Battery Rigging Suggestions for Trident 15

[Lee337]

For those of you super-savvy kayak rigging gurus out there, please don't judge my post too harshly...but feel free to laugh.

I've had my Trident for a while now, I've hooked into my share of Bucketmouths, Cats, and Snakies, it has served me well so far. Now, here goes the potentially funny, and yet, sad and disastrous part. I have a Humminbird 587 CI HD mounted, the power source is a lawn battery that weighs approximately two tons, with alligator clips attached. I have the battery "placed" behind my seat (I couldn't possibly say that it is mounted) in the open storage compartment in front of my milk crate set-up. I'll admit, it works great. I've been on the water for 10+ hours, ran every option the 587 has, and it has never so much as glitched, none the less died. But let's face it, it looks atrocious, at least to me. And it seems exposed. I've been toying with the idea of placing the battery below deck in the bow hatch or a similar manner, but haven't got around to it. Any suggestions?

*Note*
For those of you that are awesome at building custom rigs, just know that I'm not great at building things. I'm an old combat arms dude. I'm good at breaking lots of things, not so much building things. Thanks guys!

Lee

[Jaspratt]

You could go to a battery warehouse get a dry cell 7-14ah battery. Buy a dry box, buy a waterproof plug and recepticle-comes as a kit. Buy the hobie ff installation kit which has all the water resistant plugs and caps. Maybe some velcro for the bottom of the dry box or use a bungie to hold the box in place.. That way u can just plug the battery in and go. I can post pics of my setup if my discription was hard to understand. Sometimes i can type alil crazy. Lol

[Jaspratt]

If your better at breaking things than building them, maybe if you get all the parts i had listed, ill brg a few tools and we can put the shit together in the slavins parking lot and do some bass fishing afterwards. Should only take max 30-50min with all the right tools.

[Lee337]

I'm thinking I'm going to at least get the items you listed, then make it until I break it. Then again, your idea sounds good too!

Lee

[Jaspratt]

Lol just let me know. I can send you links to everything if u want. So you dont order the wrong thing.

[Lee337]

Links would be great brother, thank you. But I have a question, how long will the battery you recommended last? I go out for 10 hours at a time in some cases.

[Southerly]

what i like about it just sitting on deck is that if you turtled, it would probly fall out and not make righting the yak a problem.

if you have a dense weight in a boat, it should be 'mounted' to avoid sliding around, and should be as low as possible in the hull for the sake of stbility. if it slides around, it could add to instability. and if it's mounted high w/resp to the hull, and the hull gets upside-down, it would make the yak more difficult to right.

i went with LiFePo battery technology. i think it's about 1/3 the weight of same capacity lead acid batteries. i have enough capacity to run a color FF with side image and gps for 2 days @ 50% of its use rating, and it weighs about 3#.

i used pieces of pool noodle and goop to mount an air-tight food storage box in the bottom of my yak hull. and ran the FF power wire thru its lid. inside of my box/lid is trailer wiring removable connectors from west marine and a fuse. i remove the battery for charging when i'm done yakking. i remove the lid, undo the trailer wiring connector, put the batery in my crate, remove the crate and take inside.

the box i used, in combination with LiFePo liteweight battery would probly add a little to my overall flotation for a short time if the hull flooded but would eventually fill with water if it was submerged for an extended period. it is intended to prevent free air/humidity exchange to keep cereal from getting stale, not prevent water under pressure from leaking in.

[Jaspratt]

The weight of a 7-9ah battery is nothing compared to your own weight making the yak top heavy.. That the least of your worries. But batt life aslo depends on your unit, color gps with 200mhz sonar? 9ah would be plenty. But for a few extra $$ a 12ah cant hurt. I hAve a 12ah powering my elite5 dsi. And im good for days now

[Jaspratt]

Heres a list of items needed That I have and are using on my kayaks...


-hobie electronic plug kit
http://m.austinkayak.com/phone/prodDetails.php?ID=12509

-water tight 12v plug
http://www.boaterbits.ca/waterproof-...lug-2-pin.html

-battery box
http://www.scubatoys.com/store/detai...DUCT_ID=OB3500

- battery
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/160777598768?lpid=82


Just so you know. The battery does not list its size but this battery box should be big enough. But search around for diamensions and double check. Or buy the battery first, measure it. Then look for a box with the right inside dimensions.

[MetroMan]

Perspective/opinion from the opposite end of the spectrum...

I connect my ff battery (similar to the one linked above), then just throw it in the hull at the bow. The battery is sealed. A coating of grease on the terminals, and ur good. In the roughest conditions we typically venture out in, the battery doesn't even move around in the hull much at all. It doesn't matter if it gets wet either. Even if its fully submerged, it doesn't matter.

[DonV]

Here is the battery I am using. It is a 5 amp and lasts plenty long. Like the smaller size. $15 on Amazon shipped.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This battery fits perfectly in the small $6 plastic drybox on the shelf at Walmart. Just enough room for a couple of foam pads and it fits snug with no bouncing around. Couldn't find it on their website but every store I have been in has them in the boat accessories section.

Couple of pieces of Velcro on the bottom of the box and in the hull plus a couple of flat 2-wire connectors from Advance Auto and you are good to go on a battery setup under $30.