H-26 Best Battery Location

[Chiriqui]

Since purchasing my 1996 H-26 about 2 years ago the batteries have served me well.

I started having trouble a couple of months back with not enough charge to start the 9.8 outboard and I noticed I lost the radio and chart plotter when I did try to start the motor. If I motored for 1/2 hr getting out to sea I found I had enough charge to restart the motor.

I pulled the 24 Volt stern battery and the 27 Volt bow battery.
My marina owner didn't like two things he noted.
One why was one battery up in the bow and two it didn't have a heavy enough cable running to it. We discovered the small flexible solar charger that sits on one of the stern corner seats battery eye connector was no longer connected and deteriorated. That explains why with all the sunshine we get at this time of the year in Panama, why the batteries were not charged.

The bow 27 V battery (sealed marine) was dead. The stern battery was getting charged still by the motor. It was an unsealed battery. The 27V recharged at a battery shop. I've replaced the 24V with a sealed battery.

Carlos main beef with what he saw about my setup was why I had a battery in the bow. He claimed and I could agree to a degree that it was not the most efficient location on the basis of power output. The 20' feet of cable running back to the stern battery isn't ideal.

My thought was that it's weight was a concern by locating a battery up in the bow.

I just looked though the H26 manual I have. It's not very specific for a layman. I don't see two batteries mentioned.

Carlos wants to relocate the 2nd battery in the starboard rear compartment much like the current 24V battery in the port stern compartment. He said we could build a glass mount to level battery. If ballast is needed in the bow we could fill a 5 gallon tank with water a place it in the bow.

I'm installing a SouthBoard Solar Panel I just received to maintain a charge. I hope I can get it attached to the railing on a stern seat

(1) Did the Hunter 26 come from the factory with 2 batteries?
(2) Is balancing the ballast in the boat the reason for the battery in the forward bow compartment?
(3) opinions?

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Only one battery located in the aft port side behind the rear berth was supplied by Hunter. The bow is not a good place to store a battery and obviously someone placed it there after the boat was bought. The fellow mentioned a good area in the stern starboard side where a platform for the battery can be mounted if you are not using that for storage.

Crazy dave condon

 

[Benny17441]

I think you may be comfusing a group 24 and group 27 battery type with their voltage. Both batteries are rated at 12V. Their difference lies mainly in storage capacity and weight. Your boat was probably equipped with a single battery. Our h320 came with a single group 24 deep cycle battery. The boat was well equipped with a few extras including A/C but just a single battery, you figure. Don't know the reason but it should not be for ballast unless the PO was a mamooth class whale of a person. Opinion, if the the outboard engine can be pull started you may not need two batteries. If the pull starter has been disabled or the engine location does not facilitate pull starting then you may want to carry a 2nd battery for redundancy. If you place both batteries on one side the boat may list a little to that side but I would doubt a 26' boat would react like that. Get deep cycle batteries which can be used for house batteries and will whistand a good number of discharge/charge cycles and will have no problems starting your engine.

 

[Juice6576]

H26 came with one battery

My 96 H26 came with a single group 24 Battery in the aft port locker, near the outboard. That is the original location. There was no disconnect switch or charger option. We used a portable charger for the 15 years we owned the boat...never got around to installing a permanent one. I did upgrade to a group 27 for the additional capacity. As a general rule, the outboard charging system will keep the battery topped off unless you have a lot of accessories. My biggest drain was the tillerpilot.
This location did offset the weight of the outboard installed on the starboard side. Adding an additional battery might induce a slight list and make the boat squat aft. The idel location would be amidships, probably below the settees in the main cabin.

 

[MABell]

Windlass?

Does the boat have a windlass (or had one at one time)? That would explain the battery in the bow.

 

[soling42]

My '04 260 came with one group 24 batt mounted behind the aft bunk bulkhead on the starboard side. Added together with the weight of the OB, galley stowage and cooler, the boat had a noticeable list to starboard. I corrected it by moving the org batt over to the port side behind the aft bunk bulkhead and added a 2nd batt next to it with a selector sw on the bulkhead wall and a voltage gauge. They both sit on a glassed in platform and are in batt boxes and are braced and strapped.

Granted they are tougher to get to but it balanced the boat well and I only need to get in there very rarely. It's a roomy area back there and at one time I thought of adding a water bladder for longer stays on the hook but worried about weight in the stern along with how much I'd really ever use it. With the vast majority of the hull displacement being in the rear I'm sure any added weight aft would have a negligible impact compared to weight being in the bow. My ground tackle and water tank already have a big impact in the bow. As for me, placing batteries mid ship costs too much in the loss of stowage for things that come and go and are more convenient with ready access.

Good luck in your project. Mike