Batteries for trolling motor on Party Boat

[biglurr54]

I'm looking to build a electric only party boat. Its a 16 ft Crest II pontoon. It's going on a small sheltered lake. I'm trying to figure out how to power this thing and have done a bunch of research. I was leaning towards a 80lb trolling motor but now I'm leaning towards a 55lb because it is 12volt. I'm trying to figure out the batter situation. I keep reading threads where people are using there trolling motors for 8+ hours on standard deep cycle batteries. But when I do the math with typical deep cycle batteries reserve capacity it seems the battery should be only lasting an hour and a half or so. How is this happening? Also I have been looking at larger gel cell batteries for off grid solar power. They are 12 volt deep cycle gel batteries. They cost a lot more but I dont mind spending more if it will last that much longer. The problem with the solar batteries is they don't seem to list reserve capacity. Here's a link to a battery i found. Please teach me!

http://www.gogreensolar.com/product...dftrk=gdfV21109_a_7c323_a_7c2152_a_7c13043472

 

[Star]

Re: Batteries for trolling motor on Party Boat

Fishermen troll at 1 to 3 mph in most cases. This is about 1/3 of max speed. My ap55 can run 6 hours on a srm 29 and still have battery left. he newer TMs us pulse width control to vary speed givng you better battery life. A 55# motor will have a ad time moving
a 16' Toon. I really wasn't kidding when I said to leave the boat tied up at the dock. PARTY ON!! Glss mat andels aren't worth the extra money. Walmart was selling a 29 for $82 get two of them. You can not charge them with small solar panels 10 amps at least!!

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Batteries for trolling motor on Party Boat

There are lots of threads in this forum dealing with solar battery charging and the fact remains that you need a solar panel array that is nearly the size of your boat to be able to actually "charge" a battery in a reasonable amount of time. An array would need to output at least 6 - 10 amps to call it a charger. Anything less would be of very little use except if the boat sits for long periods between use. I also agree that the expensive "hi-tec" batteries are not worth the money. I tend to look at these battery labels often and in most cases a plain old lead acid deep cycle (group 27/29) will have higher reserve capacity than an AGM at about 1/2 the price. Run time for any setup depends on the current draw of the motor, the design of the motor itself, how fast the motor runs and what the load is. Those numbers coupled with how far you need to travel determines the size and how many batteries you need to complete not only one trip, but the number of trips you intend to make in an outing. The charger you need is based on those numbers as well. If you run the batteries down one day and intend to do the same thing the next, you need 10 amp charger output for each of the batteries.