New Pontoon Boat Questions........

[PitchFish]

We are in the process of building a pontoon boat to buy for our vacation spot. I have a few questions:

1) The boat has one battery for the basics of the boat....starter, engine, radio, lights, etc....Once the engine starts, does the battery charge itself...like a car?

2) As add-ons we are getting a fish-finder and a trolling motor....My guess is, those will need its own separate battery?

3) How do most pontoon boats charge all of these things? Would there be an "on-board" battery charger, like most BassBoats? Or would you have to buy a separate one and charge those things after/before each time you go out?


Any advice would be great.....Thanks

[Socal Bassman]

1) The motor will charge the starting battery, but it will not completely charge it because the motors alternator usually doesn't output enough amperage. Therefore, it will need to be charged when you get home. Assuming your motor's rectifier is good of course.

2) I suggest you run the fishfinder off the starting battery. Fishfinders don't really take up a lot of juice. Then run the trolling motor off of a separate battery. Don't forget to attach a breaker.

3) My guess is you could use either an onboard charger or one of those regular battery chargers.