Charging Batteries?
 

Im curious to know how the majority of u guys are charging ur boat batteries. In the storage yard where I keep mine, there is no electricty, so I cant just hook up the battery tenders. Do you guys take the batteries out and charge them at the house every trip? I was in the process of doing that, but it seems like such a hassle to undo all 3 batteries, undo the hatch pin (electric hatch), then use a paddle to prop up the hatch while I undo and lift the batteries out, while not forgetting to put the outdrive down :) then put the covers on................then repeat that process in reverse everytime I want to take the boat out! And this is after I wash the boat and clean the interior.

I guess its really not THAT bad, but there has to be a easier way. I follow the philosophy "Work smarter not harder!" Does anyone use the solar battery tenders? Do they work just as well as the electric?

Thanks in advace!

I have a dual bank battery charger, Battery Tender brand. Bought off ebay for $80 or so. All you do is plug it in and leave. Works great on the bass boat to keep the trolling battery charged.

i watched an episode of ship shape and they mentioned normal trickle charge batteries are not adequate to recharge batteries. a marine battery charger is required. any truth to this?

I wouldn't try to re-charge a low battery with a trickle charger, they usually only have enough power to keep the batterys charged.

I just plug in my shore power whenever the boat is in the shop, and let the onboard battery charger do the work. It would be fairly simple to add one to your boat, but having no power where you stor it would be tough.

Guess you could get into the habbit of a nice long cruise at the end of the weekend to charge them up :)

Just disconnect the battery wires in the Fall when it goes into storage and reconnect them in the Spring. They should still be about 80% full of charge.

Thats what I do...I hook them up to the charger once I bring the boat home from storage (spring cleaning) and make sure they are at 100% before my first trip out. After that I dont worry about it all summer.

Ok, thats good to know! I wasn't sure how much the batteries get depleted and how much the altenator charges them up while out on the water.

Thanks to everyone!

I would still put them on a charger to get them up to 100% in the Spring.