Hopefully this isn’t too daft a question, and someone will be able to help me. The question is about type of battery, rather than quantum of battery. My boat is just about to come out of charter in the Whitsundays (Queensland, Australia), and I am getting it organised for my wife and I to use, initially for coastal cruising, possibly being more adventurous later on, with the shakedown cruise being a slow journey down the East Coast to bring the boat back to Sydney next month. I have to replace the house batteries. Currently it has 4 x 140AH 12 volt batteries which have never been particularly good, mainly because they have a very hard life in the charter operation. With only an 80 amp alternator I don’t think they get charged adequately, and have been pretty hopeless the last few years. Nevertheless, the operator was happy enough, so I haven’t replaced them. I have a KISS wind generator ready to install when I take the boat over next month, but will not (initially anyway) install solar, as there is little convenient space to put them on without putting a frame up over the stern, and I can do without that expense just at the moment. I am thinking of using 4 x 6v Crown CR225’s (225 AH at C100), which are golf buggy batteries. My reasoning is that 450 AH should be enough. Our land house is totally solar 12 volt, and only has 465 AH (at C120), with about 380 watts of panel which is enough for us. I only have to use the generator to pump water up the hill to the header tank, otherwise we use solar only (including hot water), cooking is gas though. The fridge has the same compressor as on the boat (Danfoss 35 watt). By my calculation on the boat we should only use a maximum of 200AH per day, including instruments and autopilot – we don’t intend to do extended night passages yet. My question is – is it OK to use golf buggy batteries? I used to use them in the house, and they were very good, and very cost effective. I recently replaced them with proper sealed Solar batteries (6 x 2v), but they are very heavy, very expensive, but maintenance free. I know that buggy batteries are not maintenance free, but for the cost at the moment, I am prepared to live with that. The batteries live under the aft bunks, along with the fuel tank. The area they live in is vented.
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