I am about to swap out my batteries and it has the 27 size in it but the trays are actually made for the 31 size which I'd like to have. I have 4 batteries total. The boat is a Skeeter ZX225 and I am wondering if the increased weight of the 31's is worth the hassle performance wise of the batteries? Not sure what the weight difference is but its gotta be a few pounds each I would think. I had the 31's in my ZX250 and never an issue but this boat is 10" shoter and is 20' 2". Just hate to rob the boat of speed if I can avoid it and want to keep unneccessary weight to a minimum.

i think its a good thing to have those 31 series batteries on those windy days fishing offshore or in the wind in general. i run the 31 series optimas and i believe they are equivalent to a 33 series.. i may be wrong but i do know they never quit, all tho i think there cranking battery is lacking in the cold cranking amps. if it was my boat i would run the 3 31 series yellow tops for my tm and get a cranking series from sears, they have a beast that alot of the elite guys are running all their graphs, livewells and other goodies off and it just wont drain

I think you will be OK if you don't use your live well,that safe on weight

make chad swim.. that will save some wieght and help keep him in shape

He will just push me in like he did at Hubbard Creek.

LOL!! i would just go to the 31's. shouldnt make a big difference if at all, in speed. just run with less gas on smaller lakes

Bigger is better and will last longer. Get the 31s.

with all the weight you are loosing, the 31's shouldnt be too bad...

Mark,

My approach to this is to establish what the percentage change would be in the TOTAL weight of your rig by going to the 31s. I�d bet that it would be less than 1%. I just don�t see that as being enough to effect the performance of your Skeeter appreciably.

From the Optima sight the difference in weight per battery is only 6 pounds. That means that you�re only adding about 24 pounds of weight to your rig by switching from Blue Top BCI 27 to BCI 31.

According to the Skeeter site your ZX225 has a dry weight of 1710 pounds, add to that 59.8 pounds time four and you get 1949 pounds. Now assume 500 pounds for the outboard and you have a weight of 2449 pounds, and 1% of this is 24.49 pounds. By the time you put two anglers in your Skeeter you�ve add another 400 pounds, and then there�s tackle, trolling motor, and electronics.

Without question you will be looking at adding less than 1% of your rigs current weight by going to the heavier batteries. If you�re anything like most bass angles you likely have at least 500 pounds of tackle, and equipment in your storage areas. Throw in the weight of the water in your livewells if they�re full and the change in the weight of your boat is going to be well under 1% of the total weight of your rig. (Remember that water weights about 8 and a third pounds per gallon, so if you�ve got 20 gallons of livewell capacity then you�re looking at 166 pounds of water. With a 50 gallon fuel tank and gasoline density of 6.07 pound per gallon you�re looking at about 300 pounds of fuel.

So 2449 plus 166 plus 300 equals and you�re looking at nearly 3,000 pounds. Add this to 400 pounds bass anglers and you�re getting close to 3,500 lbs..

It�s a good bet that the extra weight of going from 27 to 31 series batteries will only be about 0.7% of the current weight of your total rig.

Go for the larger batteries is my recommendation. I can see no appreciable loss of speed from doing so.


TFP

Man, I'm going to have to go on a tackle diet. TFP, you always have a way of putting things into perspective. Is Einstien in your family tree.

Mark are you running AGM's, Gell, or Wet Cell ?


I went to the AGM's in 2003 and haven't regretted it for a minute.

The weight difference can be 12-15lbs extra per battery 31 series over the 27.
With 3-27 series in good shape, you should be fine under most circumstances with the T/M.

I do however recommend the 31 for your cranking/livewells/lights/ACC/and electronics .

That's the (one) that can cause you some serious issues in competition, we ask a lot of that one battery, it's best for it to be super strong.. JM2C's it works for me, zero failures so far..

I have a 12v system in a Tracker. I have 1 wet cell and 1 AGM running together for my TM. Everything else runs on my starter batt. I added the AGM cause I kept running down the TM on a single batt. Should I move the livewell over to the TM batts. The boat came wired like this, but after reading this I thought I'd ask.

Guys,

I have been involved in a hybrid electric vehicle program over the past 18 months and have become pretty well educated in battery technology. If someone really needs a non-bias opinion and information drop me a PM and I will give you my phone number.

If you want the best of the best in a battery, marine or automotive, then Enersys is the manufacture. For marine application their brand Odessey is awesome. This is an AGM battery but a cut above all the rest. Plus they come with a 4yr full replacement warranty(not pro-rated). I am in no way affiliated with Enersys but do know their product from research during our development plan.

There are other AGM's out there that are good but there is more involed than just buying one and installing in your boat. If you do not have the correct charger with required charge profile you will not see optimal performance and reduce the life of the battery.

What did I just read?

he lost me at "my approach"