Batteries
 

What kind of batteries are you guys using? Are the optima worth the price? Do they last any longer? Are some better for cranking the boat and others for running equipment?

Well to tell the truth (I know I am gonna catch crap for this) but the optima batteries are not a bit better than say a good Interstate or any other name brand battery. I have tried them all, I had the red and blue and yellow optimas and they are not worth the price.

+1

Optima= lighter and do not leak.

That is what makes them worth it and I get blue tops for $85 each :)

dewayne6243, do mine sharing with the rest of us were to obtain the blue tops for $85.00

My experience with Optima Batteries is that they cost twice as much and last four times as long. I have a Blue Optima in my Barron Sprint flat bottom that has a 1998 mfg. date, so it is 12years old and still going strong. That boat has a 12 1/2:1 compression Big Block Chevy and the boat can sit in the garage all winter, in spring I hit the starter and it spins that BB Chevy like nothing. I also have Optima's in my Hallett and had them in the Fountain that I used to have. The Optima is a AGM (absorbed glass mat) battery, there are other batteries on the market of the same type, like Life Line Batteries, and they are just as good.

http://www.lifelinebatteries.com/

I use AGM batteries in anything that I think I am going to keep for a long time, they are better and last longer.

Dave

Dewayne i will take 2 at that price please! They are worth it if you are going to get 12 years out of one.

they cant be blue top group 27s ?

Been using a pair of Kirkland from Costco for the past eight years !
ed

i have 8 year old optimas!

Kirklands batteries are always among the best rated by Consumer Reports. Not sure who makes them, but we dont have any Kirklands around here anyway.

I have always been told the optimas are more for trolling motors, smaller engines and other equipment, and not to use for cranking big block motors

I use Delco Voyagers. I saw seven years out of the last two pair and they were still going strong when I sold my Formula. $79. each for a group 27, with core.

Are you guys taking them out for the winter, or do you just charge them up before you store the boat?

Been using Interstate deepcycle and starting and never any problems. Nothing but troubles with the Autozone dual purpose batteries. Went thru 3 in 2 yrs. No experince with the gels. I keep the Fountain in my garage and just hit it with the charger 1 or 2 times during the winter. The cruiser is left at the lake. I'll turn the charger on it in mid winter for a week or so and call it good till spring. The batteries in it shouldn't drain down enough in 3 months to do any harm between charges.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/mdf/pts/2099145391.html

He will take $85 if you buy several. From Arlington,TX


Just got 7 of them.

http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/2...7202037.th.jpg

Thanks dewayne, I will call and pu 3 of them.

I like a red top for cranking, a couple of dual-purpose blue's for radio/house.

Seems like the dual-purpose blue's just don't have the nuts that the red does when used for cranking.

Cranks my triples just fine.

Does anybody know how to find the Optima Blue top battery guy in Arlington Tx. His craigslist add is no good anymore and I can't find his phone#

Sams club has Energizers for 72 bucks. Im going to buy them tonight have never heard anything bad about them. Heard they actually are just Delcos with a different label. Sams membership is 40 bucks you make that back just on buying one battery

I know he had 1200 of them. I would think by now they all have been sold.

I had picked up 3 a while back from him and now have a freind that would like to have a couple. When I got mine he talk like he could get them anytime. But I can't find him now.

Found his number. 817-323-4276 Jeff

Thanks for the #

Have had great luck with Stowaway deep cycles 182 amp hour batteries at Tractor Supply for $80.00