Battery Advice

[Gardnera]

I recently bought a 23.5 Hunter and I would like some advice on the best house battery to purchase. The battery will be used for a chart plotter, auto helm, CD player, and navigation lights to include overnight anchor lighting. In addition I would like advice on a automatic battery charger I can leave plugged in while on shore power. I have a pull start motor so I do not need cranking volts.
Thanks,
Alan

 

[Benny17441]

You were fine until you mentioned auto helm. This is a high draw item and the more the unit needs to work in high seas the more power it will consume. I like regular wet cell batteries because it is quite easy to find a replacement wherever you are. Because of the auto pilot and no recharging underway I would recommend you get two batteries instead of just one. I would go with two group 27 deep cycle, wet cell/lead acid batteries. You can connect them in parallel for around a 200ah battery bank. The recommended limit for discharging a battery without unduly shortening its life is around 50% so out of the 200ah battery bank you have a usable 100ah. Off course in an emergency or should you choose to you can dip deeper into the storage capacity. Any damage will not likely be immediate but will reflect in a shorter number of charge/discharge cycles. The suggested capacity will be an adequate size for weekending and spending a night or two on the hook. Get fresh batteries from a retailer that moves its inventory frequently as batteries that stay on the shelf too long tend to get sulfated from natural discharge resulting in a diminished storage capacity. Regarding chargers allow me to suggest a Guest 10A with output leads for two batteries. These are rather inexpensive ($125) 3 stage chargers that offer good performance and value for the money. They are a low capacity charger which will take longer to recharge the batteries than one of the more costly units but will get the job done. It can be a good match for inexpensive wet cell batteries.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Good advice from Benny. Thank you sir.

 

[Gardnera]

Thanks for the good advice.
Alan

 

[Hugh Straub]

You can minimize your electrical draw by getting LEDs for your cabin and navigation lights. If your outboard is capable of adding an altenator (as I did on my 5hp Honda) you can generate the electricity you need to run your tiller pilot, at least when you're making a passage under power.

Kind regards

Hugh

 

[Gardnera]

You can minimize your electrical draw by getting LEDs for your cabin and navigation lights. If your outboard is capable of adding an altenator (as I did on my 5hp Honda) you can generate the electricity you need to run your tiller pilot, at least when you're making a passage under power.

Kind regards

Hugh

I have a 5hp Tohatsu which has an alternator accessory which I don't own but it is a great idea. The LED lighting USA great idea.
Thanks,
Alan

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

5 hp alternator on the Tohatsu is just enough to power running lights but to recharge a battery is most unlikely from experience plus I was a Tohatsu dealer for over 25 years which is based on experience

 

[Gardnera]

5 hp alternator on the Tohatsu is just enough to power running lights but to recharge a battery is most unlikely from experience plus I was a Tohatsu dealer for over 25 years which is based on experience

Thanks for the info, the alternator for the 5hp is a littleon the priceys side as well.
Alan

 

[Hugh Straub]

We have no shoreside power in New Orleans since Katrina. I have had good luck however in keeping the battery charged with a small solar panel and the altenator

 

[Hugh Straub]

Opps, sent before I was done. I agree the output of the outboard altenator is minimal. But a well tuned autopilot steering a balanced boat does not work hard to maintain a course when becalmed and under power. The combination of the solar panel, outboard altenator, and minimized current draw by autopilot and lighting work just fine without a shoreside power connection supplement. I have powered with auto pilot over seven hours across Lake Pontchartrain with plenty of reserve "juice" for cabin and anchor lights (all LEDs).

Kind regards

Hugh

 

[Gardnera]

Opps, sent before I was done. I agree the output of the outboard altenator is minimal. But a well tuned autopilot steering a balanced boat does not work hard to maintain a course when becalmed and under power. The combination of the solar panel, outboard altenator, and minimized current draw by autopilot and lighting work just fine without a shoreside power connection supplement. I have powered with auto pilot over seven hours across Lake Pontchartrain with plenty of reserve "juice" for cabin and anchor lights (all LEDs).

Kind regards

Hugh

What kind of battery do you use?

 

[Hugh Straub]

Sorry to be so long in replying, but I was away from my boat and I did not remember the battery particulars. My 23.5 gets along nicely with a 285 CA Duralast Lawn and Garden battery. The battery is charged from a small solar panel (originally intended to run a small garden fountain pump) and from the low output alternator on my 5hp Honda outboard. This minimalist system works because all lights, cabin and navigation, are LEDs and my auto pilot is primarily used when motoring. My sound system is an Ipod with ear buds. My hand held VHF and my cell phone are battery powered.

So, I don't need a big battery or a complicated charging system. After all the boat is simple...my electrics are in keeping with that simplicity.

Kind regards

Hugh

 

[Gardnera]

Hugh, thanks for the advice. What type of auto pilot do you have?

 

[sesmith]

+1 on the LED lighting advise. When we had our 23.5, I swapped out the interior bulbs and the mast anchor light bulbs with LED replacement bulbs, and the lighting used much less power when we were anchored out.

As far as batteries, my current boat has two marine Interstates in it, but I had good luck with just the larger marine battery sold by Walmart when we had our 23.5. I had a 15 watt solar panel and charge controller hooked to it, which kept it up fine, though the 15 watt panel didn't have quite enough to keep it fully charged on a week or more of cruising. I put a 60 or 75 watt panel on my current boat and it keeps up fine.

FWIW, we had a Davis tiller tamer on our 23.5. For any point of sail around close reaching to close hauled, we could usually trim the sails, lock the tiller, and the boat would sail itself, so no need to even turn on your autohelm under those conditions.

 

[Hugh Straub]

My autopilot came with an old boat I lost in Katrina in 2005. I don't recall the maker off hand, but it's very old (Columbus may have used it on the Pinta) and long since out of production. That said, for Lake Ponchartrain cruising and/or for single handing I'd not leave home without it (or a newer iteration).

Kind regards

Hugh

 

[Gardnera]

My autopilot came with an old boat I lost in Katrina in 2005. I don't recall the maker off hand, but it's very old (Columbus may have used it on the Pinta) and long since out of production. That said, for Lake Ponchartrain cruising and/or for single handing I'd not leave home without it (or a newer iteration).

Kind regards

Hugh

Thanks for the battery advice, I ordered a Davis tiller tamer from Amazon so I will see how that works before I buy a tiler pilot. We took the boat out on Choctawhatchee Bay today, tit was a great day to be out sailing!
Alan

 

[timothy_c]

If you have or had a h23-5 id like pics or info on how you attached the auto helm. I got ahold of an old one that had blown out and toyed with how to mount it if i decided to buy a new one. Seemed like it was going to take a lot of hardware. Also I managed to break the original aluminum tiller handle so I wonder just how much pressure one can take? I even manage to make tiller tamers fail at the rate of two per season

 

[Hugh Straub]

I'm away for a bit so I'll not be able to send pics for a couple of weeks.

I do not off hand recall the maker of my autopilot, but when I first got it through buying an old boat about 12 years ago, the autopilot was already very old. However, I went on line to see which current manufacturer had bought up the autopilot's maker and found out I could still get mounting hardware. I even sent the old unit to the new firm's tech department, which checked it out and it has worked just fine for many years. All this is a long way of suggesting a little internet research may be helpful.

Regarding mounting, I decided to mount the AP on the port side, so that I could have clear access to the starboard mounted motor. To get power to the unit, I installed a two prong deck socket on the vertical side of the cockpit just aft of the port locker by the transom cutout for the swim ladder. The plug wiring goes to auxiliary switch on the electrical panel. I rewired the AP plug end to fit the socket. Two actuator arm extensions were necessary for the AP to reach the boat's tiller. I secured the pin to which the AP actuator arm attaches using a strap fitting fixed to the tiller with two hose clamps. All very simple and works a treat.

An identical deck power socket is fitted to the starboard side transom cutout to charge the battery with power generated either by my 5hp Honda when motoring or by my small solar panel when in the slip.

Kind regards

Hugh