Battery placement

[starkyb]

I have a 17 foot Tracker with 3 batteries. Right now I have 2 in the front at the bow and 1 in the back. I was wondering if it would be better to have all 3 in the back of the boat.

 

[fhhuber]

Placement is partly for balancing the boat for handling and partly for convenience of wiring.

Putting the trolling batteries forward makes it easier/cheaper to wire up the trolling motor. Might also help with getting the nose down when accelerating from "hole shot" Makes a long wire run for the charging system though, but that's a lighter wire and thus its a cheaper run of about 17 ft of wire at something like 10 or 12 gauge from motor to the front compared to the 4 gauge or heavier that would be needed to run the trolling motor with the batteries in the back.

I see more batteries in the back... but nothing at all wrong putting them forward.

You could pull them from where they are and tape off connections... move them to the back and see how that affects boat handling, since that is what really matters the most.

 

[smokeonthewater]

USUALLY having them forward is better..
I put a 4stroke Honda 90 on my dad's 18.5 tracker and I had to move the trolling motor batts up front... From the factory they were in the back with 8ga wire.
Originally I had moved the start batt also but later moved it back to the rear.

 

[Texasmark]

It depends on your boat and what you expect of it. The picture in my avatar was taken right at 50 mph with a 90 Merc on a 17' Alum. bass boat. All 3 were mounted in the rear as I wanted minimum weight forward to reduce the wetted area of the hull and lower hull drag forces. I had plenty of whoopie on a light boat. If you are power limited or running a tiller controlled engine at lower speeds, then you need to balance your load which usually translates to move them forward. Just depends on what you want. No set rule.