I picked up my boat this past spring. Ran it all season. Put over a 100 hours on it without any battery or electrical problems. I had a friend tell me I have the wrong type of battery in the boat. I have one battery and it's an interstate deep cycle battery (HD24-DP) 405 CCA 505 MCA. He said I shouldn't have a deep cycle battery for my main and only battery? Is he right?

most starting batteries have around 1000cca, im quite supprized your getting by with 405cca. Most mastercrafts use a group 27 not a 24 too. Im not telling you that yours wont work but, as the battery wears down and loses voltage, those cca's are only going to drop. I think the interstate model you want is a 27m-xhd. Low voltage can cook ecm's and mastercrafts gauge controling computer

You're fine with a deep cycle battery. <BR>What you lose are cranking amps and what you gain is the ability to let it discharge lower for longer. Boats and RV's that tend to sit for long periods often have Deep cycle batteries as their only battery. <BR>Myself, I prefer a starting type, or conventional, battery as a sole battery but it certainly isn't worth worrying over.

I've had an Interstate deep cycle in my boat for seven years now, it's just starting to lose some holding power if it sits more than a month, but charges right back up on a trickle charger.

Deep cycle okay. Most people see deep cycles as auxillary/reserve batteries but they can be used for a primary battery. I would recommend upgrading maybe to a larger CCA battery and maybe keep your current battery as a secondary with a Perko switch. I know I do not feel right turning off the boat if I'm having to rely on one battery but I might just be paranoid of floating all the way to the Pacific. hahaha...

No.

I was thinking of adding a perko switch this winter. So maybe I'll get a larger CCA battery and set up my deep cycle as the secondary battery. That should work well, right?

Is it very hard to add a Perko switch? I've been thinking about adding second battery to give me peace of mind for a while and to provide extra weight up front. Does anyone have an easy installation guide?

Go buy one an instruction manual is included. Very easy....

If I was going to buy a new battery I wouldn't buy a small deep cycle as the primary starting battery. <BR> <BR>If I already had the battery and it was working for me I wouldn't change it. <BR> <BR>In a year or two when that battery starts to have difficulty I would replace it with a larger battery that has more CCA. Until then use what you have. <BR> <BR>Rod

My boat came from the factory with a deep cycle.

I believe every "marine" battery I have ever looked at was deep cycle.

I would recommend looking into installing a combiner instead of a Perko switch. I was planning to do a Perko switch until some electrical gurus on here explained the different choices. The Perko is nice, but a combiner is completely automatic. I got a 150-amp combiner on e-bay for $115, and the install was very easy.

Instructions for Perko on this page: <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.perko.com/instruct.php" target="_blank">http://www.perko.com/instruct.php</a> <BR>click battery switches and then <BR> Medium Duty Battery Selector Switch 8501DP, 8503DP then <i>download instructions</i> <BR> <BR>Sam- <BR> <BR>In regards to a combiner, please elaborate on this. I'm not sure if you are refering to a solenoid or a battery isolator.

<u>PERKO'S SUCK</u> buy Blue Seas or BEP, both are brands that the manufactures choose, much much better quality. I have seen perko's that shorted out internaly and melted the whole switch.

Also your starter draws 800 or so amps so any battery used to start your boat should be rated as such.