Beneteau 361 Looking for battery space

[Grip Fast]

Folks, I am new to this forum and hoping to get some information. I am 7 hours from my boat and am looking for space to put 3, 100 amp carbon foam batteries for my house bank.
It just occured to me that I have never removed the plywood cover under the rear birth to the area directly aft of the aft water tank. is there any space there?
I have measured the area where the starting battery is located and considered swapping the location of house and starting battery but there isnt enough room there either.
Any one upgraded a Beneteau 361 with a proper house bank? If so, where did you put it.
I really love this boat, but I am tired of dealing with inadequte battery power. I have installed and arch where 400 watts of solar is going to live, the next step is batteries and install the solar.

 

[sail sfbay]

Welcome to the forum!!

These threads might be helpful in answering your question:

Location of starting battery on 361?

I know this is a stupid question, but does anyone know the location of the starting battery on a 361. Have a big 4D in front of the engine for the house, but can't find the starting battery anywhere....

forums.sailboatowners.com

Beneteau Oceanis 361 Battery 3?

I notice on the wiring diagram that a third battery can be installed in parallel with the house battery. Has anyone done this? Where on the boat has it been fitted? There doesn't seem to be any room in the engine compartment. Regards Bob

forums.ybw.com

 

[SCFoster]

Currently there is a 198Ah AGM House battery #1 under the rear berth and engine start battery there as well. Then the 198Ah FLA #2 House battery is located in front of the engine. Have to replace the house batteries and looked at Firefly Carbon Foam batteries. For the money and the plan to keep the boat a long time, decided to go with LiFeP04 batteries and a new Victron charger/inverter with monitoring setup.
Less volume and less weight, but more $$$ upfront. Will move the engine start to the front of the engine and put the House bank most likely under the rear berth. The LiFePO4 don't like low temps so keeping them in the cabin will help. Otherwise the port locker would work.

 

[Grip Fast]

I just finished moving my house batteries. I put three carbon foam 12 volts under the floor of the sail locker. It's going to load the boat on the port side, but will ballance with other crap on Starboard. Very happy with the space there.

 

[SCFoster]

The floor of your sail locker must be a lot deeper than mine. Checked today and there's less than a foot of space under there. There is a lot of room in the sail locker to install all the electronics and store batteries.

 

[Grip Fast]

Looks about the same as mine. I will have to raise the floor a couple inches. I am hoping to finish this install tomorrow. I will post pictures when done.
Its tight, and they dont set upright, they lean a little but since they are carbon foam, they should be happy there. I will add some vent holes.

 

[SCFoster]

Your idea is a good one. May use it. As we said in the software business, R&D stands for "ripoff & duplicate".

 

[Grip Fast]

No problem, I hope it works long term. It does make her list a little to port....the wife wants me to move all tools to starboard but that's pretty tough.
The storm doesn't look like it will be a problem in the Chesapeake but will have a couple days of rain. I am here at the boat now trying to finish the install. If it rains on Monday and Tuesday, I may try to reorganize everything and see what can be done to balance the boat......but there are not many options for batteries in this boat.
She is a good boat, but there are a few compromises, battery space is one.
I hope to go for a 3 or 4 day cruise Thursday, it will be a good test for the batteries and the solar panels.

 

[SCFoster]

What are you doing for solar panels and where are you mounting them?

 

[Grip Fast]

have 4, 110 watt panels that I mounted on an arch. I bought one of those "tower in a box" arches. it looks pretty good. it was a pretty slow install. did it a few weeks ago in crazy heat. I will figure out how to post pictures on this site and post some pictures in a few days.

 

[Grip Fast]

I had to raise the floor 2 1/5 inches to cover the batteries. I just screwed strips of wood to the sides of the plywood floor to get the height I needed. The arch is shown in the other picture. I will take one of with the pannels after it quites raining if you want to see how they are mounted.

 

[SCFoster]

Thanks for the picture. On the other side of the plywood wall, under the berth is where my house #1 and engine start batteries are located. So two of those Fireflies would fit and be more centered over the keel. Just a thought.
I think I'm still going to go with the LiFePO4 Victron batteries but need to check the dimensions to see how much will fit under the berth.

 

[Grip Fast]

My house batteries were in front of the engine. My start is under the aft birth, beside that bulkhead. I left the start battery where it is.

 

[SCFoster]

Did you replace the original inverter/charger? Mine came with a Xantrex Freedom 20, which is no longer made. I've thought about ripping it out and starting over, but weighing the cost if the 2000W charger can still do the job.

 

[luken7]

BTW, does anyone here have a 4D house battery under the companionway in front of the engine? I currently have a pair of golf cart batteries but I'm looking into a 300Ahr lithium which is the 4D size (~16.73x13.5x10.79). It seems like it may be an inch wide?

 

[SCFoster]

BTW, does anyone here have a 4D house battery under the companionway in front of the engine? I currently have a pair of golf cart batteries but I'm looking into a 300Ahr lithium which is the 4D size (~16.73x13.5x10.79). It seems like it may be an inch wide?

There is a Deka 904D under the stairs in front of the engine (Deka Battery Model 904D ). 2001 Beneteau 361.