I had a permanent list to starboard that "came with" my boat. I knew it wasn't water anywhere, because the hull was dry and my 2002 has no hidden compartments aft (bow compartment was dry). BUT, it came with a heavy kicker which was on starboard, the batteries were on starboard, the largest storage area (galley) was on starboard. It just seemed like even though I tried keeping heavy things to port.... the starboard list was still there.
I could counteract it underway with the trim tabs, but at anchor it looked sad sack, and plus my bunk listed along with the boat. Annoying!
I tackled it in stages.
1) Sold/traded heavy kicker (110#) for lighter one (45#) that suited my uses better anyway.
That took care of the list almost completely. Yay! I could even use fuel from the port tank and not have the boat go over
2) So I've been taking my time on the second stage, which is more of a multi-purpose step.
a) Larger house battery bank.
b) New house battery (anyway).
c) Re-wire boat.
d) Move house bank
e) Add charging source (solar - that part is basically done).
I' waiting until the last minute to choose the battery setup (next spring) because in the time I've been planning this Lithium batteries have gone from looking like a pie in the sky to a maybe.
I'll most likely be moving the bank forward - either to the space under the helm footrest (which is fairly close to centerline on the inboard edge), to the locker under the helm seat (if I go lithium, not suitable for a heavier bank), or to the after end of the under-V-berth space (either or both sides, depending). I could fit a lithium house battery in the lazarette, but I got tired of having my Group 31 house battery in there because it was kind of cramped (start battery will stay in there).
I've been living just fine off of two 100 watt solar panels on land, but there are a couple of "not sure's" on the boat. One is that on land I tend to gravitate to sunny places; but on the boat I might like to do the Inside Passage or some other not-aways-sunny location. Also I use plenty of electric instruments undwerway. For both of those reasons, I do want to include the engine alternator (such as it is) in the loop. Thought about just wiring instruments to start battery (and using that only underway) but it just didn't sit right with me. BUT, from what I know, lithium batteries would not like the outboard engine "quality level" of charging. At all!
So I was a little stuck there. Most lithium setups on boats that include engine charging were on larger boats where they could have an adjustable alternator, or etc. And given the cost, no way do I want to "just experiment."
But now I have heard of an installation where they are using cheap/small solar controllers in the line. It's a little bit complicated, but basically, the solar controllers allow one to adjust the voltages that the battery bank(s) see, because they are programmable, and mounted between the engine and the battery bank(s). I'm on a completely non-boat trip at the moment, but am going to study this a bit more over the winter.
I also considered the Dragonfly (IIRC), which is a Group 31 lead acid AGM type battery that uses carbon foam. Same weight as a regular AGM, but the claimed advantage is that you can discharge them much more, plus (a big plus) not charge them all the way up and they are still happy. In other words they will be content living between 20% and 80% charged. Typical AGM's hate that. However I have read of some quality control issues, and some "weeps acid" issues and I'm still not sure one Group 31 will be enough. If I'm going to have two 70# batteries anyway, I'd rather go Lifeline at this point because I know and trust them.
So if I had to buy tomorrow, it'd be Lifeline AGM. One 125 amp hour "big" Group 31 would be kind of tight on the amp hours. If I go two heavy batteries (they are 74# each), I might like one to port. In that case it might be nice to wire them in series, so as not to have yet one more big heavy jumper. Two 4CT 6 volt Lifelines would be 220 amp hours - that sounds just about right for me. However, I have one more issue: If there is a time in summer that I'm not using the boat, it's stored in a place that's a little warmer than I like to store batteries, so I like to remove them from the boat and bring them into a climate-controlled spot. Hefting two 66# batteries up from under the V-berth and off the boat... a bit tough for me. Lighter would be two Group 24's. BUT, they are 12-volt, so need two long jumpers, and they're only 160 amp hours. 56# each, so not that much lighter. Hmmm. Sure would be nice to go lithium.
Always good have boat projects to ponder over the winter, right? :smile
Will be interested to see how you do your batteries forward. Maybe I'll get some good ideas that I can use when I finish mine!
BTW, in sizing my big wire (from start bank to house bank) I considered two main things: One, voltage drop when charging; and two, voltage drop and fusing when starting engine with house bank. I didn't have an amp clamp at that point so was not sure how many amps the engine starter drew. Reading (here, plus Yamaha's recommended cable extension size), it sounded like quite a bit more than I expected, so I made up 1/0 cables to satisfy the largest estimate (had large wire on hand so that helped). However, a friend now has an amp clamp, so I will check with that when starting the engine to see what it actually draws, and if it seems prudent I'll go to a smaller cable size (just for the weight reduction). But even with the huge/heavy cable, it's still a big weight reduction aft, and still moves weight to center from starboard (I did some math just to be sure I wasn't negating everything with the added cable!).
