Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I'm buying a Terrova 24v 80lb, 60" trolling motor, with the Terrova Co-Pilot system. I'm also buying a Trac Outdoor Trolling Motor Rigging Kit (wire harness).

I'm having trouble choosing batteries, mostly because of budget. I know I don't want to use starting, or even hybrid/dual-purpose for this...

Will the 27 group size deep cell batteries be sufficient?

I'd like to know as well, I just order the same setup with I-pilot.

I use 2 of the large marine batteries at Costco.
Also have a 24v 74# motor

-bb

I would think either size 24 or size 27 would work. Check the space you have available for the batteries to see if the 27's will fit. I'd suggest marine deep-cycle batteries. They do better for the type of service that trolling batteries see. Shop around. I was in a Batteries Plus store in the KC area the other day and they have US made size 24 marine deep cycle for about $75 each after a $10/battery mail-in rebate. I think they guy said they had a one year non-prorated warranty

bassn386 wrote:I would think either size 24 or size 27 would work. Check the space you have available for the batteries to see if the 27's will fit. I'd suggest marine deep-cycle batteries. They do better for the type of service that trolling batteries see. Shop around. I was in a Batteries Plus store in the KC area the other day and they have US made size 24 marine deep cycle for about $75 each after a $10/battery mail-in rebate. I think they guy said they had a one year non-prorated warranty

I'm looking at auto parts stores/Walmart/BassPro... thanks for the tip on Batteries Plus... I'll check there too...

When I was looking at battery's year before last I noticed the case size is the same on a group 21 and a 24 and got bigger on a 27, 29 and a 31, I went with a 27 just because of the higher reserve capacity. I dont do any trolling any more but used to do the bass tournament thing years ago and it will depend on how much you plan on doing but I would suspect a 27 will be a bit better. As far as brands, personally to me its more about price and who will do replacements if needed with the least amount of aggravation. Most all of the battery's today are made by the same company no matter what brand is on the case. Over the years I have good service from all of them except one brand and that's a Interstate. their battery's arnt bad but their after sale service sucks ass.

But like most things it really depends on how your going to use it and what conditions.

No to medium winds, 4 hours or so a 12v 55 lb thrust single group 27 or 31
high winds. 4 plus hours then a 12/24 V 60 to 90 lb thrust with 2 group 27 or 31

The 27's are the most common used, but, I think the type of battery you get will be more important than just the size. This may end up a little long winded but, I hope it may help a little.
My favorite spot is a trolling motor only lake & I troll my 18' Tracker Bass Buggy with a 70lb. 24V MK all day from 6am till 5pm and never drop my batteries below 50%. If it's real windy, I have hit 40% discharged when I got back to the house, but, that was fighting a ton of wind all day. I have 2 old Deka Dominators (Gel Cell) that I got from a place called Battery Masters for $75 ea. about 4 yrs ago. They are still going strong, but, most of that I would say is due to the charger I am using. I burned up the on-board charger on my first boat with these batteries cause it was not rated for the AGM or Gel Cell types. So instead of replacing the onboard, I bought a nice Digital Schumacher that lets you select Flooded-Wet Cell, AGM, or Gel Cell.
I went from having to limit my trolling time/fishing time to about 6 hrs. using my old Diehard deep cycles, to spending all day on the lake and never even worrying about battery life. If anybody is interested I will link some of the info I dug up before buying the last set of batteries I got. I couldn't find any real good info when it came to applying long battery life and useage for a 'toon, apparently that only applies to guys with bass boats
So, long story short, if you plan on using the trolling motor for extended periods of time, get a Gel Cell or at least an AGM. If you only plan to use it part-time, then a traditional flooded-wet cell will be just fine.

Basic Battery info : http://www.dekabatteries.com/assets/bas ... eneric.pdf

Gel Vs. AGM info : http://www.dekabatteries.com/assets/base/1927.pdf

I use 29's on mine