is almost half the weight of sla's and the lifespan is greater the extra cost is well worth it for me.
Cheers Colin.

I have just been looking at the cost of LiFePO4 batteries. What a cost, and how can they replace Lipo's in fast power boats. I cannot find anything that resembles anything like what I use in my Miss Geico and a couple of others that are similar. They are all way too large?? Are there any that small ?

Hi Colin , all I can say is you're doing sterling work, unable to offer any practical work but thoughts and prayers with you as you carry on. Please try and make sure that yourself and your wife do get some time out, don't burn out.
All the best

Hi Colin, what you do for your family at your age is commendable.
I admire you.

💔For all the pain and torment that you and tour family are going thru.
Len

Colin, your are going through some pretty rough times. I hope all will turn around and time will help heal some of the pain and recovery. Prayers to you and you family. Most sincerely, Lew

Hi Doug, yes I am still getting over the loss of our son, Caroline is very ill again, she had major surgery 3 days before our boy died and it has not been easy for her.
We are doing daily school runs of 72 miles round trip twice daily.
But hopefully school transport is going to be arranged in a couple of weeks. Our daughter in law who is disabled and unable to drive relies on us at present, the kids are going through a bad time, but they are getting help through their school. Granddaughter is only 5 and very forthright and has told all the class how she found her dad.
She gets very angry and has a few issues but is starting to calm down now.
9 year old grandson is very quiet and subdued but understands it much more as they have lost a grandad 2 years ago and grandmother last year.
I spend as much time as I can with them, keeping them busy and doing anything they want to do.
Well that's all for tonight, 6am start tomorrow. Goodnight all, stay safe, cheers Colin.

WELCOME BACK COLIN😀
Hope you didn't layout too much spondulicks 🤑 for the batteries!
I agree with the consensus here, they are most probably useless.
May have been in storage for a long time and self-discharged below the safe level.
Any battery (of nominal 9.6V, 8 cells) measuring below 8.8V is definitely below the recommended discharge level of 1.1V / cell. After which irreversible chemical changes start from which there is NO recovery.
Such batteries will never regain full capacity or deliver high current without almost immediately collapsing.

Pulsing is fine to crack lead sulphate off the plates of a lead acid battery but won't work on NiCads☹️
Hope things are gradually improving for you and Caroline.
I know how hard that can be.
All the best to you all, Doug.
PS Have put the boat/ship plans we discussed on hold for the time being.
Reckon you've got enough on your plate right now.

I am with you Issac. Nicads when they get old just ain’t worth the trouble. If you charge them the may show voltage but won’t deliver amps.

Discard them them in ecologically safe manner.

Thanks Len, not had time for chats just lately, hopefully I'll be more active on here soon.
Didn't count the batteries as I checked the voltage , but I have charged 6 of them, and they are all showing 9.8v I will be doing a discharge test at the weekend to see how they go.
As for dumping them, I have nicads from the 1990's which still work as they should in my family's model cars and trucks.
I usually charge dying cells using pulse charging in an old camping refrigerator keeping the temp below 5 degrees Celsius.
If they lose 10% or more of their useful life then they get scrapped.
Don't like lipo's and don't own any, so won't be changing this late in my life.
Now my favourite is the LiFePO4 batteries that I am replacing my sla batteries with. They are really reliable and safer as well.
Cheers Colin.