Adding second house battery

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Ross in Tampa

Ross in Tampa

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Jan 11, 2007
294
Columbia 28 Sarasota
removehtml]Greetings all, I am planning on adding an additional house battery to my 1979 25 Oday. I already have the battery switch in place, just looking to increase my electric capacity. My needs are meager as far as cruising boats are concerned, I currently have a regular marine 12 volt battery in the lazarette that runs to the 2 battery switch. My question is this, what type of battery should I be looking at? I am assuming that I am looking for one that offers the most amp hours / budget. To compound the issue, I have no charging capabilities on my boat. To charge the batteries, I currently need to be hooked up to 110 and run it through a battery charger. This system works great for an overnighter or two, but when on the hook for more than a couple of days, my nav lights and cabin lights suffer from the lack of juice. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance, Ross in Tampa 1979 Oday 25 "Lola" Error: Error: expected [/URL], but found [/removehtml] instead[/removehtml]
 
B

bruce

battery

get a deep cycle, as large as you have space for, mount it to balance the boat, if possible, so the boat sits upright in the water. and convert to 'dr led' led light bulbs in the nav lights. and cabin.
 
Joe11688

Joe11688

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Jan 24, 2005
4,881
Oday 222 Dighton, Ma.
House battery

Ross, I'd get at least a 100 AH or more, deep cycle battery. LED lights for nav lighting is a great idea, too. If you have an outboard with a charging system, you could replace the conductor with a #10 stranded marine duplex cable from the outboard terminals to a term block in the lazerette, to the house battery. I did this two years ago and I never have to use my charger at the dock. I'd avoid using cabin lights. I never use mine. You can buy a rechargeable lantern that lasts quite a long time. I was using a gimbaled kerosene lamp up to last year, but they stink and cause soot. So, I prefer short candles while at anchor and a book light for reading. I haven't been doing too much night sailing for the past two years, but this is what usually takes the battery down depending on how many hours you have your nav lights on. This is where the LEDs would come in handy. I never use an anchor light while anchored in the coves at night, but if you're accustomed to using them, you could always pick up one of those stainless steel solar battery lamps and hang it on your back stay. I usually have a battery type radio to listen to on board and the only thing that is drawing off my battery are my autopilot and my VHF radio, when I have it on. So these are some things that you can ponder. I only have one house battery on board my boat and I find that it's all I need for what I'm running most of the time. Joe
 
M

Mike

Solar charging

Ross, I have same set up you have now. Just day sail. I run a GPS and stereo off the single battery. About 4-5 years ago I bought a flexible solar panel. Its about 18 inches square. When I'm not on the boat it sits on the cabin roof with lines from each corner to the hand rail. In the time I've had it I've NEVER had the battery go dead. NEVER found the battery dead when I got there. http://www.e-marine-inc.com/products/solar_panels/spectra.html This is a bit expensive at $260. Seems like mine is 15watt and this one is 19. I think I spent about $150. You might want to shop it around. I've got a semi cheap Goaters World marine battery. Good luck, Mike
 
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