Boat project help

I have a 22 ft John boat, it's a rough riding sucker. I have 2 batteries for my troller mounted in the front of the boat, I have them secured tightly. After several attempts. Now I have a problem with the water in the battery splashing out under the caps and making a mess. Is there anyway to prevent that? I really don't want to move them to the back of the boat. Due to wire length and extra weight back there which is already an issue. I'm replacing the floor and building an extra front deck So I have options . anyways any help or ideas would be appreciated

Only solution I know of is to get a sealed battery or if you got the money get an Agm battery.

Get some plastic battery boxes with lids . If you have a spill it stays in the boxes and not on the boat floor.

Had a post similar to this yesterday on porposing and adding weight up front etc. I am just a dumb old fishing fart okay.But I can tell you a couple things that maybe will help you and some people won't agree with . But I will tell you that I'm not guessing I have done these things to improve boat performance.

If you have tilt trim you can add a hydrofoil to the motor.Or install electric trim tabs. You can adjust the angle of the motor or trim tab angle and power to find the best bow attitude and best overall ride depending on the water conditions.It will vary depending on wave height and distance between waves. IF you have lots of horsepower to boat ratio and a perfect setup with jackplate and trim you don't really need any of the other stuff most of the time....but a lot of boats don't and need help.

You can put a large cooler in the front...and bail water in and out of it to find a good combination of weight to experiment and exactly where to locate it. An adjustable water level livewell up front is ideal because you can of course adjust it based on conditions . It's a form of ballast sorta like big vessels use.

Wet cell batteries ,even most supposedly "sealed ones" can leak some if overcharged or jostled. Especially if you pound them.Also it will shorten the life of them if they are subject to a lot of bouncing.How much will vary but it's going to affect them. The new batteries AGM...etc are suppose to take it but I do not know I have never used them.I would think they would based on their construction,but they are expensive and I am not sure I would want to shock them even if I felt confident they would take it.

If you try to control the bow attitude with any method you can create a dangerous situation by plowing the bow.It can cause you to spear a wave or create weird handling characteristics. You have to go slow and experiment and gain some experience on the water under different conditions to get a feel for it. When in doubt back off and get the bow up. Boats with a keel can begin to steer with the keel but the jon should not do that as bad but you have to be careful and have a feel in the seat of the pants and steering what the boat is doing and use common sense.You will learn exactly what to do and when.

When you see a high horsepower bassboat running pretty fast in rough water they generally are "up on the pad" as its called...the boat is just running on a foot or so of the bottom just forward of the motor and that helps smooth things out. If you can't do that you have to do other stuff.

Buy you one of them spring seats LOL

I'm just talkin on that dang old internet and probably told you stuff you already know but there it is.

Same problem on a boat that I had once. I put wood and some foam under them and it helped a little. I finally just moved them to the back of the boat and it solved the problem.

Some battery boxes and some rubber isolation pads should solve the problem of the batteries from the rough ride but i would focus on eleminating the rough ride. A boat with decent power to size ratio with the motor set at the right height and power trim should not ride rough on normal lake conditions. Now a boat being WET is a different story "ask me how I know".

wet lead acid batteries must vent, they will always leak some under harsh conditions. Maybe automotive absorbent diaper or pads would keep spills contained. Better keep a jug of distilled water handy too for refills. I have only one Optima agm battery but it's many years old and has been in 4x4s, camper, couple of boats , real beat up lookin and still working good. No spills either.

I would sure put them in some plastic battery boxes to contain water and acid spills.....because that will cause problems with the aluminum....not good.

What he said.

Thanks for the replies, but let me get more into detail now, I'm planning on adding float pods to the back. I have the gas tank and 2 other batteries and a 110gal live well back there for catfish tournaments. So I really don't wanna add more weight back there if I don't have to. Plus I myself is pushing 350lbs. I had the batteries and in boxes before but they didn't hold up in rough water. "I call 4ft waves rough". So I made a bracket out of punched angle metal. That I could Adjust to snug up tight to the batteries, I have a 3/4" rubber piece under the batteries. They are secure. And don't move but I'm still getting leaks. So maybe I will just have to figure a way to move em farther back.

How about moving the livewell forward some. You have way to much weight on the back. That would give you a much better ride. EB

Can't move the live well forward. Its custom built into the back bench.

I got it guys, im switching out my driver and passenger seat pedestals to homemade aluminum boxes. I'm going to put the batteries under the passenger seat.so they are on that side of the boat. Cuz I'm a big boy so it will help even it out, and not too far forward or too far back just like I need it. And since I'm redoing the floor anyhow I can just drill a hole under my seat in the floor and run my wires underneath it easy enough. What do ya guys think?

Take a piece of suran wrap and lay it over the holes with the caps off then put the caps on so the suran wrap molds around the cap.

That last idea you had and the one pesce had are good ones. Also does your boat porpoise? If so you can have some simple tabs welded on the back of the transom. I did this once. 2 inch by 7 inch with the corners rounded off. Stopped the bouncing in the front end.

I'd simply switch my batteries to AGM batteries. Then you don't need to change anything. AGM batteries can be mounted upside down, right side up, on their side etc... They last longer than a lead acid battery, they don't discharge, you can't overcharge them...

Boat don't porpoise bad. I'm adding float pods to the back. Cuz the back sits kinda low already. I can trim er up pretty high before she gets to bouncin. So. I'm not to worried about that part

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Originally Posted by jhill10

I got it guys, im switching out my driver and passenger seat pedestals to homemade aluminum boxes. I'm going to put the batteries under the passenger seat.so they are on that side of the boat. Cuz I'm a big boy so it will help even it out, and not too far forward or too far back just like I need it. And since I'm redoing the floor anyhow I can just drill a hole under my seat in the floor and run my wires underneath it easy enough. What do ya guys think?

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Great idea

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pesce

Take a piece of suran wrap and lay it over the holes with the caps off then put the caps on so the suran wrap molds around the cap.

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Bad idea....batterys need to vent especially when chargeing.