Battery placement and weight distribution

I could use some help. As usual I'm doing a little early research so when I can continue my restore I can hit it hard.

This is my 1st boat larger than 12', so it's a little different for me. I'm trying to restore a boat that I never had a chance to see in running condition. I have a 17' Lund Tyee. My plan is to have a battery plus a back up at the stern for motor starting and running accessories.

I know that a 55lb bow mount trolling motor is strong enough to move this boat, but I was considering going stronger with a 80lb Minnkota Riptide. I want to be able to hold my boat in heavy wind and chop with no problem. I also plan to do a little trolling with the bow mount, so I figure more power the better. 80lber's go 24v, so this raises some questions.

I do try and find the answers before I ask. I've read a lot of threads, looked at a lot of boats in pics, bought books, examined wiring diagrams, but I still haven't found the standard set up for what I'm trying to do. I plan on attending the next boat show headed my way to get a closer look at all types of boats close up. I guess after that, my next move is to just ask questions at the dock next time.

Finally here's my Q's what's the standard:

Is it standard to have a back up (2nd) battery for starting and if so wouldn't it be located at the stern with the 1st battery?

Is the back up unnecessary?

Where are bow mount trolling motor batteries usually placed? The bow area or the stern and run wires to the bow?

My boat has dual consoles, so I was considering placing them under the port side console. This is where my weight distribution Q's come in.

Two batteries at the bow doesn't sound good for getting up on plane. Two batteries in the port side console might be a prime location for me. I'll be on quite a few lone missions in the boat, so the balance of weight on the port side might work in my favor, but I don't know the pros and cons, plus I'd like to save that area for storage of other things.

Two trolling motor batteries and the two for starting all at the stern might be good for getting up on plane but not much more. That would be a lot of weight and storage lost at the stern.

So, whats the standard? Any recommendations? How many batteries do I need and where should I place them?

Re: Battery placement and weight distribution

Most bass boats I have been on had all the batteries at the stern.
If you have a trolling motor battery then I do not feel you need a second starting battery.
Instead you can put in a battery switch so you can start off of either battery or carry a single jumper cable
to jump the postive from the trolling battery to the starting battery.

Now your only problem would be if you ran down the starting battery and the trolling battery.

One reason for putting batteries in the stern is the stern has a lot less pounding that is hard on batteries.
If you do decide to mount a battery up front for the trolling motor then I would get the higher cost Marine deep cycle.
They take the pounding more without damage.

As far as needing 24 volts and a third battery I am not sure.
Your boat has higher sides than most bass boats so will catch more wind.
I have fished on many bass boats in the 19 to 20 foot range and we only use a single Group 27 battery.
On days with out a lot of wind we could fish from 6 AM to about 1400 without noticing any decline in the battery power.

On days with a lot of wind would only make it from 6 AM to 1300 before would start to notice a power loss.

However we never just did straight trolling. We would be working a shore line or rock pile or brush pile.
If you get one of the higher cost trolling motors with a great energy saving circuit and do not run at max power then the battery last a lot longer.

Most of the motor I have looked at the energy saver circuits do very little to save the battery if you have to run max power.
At lower power setting they are very good at saving the battery.

Re: Battery placement and weight distribution

I had a brand new 107 lb truss 36V bow mount tiller electric trolling motor on my Mako 17
The 3 brand new batteries were stored in the cooler seat.
I could only troll for a couple hrs. in 2' waves on Lake Erie before noticed loss of power. I had the longest available motor shaft but I still had problem with the waves pulling out the prop from the water. The setup only worked in calm water, seldom in Lake Erie (Erie is a shallow crazy chop kind of lake). Needless to say that it was a bad idea on that boat for lake Erie. Wasted a lot of money for nothing.

Re: Battery placement and weight distribution

Thanks for the response. More info to base my decision on.

Re: Battery placement and weight distribution

go with the 24v 70 - 80# thrust motor.

skip the spare battery

You can place the trolling batteries anywhere you like, but too much weight in the stern will allow the bow to bounce when hitting a wave.
I have placed my 2 trolling motor batteries and the onboard charger 5 feet from the bow - port side, on my last 2 boats, works fine. boats plane quick and run level.