battery or alternator? trouble on an old 2001

[raygunclan]

last weekend we dropped our boat in the lake and as i drove away to drop the trailer off at the house, my husband called me to come back as the battery was dead! so i went through all of the pain and anguish of backing the trailer into the water, AGAIN! and we changed our plans for the day. that night, we bought a new battery and the next day same drill, 'cept this time, we got a full day out on the lake. this week, we took our boat into the shop, they fixed the relay and a bilge hose. today, went to drop the boat into the lake (meanwhile we have 15 6 year old girls waiting to get their chance to get thrown off, with 4 of her closest friends, of a 6 1/2 foot wide tube) same darn thing! battery won't start. i went and got the jumper cables and we hooked them up to the boat first. we touched the other two clamps and there was no spark (i guess this means there is no charge in the battery). we were able to get it started, and we left it on for about 1 1/2 hours as we took most of the girls around or i should say a round on the tube. after we cut it off, we tried to restart, but no luck. does this sound like an alternator problem? if so, is this something that we can fix ourselves (knowing that it takes us all day to figure out how to replace the toilet in the house) or should we take it BACK into the shop and support our local correct craft dealer?

(please only respond if you are NOT a correct craft dealer)Yellow_Flash_Colorz:

thanks!!!

[surroundsound64]

Unless it's a lose connection somewhere, you probably can't fix the alternator your self. If you bought a new one, with enough examination before hand you could probably install it. I'd guess there is some wiring issue b/c I think the alt. is putting some electricity or else it'd strand you on the lake when it ran out of juice. Take it to get tested (alt.) then go from there. A rebuild would be a LOT cheaper than a new alt. Somewhere around $50 as opposed to $300 give or take.

Hope that helps.