New batteries?

middle of the hunt I would say....


just wondering what brand was the old one and what is the new one.?

Old one was an "Exiude" or something like that. New one is an "Everstart" from wallmart.

is anyone out there using a optima blue top? I am wondering if they are a good as they are said to be in cars.

you said you replaced 1 was it in a bank or a solo battery when you have more than one battery hooked to gether in a bank you should replace the whole bank at the same time other wise the older batteries will draw from the new one and kill it sooner if only one battery in a bank is bad you can use the others for something else but just dont introduce a new battery to an old bank.

JohnnyO19 said:

Old one was an "Exiude" or something like that. New one is an "Everstart" from wallmart.

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Everstart is a private brand name for Wal-Mart and is not actually the name of the manufacturer. Some Everstart batteries are made by Exide and some by Delphi Automotive. Both good companies.

If you use the battery to run an electric trolling motor, you should use what they call a "deep cycle" marine battery and not an ordinary car battery. "Deep cycle" in this case means you frequently run the battery all the way down to a discharged state and then charge it all the way back up again. Ordinary automotive batteries have a pretty short life time if you treat them this way.

If you just use the battery for starting an outboard, running lights, etc. then you could get away with using a car battery with no problem.

As has already been mentioned, if you have 2 or 3 batteries connected in your boat, you should replace them as a group. Also, do not mix marine batteries in together with automotive batteries.

W. E.

P.S. I am NOT connected with Wal-Mart in any way, heaven forbid.

I'm using some optimas (34DM) on a trolling motor and I'm pretty happy with them On a full day of fishing in the wind at Jackson this year. I had the trolling motor running almost full blast the whole day they only ran down to about 65 to 70 % charge. The built in tester on the motor finally went from full to good after about 4 hours. They weren't the cheapest things out there, but I got them online with no tax and free shipping for 150.00 each. So far I think they are worth the money.

This is the deep cycle, marine battery. This one is the one connected to the engine, horn etc... Actually, we replaced the other one with the same battery last year. The one for the trolling motor, depth finders etc.. We also have a dual bank charger that we purchased from Cabelas at the end of last season, so hopefully this set up will last awhile. With normal use, and keeping it fully charged after each use, how long should these last?

JohnnyO19 said:

This is the deep cycle, marine battery. This one is the one connected to the engine, horn etc... Actually, we replaced the other one with the same battery last year. The one for the trolling motor, depth finders etc.. We also have a dual bank charger that we purchased from Cabelas at the end of last season, so hopefully this set up will last awhile. With normal use, and keeping it fully charged after each use, how long should these last?

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None of those things make any difference, because Murphy's Law about batteries governs the situation: A battery will always perform flawlessly until one month after the warranty runs out.

Well, OK, my WAG (wild-a**ed guess), 6 years if you don't have the trolling motor on it. 4 years if you do.

I have fished out of boats for at least twenty years and it seems that three seasons of use is about it. These batteries are beat up pretty bad by discharge charge cycles and pounding across lakes. I value my time fishing so it is worth it to just replace even if the battery seems to be working. Not worth driving some where putting in running for a few hrs and your battery takes a dump.

McFish.... three seasons seems kinda short to me.... prehaps a battery that is more in tune with how you use it would be better....

or maybe you just get a lot more fishing in then the rest of it.... if so congrats.

with most boaters time is the least damaging to the batteries

more damage comes from improper charging/overcharging, lack of maintinace (maintance free batteries still go dry!!), and freezing! the truly SEALed gel cell batteries dont dry out and suffer less from freezing but require different charging voltages. if you can mount the battery upside down or on its side like the optima's then it is a true sealed battery if not then you need to check the water to keep the going long and strong