Battery Choice?

[TBroccoli]

Looking for a good marine battery. I won one from Johnson Controls (local manufacturer). All I need to do is give them the specs I want and they will give me a free battery. Any suggestions? I need to specify Group number and CCA's

[duckhunter]

I think this might turn into an oil thread.... :tooth:

That said, I have switched pretty much everything over to Interstates. Currently running Group 27M 800CCA/1000MCA 'states in the big boat and a smaller one in the Whaler. I just had to stick a new Interstate in the Acura; when I looked up the receipt the battery was seven years old (actually 83 mos)! Still had like $6 worth of warranty left! Even the dude at the battery store was impressed; I got my money's worth out of that battery.

Haven't had much luck with Optimas, and I tried them in the boat and the Jeep. All three lines, yellow/blue/red top. Worked great for a couple years and then went downhill quickly. On the cheap side of the spectrum I tried the least-expensive Walmart batteries and got a season out of them.

At the end of the day Interstates seem to provide the best bang for the buck for me.

[MOP]

+1 at my old shop we handled several brands the Interstates rarely came back but even the better/fancy names had more returns.

[mattyboy]

what size is your battery box/bracket? I would get the largest battery that fits. I have used napa marine and sears diehards group 24 with good results. I plan on installing another battery so to do that I needed a smaller battery 2 group 27 wouldn't fit.

[RockyS18]

I've had multiple bad experiences with Interstate batteries, they almost always die on me. Whether it's for the boat lift, the boat itself, or something else, they just don't hold their charge. However, the Optima batteries I've used have worked great and I'm in the process of switching over to them as the Interstates die. Some of our cars have had Optima batteries for years and they still work just fine.

[gcarter]

Yes, an oil thread!
Lots of folks here like gel cell batteries. Others like a particular brand.
I own a business and have a total of 5 vehicles, including two service trucks.
All of them have Walmart/Sams Club batteries in them. The main reason, particularly for the service trucks, the techs can take care of it themselves if a battery dies because there's always a store nearby. The batteries seldom last past the three year free replacement period, so I seldom pay for one.
About six or seven years ago a bunch of us boated on Lake Powell in AZ/Utah. Ask anyone who has been there.......you don't pass lake Powell on your way to anywhere else. It's the end of the world as far as civilization goes, yet at the nearby town of Page, AZ, there's a very well stocked Super Walmart, so a replacement battery can be had there.

[TBroccoli]

I finally had time to look into what my 22 Classic has in it. I have 2 westmarine SeaVolts. They are Group 24. One has 800MCA and the other 1,000MCA with 120minutes of Reserve Capacity at 25amps. Both batteries have lasted over 4 seasons. I think I will try to get an exact replacement for the 1,000MCA. Thanks for the information.

[Ghost]

Had pretty short life (3 seasons and under) out of some West Marine Seavolts in the 2007-2010ish era. I THINK West acknowledged they'd seen some less than stellar performance out of them. Mine were the inbetweeners (not starting batteries and not deep cycle, but the hybrid). I was good about keeping them indoors and topped off every couple months in the winter, just didn't hold up.

Trying Optimas now...will see how they do.