I just put in a setup that works great. I have one battery for starting the boat, and two other 6 volt golf cart batteries run in series for the house power (stereo and everything else). When you run two 6 Volt batteries in series it essentially acts like one big 12 Volt battery that can run a 25 amp load for 7.5 hours! These batteries are great because they are made to be run all the way down, then charged back up. For comparison, one typical group 24 deep cycle battery can only run a 25 amp load for about 2 hours. The starter and house battery banks are isolated using a West Marine Battery Combiner. It ensures that one battery is used to start the boat, but that battery can not be drained by the stereo or other DC loads when the boat is off. When the boat is off, only the two golf cart batteries are drained. If you take this route it's also a good idea to have either one switch, or three on/off switches for better control. It's a great way to go.
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