Inflatable boat / trolling motor setup

[mrtr33]

Looking for some advice, should you have any to give.

I have a large inflatable boat. Just don't have the room to store a hardbottom boat - yet. Anyway, I would like to put a trolling motor on the back. I think I've decided on the Minn Kota Eudora 30 model. Where I get confused is with the battery. From the research I've done, it looks like I'll need a marine deep cycle battery, rather than a car battery. I will probably get a portable (not on board) charger for it. Is this a good way to go? Any suggestions? I'm just going to use it to fish out of. Obviously no waterskiing or anything.

Thanks in advance.

[Corvin]

My father used to have a 14' Transom canoe from Sportspal, he used a trolling motor with a marine battery and he had a charger in the house.

It worked out great, we used to row out past the weeds and then motor over to where the fish were.

We used to get a good hour or so of run time on a fresh charge.

He used to put the battery on the charger's slow charge setting when he got back from fishing.

I think that the difference in the batteries is that car batteries are pretty much useless if you discharge them more then 40%, where the marine battery can be almost fully discharged and still recharge.

[bigwhiteash]

Yep.. deep cycle is the way to go.


You can get away with a car battery for light use.. an hour or so on the troll before charging.

[CAJUNBLAZE]

Don't let the gators chew on the boat!

How large is the inflatable?

Rich

[kevin7]

Corvin nailed it.

[Bassfever]

Yup. Optima blue is a good battery. I have 3 in my boat for the 5th season and they are still going strong. Ya put the boat in the water then ya can drop the troller and battery in and ya dont need anyone to help. I am actually at Champlain now for the week nailing the smallies. Have fun

[mrtr33]

Thanks for the advice, guys.

I should have explained a bit more about the setup. The boat is 9' 2", and weight capacity vary between the box it came in and the manufacturer's website. I would say it's between 700-900 lbs. capacity, more than enough for the two of us, tackle box, and frosty beverages.

I knew to get a deep cycle marine battery over a car battery, but I was under the impression that I would be able to get more than an hour out of the marine battery. Is this not the case? Again, I have been comparing manufacturer's websites vs. user reviews in other boating forums. I'm led to believe I can get several hours out of a single charge. I guess I'm wondering how much battery I need. I don't run the risk of too much battery, do I? The trolling motor in question is 12 volts; it probably won't be going very fast. I was hoping for at least a half-day's use out of the thing, though.

As far as battery chargers go, do the more expensive ones just mean that I can charge the battery quicker?

Thanks.

[bigwhiteash]

You should get WAAAAY more than an hour out of a marine battery...

Hell... me and a buddy easily get a full day of use on his 17' bass-tracker even with heavy trolling motor use.

[ashauler]

Yes, you should get way more than an hour of use from a deep cycle battery as Dennis said. The trick is to discharge the battery way, way, way down, then charge it all the way back up slowly (trickle charge).

[CAJUNBLAZE]

You have the right troll motor picked out. As far as usage time it will depend on the speed at which you use the troll motor. At high speed, you may only get an hour per charge, half speed will get you about two hours, low speed maybe up to 3 hours. Normally you will get tired of fishing before the troll motor goes dead! If you need to run a little ways to get to your fishing spot you are better of inveting in a small outboard.
As far as the battery, go with a good name brand, that will get you longer and better performance. If money is an issue you can go to wally world and get a cheaper battery but it will not last as long. They do have different size troll motor batteries, the bigger the longer you will have power. But be carefull bigger is not always better. If you don't need that much you will not draw the battery down enough to properly recharge it and the bigger the heavier!
Finally, the charger, I use to have expensive charges with all kind of options on it, not any more. I use a very small compact charger that I got at harbour frieght for 20 bucks and it works great! We also use these at the dealership.

I hope this helps,

Rich

[Bassfever]

If you are going to be trolling for Trout, salmon etc... and on the troller non stop you should still get close to a day out of it. If you are bass fishing and on and off the troller you can get more than a day. I have a 22' bass boat with a 24volt troller and can get a couple days out of a charge. spend the money on a good battery.

[Bassfever]

If you are going to be trolling for Trout, salmon etc... and on the troller non stop you should still get close to a day out of it. If you are bass fishing and on and off the troller you can get more than a day. I have a 22' bass boat with a 24volt troller and can get a couple days out of a charge. spend the money on a good battery.

[mrtr33]

Narrowed down some more specs.

I'm getting a 12 volt motor, a Minn Kota Endura 30. It's about the most my little boat can handle.

I'd like to get a good battery, but am still worried about getting too much battery. The ones I'm looking at are both Stowaway Deep Cycle Marine batteries.

One is 625 marine cranking amps, 500 cold cranking amps, 180 minutes at 25 amps, 105 Ah. It's also 52 pounds.

The other one is 750 marine cranking amps, 600 cold cranking amps, 205 minutes at 25 amps, 115 Ah. It's 54 pounds.

I don't know what any of that means. Will either of these batteries determine what kind of recharger I get? Any special considerations when choosing one?

I also know I need a battery box. I think I can do that on my own.

Thanks again.

BTW, I'll probably just be doing bass fishing out of it, but it's good to know about the trolling.

[Bassfever]

This is from another site. Maybe it will help a little


Hey if figured this is my q to chime in. thanks for the props h20, it was a pleasure meeting you at the novi show!!
Gitzit, the first thing i would ask you is how many times a year do you fish? also do you maintain the batteries in the winter?
I recommend for the average fisherman who fishes 10-15 times a year, a standard wet cell deep cycle battery. The reason is this. I find the majority of customers forget to maintain the batteries in the offseason and the batteries then become sulpahated. The same will happen with a AGM battery. Why kill an expensive battery like the AGM. If you do maintain the regular deep cycle batteries in the off season, then you should expect 4-5 years or more! I Recommend brands like Exide or Deka or even the everstart. if you ask 10 guys what they recommend youl usually get at least 8 different answers.

If you fish alot more than the average joe, but not like some of the diehard tournament guys that fish say 100 days or more a year, and you are strict on maintaining your batteries, AGM's ar a great way to go. The downside to this is they are a little pricey up front, but as h20 says you make it up in the long run.


Note: When you compare Statistics like AH (Amp Hour) Rating it may seem a litte decieving.
Example: Optima Bluetop D34M and Exides ORB34DC36 are rated at around 55 Amp Hours.
Compare that to a regular wet cell D/C Battery like the a Group size 24 D/C which is usualy around 75 Ah, or compare it to a group size 27 D/C which is usually around 90-100 AH, you would think it would make sense to use the 27's or even 24's for longer run time. However, I have alot of local bass pros that use 3 Optima's in place of 3 group 24's or even 3 group 27's, and they getting better longevity out of their optimas\orbitals than with the regular wet cell batteries. Why is this? I think it comes down to the construction and design of the AGM's. For one, AGM's are made with 99.9% pure lead, while regular batteries are usually made with less Pure lead and even recycled lead. which in turn, has a lot of internal resistance(OHMS).because of the pure lead, AGM"S have a very low Internal Resistance (OHMS) raitng than regular batteries.
Internal Resistance is also what causes a battery to self disharge when sitting. The lower the rating the, the longer the shelf life! Also batteries will except more from the charger, faster, when a battery has lower internal resistance. Thats why a discharged AGM can usuall get to 90% in 1 Hour on a 50 amp Charger!.
another thing that a lower internal resistance rating equates to is a higher voltage when under load.
For instance a car's starter will draw a battery down to about 10.2 volts when the key is engaged. but with agm that voltage is usually around 11V. The higher the voltage, the faster the starter will spin. Make sense? I hope so.

I have bass pros that use optimas, orbitals and regular Deep cycle batteries as well. One Bass guy i sponsor uses Exide NG31's, regular wet cell D/C in the Group 31 size. he gets more out of these than an smaller Optima\Orbital battery. Others are using the Exide orb34DC36 or the BLUETOP D34M. there are alot of different situations which call for a certain battery.

Now a serious bass pro that fishes 100+ days a year will usually only get 2 years out of either type of battery. Deep cycle batteries only have so many cycles usually around 250-300.

2 Optimas BluetopD34M are going to run you about $350-$390 + Core
2 Orbitals ORB34DC36 for about $280 + core
2 regular 27DC around $69-$79 + core

I Recommend the Exide Orbital Marine # ORB34DC-36. It is a Spiral cell Orbital battery, just like the Optima, except it is roughly 30% cheaper and has a longer warranty period(18 Months free replacement, 36 months prorated, as opposed to Optima's which is 1 year free replacement, 24 Months pro-rated). It will give you the same results as most standard 27 D/C Batteries will.


Hope i have helped

Regards,
the "BatteryMan"
Rob Dumas

[mrtr33]

Awesome info. Thanks for posting it.