What do you do when the battery on a cordless tool goes bad? If it costs $90 to get a new one, and your name is Bill Shaw, you solder in a cord from your onboard 12 volt system. It’s a great solution, especially if you are a long ways away from the nearest Home Depot. Thanks for the good idea, Bill!

… I disassembled one of the battery packs. Inside I found a cluster of ‘C’ size rechargable cells and the plug (visible at the top of the battery pack). I removed with prejudice the battery cells. Then I soldered wires to the plug (after determining which was ‘+’ ). I epoxied the connector back into place in the battery pack (it had been held in place by the cluster of batteries) and closed up the package. Running the wire through the side of the empty battery pack and to a 12-volt cigarette lighter styled plug I was in business. The now-empty battery pack still unclips from the un-altered drill as before and stores with the wire in a separate bag. The drill runs just fine. The drill will still run off the remaining battery pack (or a new generic if I can convince myself to buy that one on ebay) as well as plug into a 12-volt receptacle. I put enough wire on the thing to reach anywhere on board Galena. Am I cheap, or what?

Source: s/v Galena (Westsail 32)