Home Forums Fishing Freshwater anyone tried an Exide nautilus marine battery

I have always been paranoid about the, boat not starting issue. I often travel 10-25 miles up and down river by boat and anchor up around islands and quiet bays staying in my boat over night.

Two things have solved this paranoia for me. First I have a kicker motor that is both electric and pull start. It's tied into my batteries so even if I have a dead battery and can pull start this motor,... in a short time it will recharge enough to start the main motor.

So...... now you say, if the battery is dead and will not hold a charge then the kicker has nothing to charge! True with that basic system.

I learned something about this with my pickup camper. I put in dual batteries one for the starter, and one for the "house" radio, lights, gages, etc. The isolator charges both when running, but once the engine shuts off it only allows the house battery to be used.

The selector switch can also manually choose either one or both together. This is a very risk free system. I can run my lap top, lights, DVD player, stereo, charge my phone and run things all night without risk to the starting battery. My house battery is the sears die hard platinum ( AGM). It's about 30% heavier then an equal size battery of another brand. It has never died on me or gone flat over night. It also charges in about 1/2 the time. It's a beast of energy storage.

It does not have the amps to start the big motor alone, it's a deep cycle. My main starter battery is a Marine battery sold by West Marine. If it should need replacing it will without question be an Odyssey brand with the starting amps, not the deep cycle model.

I cannot suggest enough the idea of dual batteries and the isolator. This gives you a full battery all the time, just like your pickup or car. With this you have the option of full electrical use of the other battery when anchored up. Plus the ability to connect them together with the turn of a switch should you need to.

One other addition, a battery status meter in the dash. Most of the time monitoring this day to day you will know well ahead of time that something is not good before it's just plain dead!