New Boat Battery Life??

Tige 22I is now turning 3 years old. I am running two stock batteries in it. I also have a high output stereo installed with three amps.

How long do you think the original batteries are good for? Is three years it? The charge was run down over the winter and I charged the A battery when I ran it last weekend. It seemed fine.

I was running both batteries for about 2 hours of boating thinking it would charge battery 2 also from the alternator. When I went to start the boat on battery 2 after two hours of running it seemed pretty dead and would not start.

What do you think? Go ahead and replace them now? Any experience out there on stock battery life?

Thanks all!!

BTW I posted a while back on transmission slippage. You were all correct it was because the fluid was low. There was a small leak that has been fixed. Thanks again!

In my experience 3 years is about it--especially w/a big stereo. I'd say you're on borrowed time. The bottom line is this---if you replace them a little too early you will be spending a little more. If you don't replace them you may be rowing back especially if they sat dead for an extended period.

I was thinking the same thing. Never had a battery problem to this point. But as you mentioned at this point probably on borrowed time! Thanks!

My boat is going into the 4th season this year and my batteries are going strong. It sat for 6 months but then it started up just fine. I just had my boat and batteries looked at and the mechanic said they are just fine. They are holding charge and doing exactly what they are suppose to do. Both batteries are cranking batteries from Mastercraft. even thought he mechanic give them a clean bill of health i'm a little worried becuase i don't want to get stranded anywhere. How does it work? I have a perko switch and I can run the boat on 1, 2 or all. When i use one batteru it isn't charging the other??

The three amps are giving the batteries a serious workout. My boat is an 05 and we put 130 hours on it last year. I also have three amps and they stay pretty hot :-)

By the end of the season the batteries were showing weakness and I had to get jumped once and put it on the charger at the dock twice, normally from running the tunes without the engine running.

I took the advice of many posts I've read on the boards and invested in two new Optima Blue top's. Costco had them for $140 each. I hear even if your working them hard they will go 3 years. I've always looked at having two good batteries and a battery switch on a boat as cheap insurance against a bad day on the water.

Three to five years is a reasonable life expectency for a battery. If you are deep cycling it (stereo load) and it is NOT a deep cycle battery then its life will definately be on the short side.

What destorys a battery quicker than anything else is allowing it to go completely dead, and it is even worse if you let it sit that way for any lenght of time. For example, your car battery can be doing fine until the day that you leave the headlights on after driving to work in the rain. You jump start the car but the battery never recovers.

My suggestion is to change both batteries. You got three good years out of those batteries and now it is time to change them. You might squeeze another season out of them, but then again you might be sitting out in the middle of the lake and not be able to start your engine and then pay through the nose for a new battery. Don't be penny wise and pound foolish.

Don't risk it. Change both batteries so that they are equivilant in all ways.

I think i will change both of my batteries. I was thinking about buying on "cranking" battery for starting the boat and one deep cycle battery i would maunly use to listen to the stereo while the negine is off. What do you think?

one word .....Optima!

Another word or three"GOLF CART BATTERIES", way cheaper and many times over the amp hour capacity of optimas. Keep your optima for the start battery.