Trolling motor power

[Troublehook]

I am considering buying fellow member jnelson's trolling motor, as it seems to be a good purchase for my boat. The question I have is what do you all use to charge your battery, other than the type that gets the charge from your boat motor (so something that you "plug in" at home). Also what might that charger cost at a store? Finally about what would a 12V trolling battery cost? Thanks for your help.

[big musk411]

I have a diehard charger that was about $40 and I bought a new batterie last year at Cabelas for about $70.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

You can use a portable deepcycle charger that you hook up to your battery and plug in at home.(Around $50.00) Or if you fish a lot most of us have an onboard charger installed.

This way you just have to plug it in at home or at a resort's dock after each day out. This is the best and easiest method as far as I am concerned. A decent onboard charger will cost you $80.00 to $125.00 plus instalation.

Sam's Club sells good deep cycle batteries for around $50.00

Cliff

[caseymcq]

Quote:

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You can use a portable deepcycle charger that you hook up to your battery and plug in at home.(Around $50.00) Or if you fish a lot most of us have an onboard charger installed.

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Cliff nailed it. The on-board chargers are really slick. I put my trolling batteries in the boat at the beginning of the season and they don't come out until the boat is being put away for storage. It is nice whether it is at the dock or in the grage to just be able to plug it in. I have a three bank charger for my boat and I love it. I bought it from Cabela's for a little under $170 with a kit to extend the wires to the back battery for $25 and put it all in myself. It was pretty easy to do. If I had it to do again I would have just bought some heavy guage wire and saved over using the kit.

[bubs]

if you buy the right charger (one that monitores the batteries) and store your boat with a place to plug in the charger you don't even have to take the batteries out for winter just keep the charger plugged in and it moneters the batteries to keep them charged so you don't have to worry about them when your ready to go fishing in the spring.

[Troublehook]

Thanks for the prices and advice. I forgot to mention that I dont have a job, so the on board charger is basically out of the question. I think an at home charger will be enough for me. It looks like the trolling motor might be siting in the garage for a while, until I can get that kind of money, but now I know about what it costs, so thanks again for your input.