$5K in batteries.....

[cjac]

Good luck selling this one at the table going over the 2013 budget with the Mrs.

I just got the March Bassmaster mag and there's an article about Aaron Martens and how he manages boat weight. He runs 4 Lithionics batts at $1200 a pop, so with 4 batts he's pushing $5K in batteries. Wow.....

The 4 weigh approximately 112 lbs combined, so over a 200 lb reduction over lead cores. Supposedly they last anywhere from 10 to 25 years depending on use, but that up-front cost is a really big hurdle to clear.

I may ask a few buddies in the Finance dept to run this through the cost/benefit model and see if the up-front investment offsets the life cycle and all that other stuff the finance guys talk about.

[Basseyes]

My first couple questions would be what kind of warranty and customer service? That's a big gamble if the warranty and cs are subpar after the sale. The weight savings would be great. But how do they hold a charge and what about storing them in the winter?

[prov1900]

I can't think that 10 years of life would offset the 5K cost, but 25 years might. Of course in 25 years...what will our boats be powered with?

[Whoaru99]

The info I looked at on a couple of the marine-category batteries seemed to indicate 3-year warranty.

[Nick Kuhn]

It's a lithium battery, over charge discharge cycles it loses capacity. Even if you did get 25 years out of them, it would still be the same cost to replace a $100 battery every 2 years.