Batteries to the Cuddy

Some of the manufactures make or use to anyway, lead acid batteries that are designed to take more of a pounding and vibration during serious off road vehicle use. Many year back I had one put in back when I use to do some serious off road 4x4 pounding. If you could find one with the specs you need it could be an option for moving the battery to the bow where it would be subject to greater shock. You could investigate modern shock resistant batteries. As others have said, out gassing of explosive hydrogen could be an issue and in our boat at least, the cuddy is contained and you do sleep up there. I have also heard that at least with lead/acid you do not want the acid leaking and mixing with sea water like in a bilge, especially in a closed area. It also occurs to me that in a forward collision the bow is going to take a lot of damage where as the stern tends to be better protected.
There are real advantages to having your batteries in the back close to the motor. I like Profisher's idea with the fuel tank, perhaps you can find some other way to balance boat weight. You could keep your anchor and chain, spare lead balls, tools, and fresh water low in the bow center as they are all heavy.
 
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Thanks again fellas. Definitely going to look at moving fuel forward as I did with my Arima. The cuddy isn't big enough to sleep in in this boat so it will be strictly a storage area. Maybe the batteries can live at the stern. I should post some pics of this rebuild as it happens. Thanks all.
 
I noticed you said batteries as in two. Have you considered cutting back to one battery in the stern and buying one of those completely sealed portable emerging starting batteries that you could keep up in the bow in case you ever run down the single battery with the stereo, riggers or pot puller.
Also a a two stroke kicker will cut weight as will a 4 stroke that does not have power start or lift.
Batteries deteriorate quickly and if I was running just one battery, I would consider replacing it after two or three years as good insurance.
 
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I built a in floor fuel tank for my 16’ double eagle. Made a huge difference compared to day tanks under the splash well. Rides way nicer now. Thought about moving batteries but decided to do the fuel tank instead.
 
Reviving this thread. I just installed a heavier kicker my 2052 Trophy. The stern is heavy enough that the boat struggles to get on plane. Considering moving the house battery to the cuddy and leaving the starting battery in its current location. I run the boat with the battery selector set to "both". The biggest drain on my house battery is my Scotty prawn puller (30A fuse) that I only use with the engine running.

I'd like to explore moving the house battery to a plastic battery box in the cuddy. I'd install a terminal strip in the original battery area and supply the terminal strip with power via 15' runs of 2AWG marine wire. The positive terminal would have a breaker.

The other option is find a lighter kicker (save 30lbs), return to the stock smaller batteries (save 20 lbs) and just live with stern-heaviness from there. I'm not too concerned about my house battery loosing 25% of its life because of pounding.

Thoughts?
 
Reviving this thread. I just installed a heavier kicker my 2052 Trophy. The stern is heavy enough that the boat struggles to get on plane. Considering moving the house battery to the cuddy and leaving the starting battery in its current location. I run the boat with the battery selector set to "both". The biggest drain on my house battery is my Scotty prawn puller (30A fuse) that I only use with the engine running.

I'd like to explore moving the house battery to a plastic battery box in the cuddy. I'd install a terminal strip in the original battery area and supply the terminal strip with power via 15' runs of 2AWG marine wire. The positive terminal would have a breaker.

The other option is find a lighter kicker (save 30lbs), return to the stock smaller batteries (save 20 lbs) and just live with stern-heaviness from there. I'm not too concerned about my house battery loosing 25% of its life because of pounding.

Thoughts?
Is 20-30 pounds really anything on a boat? Move all your extra cannonballs up front.
 
Is 20-30 pounds really anything on a boat? Move all your extra cannonballs up front.
I'd love to move the batteries on my factory podded Campion 622 to the cuddy. The math on the altered CoG works. It would allow a lot less tab use. 2 years ago I bought batteries to suit. The sticking point for me is I haven't been able to wrap my head around the price of cabling. It won't be much less than $1K. Looking ahead to this summer's projected gas prices is making me explore this again...
 
Reviving this thread. I just installed a heavier kicker my 2052 Trophy. The stern is heavy enough that the boat struggles to get on plane. Considering moving the house battery to the cuddy and leaving the starting battery in its current location. I run the boat with the battery selector set to "both". The biggest drain on my house battery is my Scotty prawn puller (30A fuse) that I only use with the engine running.

I'd like to explore moving the house battery to a plastic battery box in the cuddy. I'd install a terminal strip in the original battery area and supply the terminal strip with power via 15' runs of 2AWG marine wire. The positive terminal would have a breaker.

The other option is find a lighter kicker (save 30lbs), return to the stock smaller batteries (save 20 lbs) and just live with stern-heaviness from there. I'm not too concerned about my house battery loosing 25% of its life because of pounding.

Thoughts?
I put a 50 lb bag of sand in one of storage boxes on my Trophy 2052 ( the one on the oposite side of the kicker). I find it really helps, and was way cheaper than moving the batteries.
 
Is 20-30 pounds really anything on a boat? Move all your extra cannonballs up front.
60lbs of spare cannonballs on the anchor locker. My boat is sensitive to stern weight.

Time to plane with no kicker is about 5 seconds.
Time to plane with 100 lbs kicker is 8 seconds.
Time to plane with 140 lbs kicker is 20 seconds.
 
What year is your boat and is it waterlogged? My buddy had a early 90’s 23’ trophy that was rotten. I don’t want to imply that you have more issues, but After fixing the transom, it was a few inches higher at the stern and rode so much better. No more wet floor through the scuppers too
 
What year is your boat and is it waterlogged? My buddy had a early 90’s 23’ trophy that was rotten. I don’t want to imply that you have more issues, but After fixing the transom, it was a few inches higher at the stern and rode so much better. No more wet floor through the scuppers too
Trailered boat, no evidence of rot. Other extra weight items are larger batteries (group 31s instead of 27s) and downriggers are mounted as far aft as possible. Between kicker, riggers and larger batteries, I'm probably 200 lbs over factory in the stern. Trophy has a large 85 gallon tank too that I tend to keep on the top half.
 
60lbs of spare cannonballs on the anchor locker. My boat is sensitive to stern weight.

Time to plane with no kicker is about 5 seconds.
Time to plane with 100 lbs kicker is 8 seconds.
Time to plane with 140 lbs kicker is 20 seconds.
Do you have trim tabs it made all the difference on planing speed on my 1802 trophy but I still want a battery in the cuddly
 
With the pod and 225 hanging off the back, fuel moved to the rear I am installing the batteries midships in front of the fuel tank. Counteract the pod and I figure fuel is less dense than batteries. The only time you will get a significant amount of hydrogen is during charging after a significant discharge, mine wont be in the cuddy however the gas could make it there. I believe reasonable ventilation will take care of it SO..
I'm going with conventional lead acid while my maintenance experience ended 5 years ago at that time i did not see any benefit to AGM. I want capacity, cranking amps, weight and economy so 31 series as quoted from a Traction dealer at $123.12 each for a 31S930 fits my bill.
 
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