Knowing you fish Castaic a lot, I'd go with a 24 volt trolling motor for those windy days. If you are set on a 12V, a charge on the run charger might be something to consider also. As for batteries, get two 12V and wire them in parallel, not series for a 12V system.
2 @ 12 volts is what you want. That website is good showing how the parallel vs series.
6 volt batteries are less common I was just saying 2 batteries is better than 1.
DR
Human Error !
Last edited by DockRat; 04-03-2010 at 06:24 AM. Reason: x
More on series wiring showing what you can do with 6 volt batteries.
36 volt golf cart wireing showing 6 batteries @ 6 volts each wired in series.
My brother up north is ' Off the Grid ' and uses 10 @ 12 volts each batteries in series
10 x 12 = 120 volts
Then a inverter to go from DC to AC.
kinda like this pic but with 10 batteries.