2nd battery for Hunter 260 w/marine head

[Hunter 260]

I have a Hunter 260 2002 with one battery and want to know where other people put the second battery if the marine head storage tank is stern portside and normal battery is stern starboard. There is no room for second battery that is flat beside existing battery area that looks to be designed for only one battery.

 

[ruedi ross]

I moved my batteries to the port

storage area under the settee in front of the head similar to George's illustration. Two group 31 AGM's fit side by side in there. I fiberglassed a piece of plywood into the bottom and use 2" webbing for a holddown. I don't seperate the start battery from the house bank, just use both batteries in parallel for both functions. If the batteries ever get too low to start the outboard it still has a pull start.

 

[Ed Childres]

Question for Ruedi

Did you have a weight distribution problem after moving from the stock battery location?I moved my original battery and added another (isolated by switches) similar to what you did. I found after doing this that the boat did not float level to the stock lines. Too little weight in the stern and too much on port. I countered this with storage of gear and some lead. I know some racer just died after reading my last line... I am a cruiser not a racer. Although watching my boat float out of balance was hard my main motivation was to get the stern down. With a gust and the spinnaker up the boat wanted to nose dive, lay over and round up.

 

[Corky Trotter]

I did it.

First off I use gel batteries so I do not have to take them out in the fall or check the water level. I took a gel battery and laid it on its side just the right of the stock one. I first gued a wood plate down and glassed it in. I then put the battery in on its side and anchored it down. I put a selcetor switch on the back wall of the bed area. It works fine.ct

 

[ruedi ross]

balance

I do alot of week long or longer trips in our 260. I store most stuff in the "afterbirth". I modified the table to lower even with the cabin seats and sleep there. The batteries in the port setee tend to balance out the outboard and I also have an 11 gallon fuel tank in the lazerette. Plenty of weight in the stern. Yes, our boat is heavier than most, but we have all the stuff we need for an extended time from port.

 

[Bob Fliegel]

H260 Battery Location

I relocated my two (2) batteries to the port side under the cabin seats. I think it is important to offset the weight of the outboard (on the starboard side) and keep as much weight to the center of the boat.I left three (3) pictures in the Photo Forum titled "New Battery Location for H260.Regards,Captain B