Boat Batteries

thcri · Jul 4, 2005

Ok, I am now on my 4th battery for my boat in 7 years.. What is the best place to buy a good battery. I have to have a heavy duty battery for the electronics on my boat. The engine is a 5.7l EFI and if I don't have a heavy duty battery the computer gets goofed up. Some one told me to go to Sam's club? Any other suggestions for a good battery and along with it maybe I should buy a good battery tender also.

I also noticed dry cell batteries for marine? Is this a good battery? Also in my tractor I have a gel battery?? Give the goods guys!

murph

JimR · Jul 4, 2005

Any heavy duty battery should work fine with your boat. I always put the highest amperage battery that I could find that would fit in my boats when I had one. I never had a problem with them not running the fish finder. I didn't have any other electronics on it other than a radio.

Bully · Jul 4, 2005

I have a Searay 190 with a 5.7L I always used high cranking amp. battery 1000cca. never lets me down. The deep cycle batteries never seem to last.

GaryE · Jul 4, 2005

I also noticed dry cell batteries for marine? Is this a good battery? 

Murph,

Dry cell / gel cells are great for applications where heavy "pounding" is common. I used gel cells for my offshore boating in Florida, Never had a problem with them, where as I could not keep regular lead acid batteries in my boat for over a year. Like with tractors, it is all in what you use them for.

Gary

Bayoucritter · Jul 5, 2005

I have done a fair amount of bass tournament fishing over the years. I found I come out ahead just buying a high amp economy brand battery. Some guys spend a fortune on fancy batteries which do not last much longer than the cheap ones. The most important thing I do is keep the batteries charged. I fully charge the night before I fish, as soon as I return home, and every couple weeks during gaps between fishing.

daedong · Jul 5, 2005

murph

Buy yourself one of these and you will never look back

ronjhall · Jul 5, 2005

I have had good luck with Interstate batteries in my boat.
 and along with it maybe I should buy a good battery tender also. 
I'm making a assumption that you do not have a charger on your boat. I good quality charger like a Guest will keep it charged. I replace all 4 batteries in my boat last year. They were in the boat for six seasons.

Moon · Jul 5, 2005

Over the last couple of years I switched to Sears Die Hard Marine batteries. I have a 7.3L, stereo, depth finder, etc... and carry two batteries at all times. So far so good with the die hards, and they're not that expensive.

hazmat · Jul 5, 2005

Murph we need some more information - what kind of boat is it? How do you "use" it - trailered, in water etc, how often? Do you use a trolling motor, do you spend the night on the boat?

My parent's have a 38' sailboat. It has 3 group 24 deep cycle batteries in 2 banks. Bank 1 is 2 batteries in parallel and is used all the time. Bank 2 is one battery and is a backup if Bank 1 fails to start the motor.

The ideal system has a deep cycle battery(s) for the "house" loads - trolling motor, cabin lights etc, and a "standard" battery with high cranking amps for starting the motor.

Deep cycle batterys should be sized such that they are discharged a maximum of 50% before being recharged - requires some math to figure out amp-hours of your "appliances".

Starting batterys are not designed to be discharged at all - they should not have any load on them other than starting the motor - then the alternator immediately charges them.

There are also "Dual use" batteries that are a hybrid starter/deep cycle style - they do neither real well, but are cheaper than 2 batteries....

Long story short - if you need electricity w/o the motor running - add a "house" bank of deep cycle battery(s). If you are simply starting the motor, put a charger on the battery to keep it topped off in-between uses.

Hope that helps.

Here is some more information west marine product advisor batteries

thcri · Jul 5, 2005

Boat is just a 21 foot run a bout with an open bow. It sits at my cabin except for the week-ends which I use it if time permits. My problem I think is the winter. Radio pulls battery down along with maybe some other items and even putting a trickle charger on it once a month it still goes down. I typically will disconnect it from the boat in the winter and try and put a trickle charger on it but maybe I should just leave it hooked up and put a tender on it. I don't do any fishing or anything like that to need a deep cycle. Just to start and run around. Typical ski-ing and things like that.

murph

ronjhall · Jul 6, 2005

Unless you run your boat for over an hour after starting it. You may not have a fully charged battery.
My boat is put away for the winter late October. When it is put in the water in mid May the engines start without any charging. All negative wires to batteries are disconnected for winter storage.

thcri · Jul 6, 2005

( Unless you run your boat for over an hour after starting it. )

I put the battery on a trickle charger for two complete week-ends. Along with that we did jump my boat and I ran it for for an hour, still no hold. We then put the battery in my neighbors boat which has two batteries and he ran it all day long and at day's end it still was not holding a charge. I think it is shot.

murph

Moon · Jul 6, 2005

Murph,
Sure sounds like you need a new battery. I had one with those same symptoms.
I've left the batteries in the boat connected with no charge and still have them start right up. Our boating season is from May to Sept. So the batteries sat 7 months or so. But, the times I did pull the battery and charged it every 60 days, it never needed much of a charge. Thats when I started leaving it in the boat. A few years ago one battery was giving me problems (much like yours), so I got the battery tender in the off season to keep it charged. It still had problems the following season, so that's when I replaced it with a die hard. This year I replaced the #2 battery with a die hard (deep cycle). I think it was 70 bucks, tax and all. My experience is that once a boat battery starts acting like yours, your better off to just replace it and move on. Hope this helps.

Jagmandave · Jul 6, 2005

Ype, replace it, but if you put a battery minder on there, the nwe one will last a whole lot longer, and be ready anytime you need it.

slowrev · Jul 6, 2005

Just an observation of mine....Batteries kept towards the stern of the boat seem to last longer than those kept towards the bow. Less bouncing and vibration I suppose. And I agree with the others on the use of battery minder types of float chargers.

Ben

gsxr1100 · Jul 6, 2005

Good call! I have an Optima (red) in my car and my BX and bike will be getting one soon. I hear the yellows are great fo deep cycle. For the price, they are cheap!

ronjhall · Jul 6, 2005

In your first post you stated that you have replaced 4 batteries in 7 years. Most wet type batteries do not like being left without a full charge. Keeping your next battery on a charger should help to stop the short battery life you are experiencing.

themichelob · Jul 6, 2005

Nor do they like being out in freezing temps for extended periods such as midwest winters. I store mine in a closet in the house for the off-season, and charge them every 45 days or so. In the spring they quickly take a full charge and are ready to go for the season. Regards, Mike