My cranking battery will not turn my boat over after two hours of fishing. I have noticed everyhing but the trolling motor is running off it (buildspump, live well, radio, electronics). I have called the service department and they are saying that everything runs off your cranking battery except your trolling motor is that correct?

Yes.

Do you charge it each time you come back in from the lake?

I have a 3 bank charger that charges 2 trollingmotor and the cranking batt's at the same time. If your having trouble with that battery it probly needs replacing.

I charge them after every trip to the lake. The battery is only 1.5 years old is it the battery?

Check the water level in the battery. It may be low and not holding a charge.

Maybe or the battery is not big enough to handle what you are asking it to do. If it is a wet cell might check water level also. If it is a water issue mke sure you use distilled water.

What motor do you have on your boat?

Dumb Question Time...Don't boats have alternators on the motors? Never charge my cranking battery and I got two years out of it.

Yes, boats motors have alternators but you should recharge your cranking battery unless all you ever do is drive around with the big motor running. Me, I stop the big motor and go to fishing therefore all my electronics and accessories are pulling off the cranking battery. If my run back to ramp is short, not enough time to recharge crank battery properly.

Thanks Steve. I forgot about my Sonar running with the boat motor off. How long does a cranking battery usualy last for you guys?

I had mine go out on me once because I assumed my alternator kept it charged. I was wrong!lol I was lucky and was at dock when it happened. Get the biggest battery with the necessary cranking amps and most reserve possible

The trolling motor needs it's own battery - a deep cycle marine battery. Everything else runs off the marine cranking battery. It's best to put the charger on the trolling battery when you get home from fishing (extends the life). And charge the starting battery before you go out next time. A low amp (2 amp) charge is best because it doesn't evaporate the battery water but it takes several hours sometimes, so give yourself enough time.

Flooded wet cell batteries don't have much internal sense of time, as their life is determined almost fully by number of discharge/charge cycles and by how low they are discharged.

Don't know if you fish every day or once a month or how low you run your batteries down before recharging, so no one can really answer this for you.