Charging the Trolling Battery On The Water

I've pondered how to deal with the trolling battery while on a fishing trip. Sometimes, the boat may be on the water a few days, so charging or switching the battery out is a chore. In addition to the solar panel that charges the trolling battery anytime there's sunlight, an electrical circuit to bridge from the engine battery to the trolling battery during times when we're driving from one spot to another seemed to be a workable idea. The trolling battery/motor is 12 volts, so this was an easy task.

Initially, a few tests were made with jumper cables and an ammeter, and the idea seemed to work OK without causing a serious load to the engine battery or alternator. Usually, since the engine battery isn't much above that of the weakened trolling battery, the charge current is around 10 amps, tapering off to much less as the trolling battery charge level increases. 

 

 

Both battery negative (-) terminals were connected together with some heavy black wire from a set of scrap battery jumper cables. A 12 vdc relay was installed with the normally open contacts connected to the trolling battery via 20A fuse, and the common (moving) contacts connected to the engine battery. I put the fuse in the battery circuit in case something went wrong with the trolling battery or wiring, and to limit the current in the event we totally killed the battery and didn't want to load the alternator / engine battery too hard. 

Up front, a switch was installed to control the relay. 12 volts was picked up from the ignition switch, using a switched source that is only live when the ignition switch was on. I didn't want this accidentally left on during times when the engine was not running. Aerator and Bilge Pump switches get bumped "on" all the time by accident, so a covered switch was installed for the Trolling Charge to require an intentional movement to activate the switch.

This circuit works pretty good. Care must be taken not to leave the switch "on" when starting the engine (the starter would attempt to pull from both batteries and probably blow the 20A current limiting fuse). I plan to take the automation of this a bit deeper over the winter months. The next phase is to sample the alternator output, and energize the bridge relay after a delay of maybe 1 minute (if the master bridge switch up front is "on"). Likewise, if the engine is "off" (no alternator output), the bridge relay would be disabled. 

 

 

 

 

A Little Polishing...

I had noticed some of the boat had what felt like "dry spots" in the gelcoat, but they would scrub off with my fingernail. I surmised it to be fish spunk, soft drink, muddy feet, etc that had accumulated over time. I washed the boat, and started applying Meguiars Gold paste wax. Despite the boat being shiney, I could still find the rough and dull spots all around it...especially along the top of the hull and on the areas inside. I also noticed what looked like hard water spotting. 

Years ago, I had a similar problem on Debbie's car. he car was parked near a train track, and I had read about "rail dust" (a fine metal particulate that will contaminate some types of paint), and how to use a clay bar from Meguiars to remove and clean it. I put her car in the garage after a wash job, and after about 2 nights of working over the entire car with the clay bar, the car was as good as new. 

By mid-day, the heat had come way up and the sun was tough. I pulled it in the garage, closed the door, and cranked up the AC. I decided to give the claybar a try, and it worked!! All of the spots came off, and the fiberglass felt as slick as if it were new. That's saying a lot, considering this is a 1996 Stratos! I came behind that with a coat of Meguiars Gold paste wax, and this thing sparkles like a new boat. This should help protect it through the rigors of the summer heat, sun, and UV. Here's a few pics...

Solar Charger for Trolling Battery

As summer moves in, we'll be doing more fishing early in the morning and late in the evening. I wanted a way to add a little power back to the trolling battery while the boat was on the trailer or at the dock during the heat of the day. We had added one of these to the starting battery on the pontoon boat years ago, and it made a huge difference to that and the battery was always ready to go. 

This solar panel attaches with suction cups, is waterproof, and has a cable that easily leads to and clamps on the trolling battery posts under the rear hatch. 

 

Remote Trim/Tilt, 6/16/19

We've finally been able to start using the Stratos bass boat a bit, and seeing a few little things that I wanted modify to help with operations. One of the changes was the need for a remote trim/tilt control up front. I'm always up front, running the trolling motor, while Debbie is fishing on the rear deck. Often, we'll ease up in some really skinny water, and I need to raise the motor. One of us would have to get down, go to the console, and raise the motor. I fabricated a 3-conductor wiring harness, made a "fish tape" from a piece of stiff electric fence wire, and pulled it through the boat from the rear to the front. I connected the harness in parallel with the up and down tilt circuit on the motor and in the driver's console. I installed a pair of normally open push button switches in the front control panel, one for up trim, the other for down trim. The 3-conductor cable was connected to those and labelled. I can easily reach those with my toes while driving the trolling motor, a nice addition to the controls. 

New (to us) Fish Finder...

I've been helping a buddy on a couple of boats recently...rewiring, making electrical repairs, and sorting through a bunch of electrical issues. Our bass boat came with a mid-90's vintage Lowrance X25A fishfinder at the console, and a X22A at the front/trolling motor. The X22A was bad, so my buddy hooked me up with a Garmin Echo 501C color fishfinder. I installed it up front, where the bad X22A was. It had a transom mounted dual beam sensor, and I was able to adapt it to the trolling motor mount up front. Can't wait to try it out! Here's a few pics...

This color screen is gonna be so much easier to see in the sunlight!

I adapted the swivel mount from the 501 to the original mount for the X22A 

A dual beam transom mount adapted to the front trolling motor. Might be a problem for running into things,  but time will tell.

Here's the X25A at the console. Since I don't fish from that location, it should be find for showing me depth information. 

Charging Batteries...

Our Bass Boat has two batteries...one for the engine and electronics, and one for the trolling motor up front. Some bass boats have as many as 4, but ours is not that sophisticated :-) The engine battery is automatically charged when the engine runs, but the trolling battery is not. Outboard engines don't have much of an alternator / charging circuit, so most people charge the trolling batteries each night. I'm working on a circuit to allow for charging the trolling battery from the engine when running, but that is not ready, yet. I also have a solar charger that I'm setting up for the trolling battery, and will blog info on it, when it's completed. Dad gave me a cool battery manager for the engine battery for Christmas, made by Battery Tender. I also have a Schumacher automobile battery charger with analyzer that came with our Jon boat, so I use it on the series 27 deep cycle battery we use for the trolling motor. This isn't as elegant as those multi-output charging stations some have installed in their bass boats, but it works and the price is right :-)