Battery power for Scotty downriggers

[Matsutake]

Question for you all.....
I have a 25 Merc Bigfoot on a 16 ft aluminum boat. It does not have an alternator. I would like to run my scotty electrics in the boat so I'm planning on buying a deep cycle battery to run it on.
So, would a 750 amp , 115 amp hr battery last a good day out on the water? How many 'pull ups' would it be good for, using a 10-12lb ball?
Anyone else do this?

Thanks!

 

[wolf]

id go with he biggest battery you can find last thing you want is to kill your battery out there as im sure you will have a bildge,sounder,radio,cel phone charger etc better safe than sorry ...

 

[Sr SQ]

Sorry cant answer your question but for reference.........my yammi 9.9 HT has a charging system (albeit small, just a few amps) and on a busy day pulling 15-20lb balls from 150-200' and transmitting on the vhf my house battery (group 31 deep cycle) will be low in 5-6hrs.
No problems on those not so busy days LOL
Not much of an electrician so I have no reference to how much the little charging system adds but pretty sure it helps a fair bit?

 

[GLG]

Question for you all.....
I have a 25 Merc Bigfoot on a 16 ft aluminum boat. It does not have an alternator.

Thanks!

That's odd... I thought they had a charging system.
To check you could use your FF (fish finder).
Set up the FF to display volts.
Check the volts (12.5 - 12.8) when off.
Start the motor on the muffs and see if it goes to 14v
Increase RPM 100 to 200 from idle if it does not reach 14v.
If it does then you have a charging system.
If not perhaps the charging system needs repair.

 

[nedarb2]

yes - i use to run 2 electrics out of my lund with one deep cycle abattey- NO CHARGING SYSTEM.
I would only need to charge the battery after 6-10 trips out.
So yes, for one day with a charging system you will have plenty of juice

 

[fishwish]

I do this with my tin boat, with a 750 amp, size 27 battery. I only run one electric rigger but quite often also use my Scotty puller as well to pull traps when I am out.

No problem having enough charge for a day.

FishWish

 

[mkulak]

I'd also recommend using a 12V Solar panel to keep you battery constantly under charge. Canadian Tire sells various size panels. I use this to keep my battery charged on the water when using my electric motor and hummingbird.

 

[Tightlines22]

As mentioned by others, it can depend on a lot of variables. Is your battery in good condition? Are you fishing in an area with structure where your two riggers are constantly being moved up and down? Are you fishing quite deep and are you catching lots of fish meaning more up and downs? And also are you putting in long days?

If you don't need the battery for other life/safety equipment then no worries. Go out and test it out. Worst case scenario is you might need to use the manual handle to wind up the last pull if the battery is too weak.

 

[Matsutake]

Ok, sounds like I'm good to go for day then charge it up again. The battery will be dedicated to the Scotty, I use a smaller sealed battery for the sounder.
Thanks guys!

 

[Matsutake]

It may have a charging system built in but no cable/wiring piece to attach to a battery. Is there an aftermarket kit I could add on?

 

[salmonkiller01]

Take your engine serial number to a Mercury dealer, they can look up to see if it has a charging system. If it does have a charging system, you buy a wiring harness for 38 bucks and your golden. Hope this helps.