Thanks for the replies.
Brian...I think you are probably right about charging with a manual charger. All I know for sure is that the plates were not completly covered. It took about 350 ml per cell to get the level to the marker. Never would hold a charge for long after that.
As much as I would like, this is not going to turn into a daily driver for a while. Weekends, date nights (with my bride of 40+ years), parades & club events is where it will see the most time being driven. Sure is fun though!