On my trawler my present house battery bank consists of two 8Ds, my
starting battery is a 4D.

The 8Ds are ready for replacement. I'd like to go with golf cart
batteries.

Costco has them for $62 each. No real information on the card in the
store. West marine has them for $127. There is not enough information in
either place to compare them to each other.

Several sites on the Internet have Trojan golf cart batteries, and there
are many choices, for prices that look like $200 and up.

I have a lot to learn about batteries. I don't have enough information,
yet, to compare what I'm seeing.

Then there's the issue of a new "Smart" charger. My 20 year old charger
probably needs to be upgraded with the batteries.

Your input would be appreciated.

Jim

"Jim" wrote in message
ink.net...
On my trawler my present house battery bank consists of two 8Ds, my
starting battery is a 4D.

The 8Ds are ready for replacement. I'd like to go with golf cart
batteries.

Costco has them for $62 each. No real information on the card in the
store. West marine has them for $127. There is not enough information in
either place to compare them to each other.

Several sites on the Internet have Trojan golf cart batteries, and there
are many choices, for prices that look like $200 and up.

I have a lot to learn about batteries. I don't have enough information,
yet, to compare what I'm seeing.

Then there's the issue of a new "Smart" charger. My 20 year old charger
probably needs to be upgraded with the batteries.

Your input would be appreciated.

Jim

Here's a great link that should answer all of your questions...

http://www.vonwentzel.net/Battery/index.html

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

Jim wrote:
On my trawler my present house battery bank consists of two 8Ds, my
starting battery is a 4D.

The 8Ds are ready for replacement. I'd like to go with golf cart
batteries.

Costco has them for $62 each. No real information on the card in the
store. West marine has them for $127. There is not enough information in
either place to compare them to each other.

Several sites on the Internet have Trojan golf cart batteries, and there
are many choices, for prices that look like $200 and up.

I have a lot to learn about batteries. I don't have enough information,
yet, to compare what I'm seeing.

Then there's the issue of a new "Smart" charger. My 20 year old charger
probably needs to be upgraded with the batteries.

Your input would be appreciated.

Jim

Don't know who makes the Cosco batteries but the West Marine Type GC2 6
volt batteries are T-105's made by Trojan. You can usually get them
cheaper at the Trojan dealer.
krj

Hi, Jim,

Jim wrote:
On my trawler my present house battery bank consists of two 8Ds, my
starting battery is a 4D.

The 8Ds are ready for replacement. I'd like to go with golf cart
batteries.

Costco has them for $62 each. No real information on the card in the
store. West marine has them for $127. There is not enough information in
either place to compare them to each other.

Several sites on the Internet have Trojan golf cart batteries, and there
are many choices, for prices that look like $200 and up.

I have a lot to learn about batteries. I don't have enough information,
yet, to compare what I'm seeing.

Then there's the issue of a new "Smart" charger. My 20 year old charger
probably needs to be upgraded with the batteries.

Your input would be appreciated.

If you can hoist 8Ds, you can hoist L16 (different flavors ranging from
375-425AH). Essentially the same footprint as golf cart, but lift
cart/floor polisher, etc., batteries, they're twice as tall.

My 4 are in a box I had fabricated; with my solar and wind generation,
providing relatively constant charging (vs the usual taper-off of
alternators, never quite reaching full charge) I expect I'll rarely
discharge very far. With pulse technology, I expect I'll get even more
life than well maintained batteries would have otherwise provided.

My preference - if I had lots of square footage available to me (vs
height), I might have gone to golf carts, as generally they're cheapest
per AH and common as dirt.

L8R

Skip

On 6 Jul 2006 16:08:44 -0700, "Skip Gundlach"
wrote:

My preference - if I had lots of square footage available to me (vs
height), I might have gone to golf carts, as generally they're cheapest
per AH and common as dirt.

Absolutely right.

Skip, where are you in your "get away" plan ?

Hi, Wayne, and group,

Rather than hijack this thread, see my separate post "Skip and Lydia's
Excellent Adventure Update" posted some time soon :{))

L8R

Skip and Lydia, shortly to be of no fixed address, no itinerary, no
schedule

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
http://tinyurl.com/p7rb4 - NOTE:new URL! The vessel as Tehamana, as we
bought her

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely
nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing,
messing-about-in-boats; messing about in boats-or *with* boats.
In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter,
that's the charm of it.
Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never
get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to
do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

On Thu, 06 Jul 2006 19:00:08 GMT, Jim wrote:

Costco has them for $62 each. No real information on the card in the
store. West marine has them for $127. There is not enough information in
either place to compare them to each other.

Sam's Club usually has them for about $50 each plus a $5 core charge
if you do not have an old battery (any type) to give them. Dollar for
dollar these are the cheapest batteries you can get unless you have a
wholesale source. I've got 8 of Sam's batts on my trawler.

Wayne.B wrote:

On Thu, 06 Jul 2006 19:00:08 GMT, Jim wrote:


Costco has them for $62 each. No real information on the card in the
store. West marine has them for $127. There is not enough information in
either place to compare them to each other.


Sam's Club usually has them for about $50 each plus a $5 core charge
if you do not have an old battery (any type) to give them. Dollar for
dollar these are the cheapest batteries you can get unless you have a
wholesale source. I've got 8 of Sam's batts on my trawler.

What is the amp rating on your batteries?

I've learned there's three levels of batteries. And lots of different
prices.

On Fri, 07 Jul 2006 02:24:30 GMT, Jim wrote:

Sam's Club usually has them for about $50 each plus a $5 core charge
if you do not have an old battery (any type) to give them. Dollar for
dollar these are the cheapest batteries you can get unless you have a
wholesale source. I've got 8 of Sam's batts on my trawler.

What is the amp rating on your batteries?

I've learned there's three levels of batteries. And lots of different
prices.

I believe they are rated at 220 Amp-Hours, 20 amp rate. Mine have
been going strong for over a year which includes about 7 months of
liveaboard cruising while powering a large inverter.

One of the best things about 6 volt golf cart batts other than cost
effectiveness is ease of replacement. They weigh less than 60 lbs
each, much easier than horsing an 8D on and off the boat and into
position.

Rolls, Surette and Trojan all make good batteries but you will pay a
lot more for them. If I were cruising around the world and could not
get replacements along the way, that is what I'd be using.

Wayne.B wrote in
:

I believe they are rated at 220 Amp-Hours, 20 amp rate.

Does it say 20 Amps or 20 hour rate??

20 hours would be 11 amps, right?

Way too many boaters believe it'll put out 220A for 1 hour....

It won't.