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Old 02-15-2021, 08:48 PM
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Wisakedjack Wisakedjack is offline
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Looking for advice on batteries placement.

I am looking for some advise on batteries placement. May boat ('76 Catalina 30) has two batteries which were sitting on a wooden shelf on the port side in the engine compartment. During the offseason the shelf broke from the mound of 5200 it was secured with. I did give it a nudge to see how secure it was and I consider myself really lucky it did not happen during sailing. So, I decided it was a good time to redo some wiring and rethink battery positioning in the process. In general I am looking at a simple setup with one starting battery and one house battery. Something similar to what Neil posted a while back. Basically separate circuits for starting and house batteries. House will be charged by small solar panel and starter will be charged by the alternator. I am not going to combine them using ACR. My electrical panel is located near the ice box on the port side. My boat sits on the mooring, so I don't have access to shore power. I currently have 2 group 27 wet cell batteries, which are old but may serve for another few years. So, I have some constraints on how they should be oriented. I may add another battery to the house back in the future, but currently I don't see the need. So, here are the options I am considering:

1. Make a new shelf and glass it to the hull in the old location in the engine compartment. I was wondering if that space is better used for fresh water cooling that I am considering adding in the future? I am not sure how much space it requires and where people usually mount the components.

2. Move both batteries under nav table. The space there allows to secure batteries well and opening is big enough for two batteries in boxes. However, this will mean a longer cable run to the engine.

3. Put starter battery under the port side settee and house bank into the port side lazarette. This way starter battery can be secured easily and will be close to the engine. House bank will be close to the main panel.

What do you guys think about these options? Is there a better solution that I am overlooking? I read a lot of posts on this forum and a long write up on C34 forum. Most of them focus on wiring, but my big concern is finding a good solution for securing the batteries. Ideally something that could be accomplished without having to do too much glasswork. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
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Alex
1976 Catalina 30
Perth Amboy, NJ
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