On Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:02:05 -0400, Gene
wrote:

On Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:51:30 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports penned the
following well considered thoughts to the readers of rec.boats:

|recharging trolling motor batteries?

No... but I'd like to hear other folks experiences using solar float
charging...

Solar float charging seems to work well. I haven't tried it myself
but have heard a lot of success stories. A small, inexpensive panel
is all you need unless there is a lot of leakage in the electrical
system.

Recharging a trolling motor is a different matter since serious amps
are required. You have to calculate how many amp-hours need to be
replaced, and how much daylight time you have available. Most people
also recommend derating the panel capacity by at least 50% to allow
for all the inefficiencies that creep in to the process.