I have a 12 ft jon boat. Got it camo-painted, registered, tagged, etc. Did some research and decided on a 55lb thrust Minn Kota trolling motor. Bought the motor and battery earlier this week, planning to take it out tonight. I'm totally new to this stuff, first time boat owner, etc., so I've got some questions for you seasoned guys...

The motor came with a battery charger. So when I got home I checked the battery with the charger's built-in charge-check feature. The battery is the Cabelas brand deep cycle lead acid battery. It needed a charge, apparently. But it charged up and now reads "fully charged". Question #1--is that normal? (For the new battery I just bought to need a charge before I use it...?)

The trolling motor I bought is a transom mount, and it will be my only motor (at least for a while). Once I mount the motor to the transom, the wires coming off the underside of the head of the motor look like they're long enough to reach the battery if I place the battery down near the transom behind the rear bench of my boat. Now, I'm obviously not planning on particularly splashing a bunch of water in the boat, but it's certainly possible that water can and might splash into the boat a little--especially since it's a small jon boat and sits pretty low to the water. So, Question #2--is it ok for the battery/battery terminals/wire end connectors to get a bit wet or splashed here and there? I'm not extremely familiar with boats and all of this marine electronics stuff, but I would imagine that these products have been designed to withstand minimal amounts of contact with water, considering that they are designed to be used on boats. But I also know that electronics and water usually don't play well together. Should I be taking extra precautions to keep that battery and the terminals dry?

Anything else you guys feel like I ought to know about my new trolling motor and battery setup before I take her out tonight?

Thanks in advance!

Put light bulb grease on the terminals

45 views and no other responses? I'd really appreciate it if someone could actually answer my questions.

#1 yes, batteries drain sitting on the shelf even if not hooked up to anything.... it's ok since it came to full charge.

#2 they are made to get wet...but not submerged. Most batteries under the hood in cars get wet all the time. Not a bad idea to put anticorrosion on the terminals if you will be leaving it hooked up but not if you are going to be taking it out every time you take the boat out.

Ok, thanks a bunch, Bronco71--I appreciate it!

you can get a battery box for it to sit in which will slow down the battery acid removing the paint in the back of your boat and keep water off the battery.
You can also move the battery towards the front of the boat and get some heavy gauge copper wire to run to the back to a terminal pad to hook up your motor so that you can balance the weight a little. A 12ft jon with electric trolling motor was my main fishing boat for over a year.

They make an enclosed plastic battery box. I'd get one of them and fasten it down in the boat so it can't move around. I've had a plug come out before and completely submersing the batteries. It won't hurt them to get wet but I'd want them always exposed to it. It is not uncommon for a deep cycle to need a bit of a charge when you buy it. Always hook up your charger at the end of the day fishing and fully charge them. It will make them last longer than letting them sit and wait days before recharging.

I put my transom mount on the bow; turned the head around and put the battery in the middle. Fished from the middle seat since the front seat was in the bow basically. 12 ft alum. V hull flat bottom with a 10HP Johnson.