I'm trying to decide if having electric downriggers is worth the hassles I'm running into.

I have a 1992 17' Arima Sea Chaser with a 90 HP Johnson, a 15 HP kicker and a single battery system. If you know this boat, you know the stern is pretty tight. On the starboard side I have the battery and the oil injection tank for the Johnseon. They are a very tight fit. On the port side is the fuel tank for the kicker.

If I install electric downriggers it looks like I will need to also convert to a 2 battery set-up, which will mean figuring out a new place to put the oil injection tank, installing a second battery and all the associated switches. Then I'll need to install harnesses for the downriggers. I believe I will also need to install some sort of fuse or circuit breaker in the line for the downriggers in case one of them snags up or something similar.

While I'm fairly certain I can do the work, I'm also wondering if it is worth the hassle. So far I haven't figured out where I can put the oil injection tank and it looks like I will need to order harnesses for the downriggers from Cannon since no one locally carries them.

I'm kicking around the idea of just taking an external deep cycle battery with me on each trip and hooking the downriggers up to it and just charging it the night before with my home charger. It would save the hassle of converting to a two battery system but I'm not really sure how long the battery would last running 2 downriggers all day. Does anyone have any experience with something like this?


Thanks!

I personally prefer having a second battery I'm one of those better safe than sorry kind of guys.I also wouldn't own manual downriggers.If you don't have enough space in the stern you might be able to mount the battery in the bow or elsewhere you can run some pretty long cables and still have it work fine. Have you thought (if same fuel mix) of hooking your kicker up to the main tank? Kinda tough to comment on without being there hope everything works out the way you want it.

I use your second option. I bring a deep cycle battery that I keep charged at home. It also gives me an emergency back-up battery (which I have actually used). Zero hassle with this setup. The only negative is I have a battery sitting on my floor which people bump into. Not a big deal, but it is a negative.

Thanks for the replies.

Mike, do you also use electric downriggers? If so, does the external deep cycle battery last a full day constantly messing with the downriggers and using a fishfinder? I know a ff uses very little juice but I'm sure the downriggers draw a lot of amps. Just wondering how long I could expect the battery to last.

I wouldn't be against bringing a third, smaller battery as an emergency back up to get the downriggers up if needed and I always have my kicker to get me home if absolutley necessary. It just seems like a lot less hassle, IF the battery will last for a fully day of downrigger usage.


Thanks

Braz

Braz, look into Scotty downriggers. They draw very little amps. You can easily go all day on a seperate battery. I have a pair and really like them. Good luck.

Dont know what kind of of kicker you have but mine is an electric start four stroke with an alternator and I have no problem running my electric penns on my boats single battery. Have you considered adding an alternator to your kicker if that is an option.

A deep cycle battery in good condition should run two downriggers for two long days of fishing without a problem. I found this out by mistake.

As the battery drains, the downriggers will slow noticeably. The good part about this is that I found that even with the battery in this weakened state, there still remains enough reserve to start my 70hp Yamaha.

I have a Arima Seahunter and now run two batteries with a selector switch. Only way to go in my opinion. Originally the two batteries were in back side by side and that worked okay, but I found that all the weight back there(2 motors, 2 batteries, 16 gal main, 6 gal kicker, and downriggers) really made planing difficult, so I moved my batteries up front in the cuddy(they fit just perfect in the bottom). I ended up rewiring my entire boat.

So, is the hassle worth it? I think so.

Opps, sorry for missing the details. I run one Scotty electric off the battery, no ff. I wouldn't worry about the ff as they draw hardly any amps. I've run my dr off that battery for multiple trips w/o recharging. Like ET said, you should get a few days worth running. If you buy a battery checker at the end of your fishing day just check to see how much jiuce you have left. It's going to depend of course on how good the fishing is - how often you're bringing the weight up.
Hope this helps. Definately buy a battery checker! (I forget what they call them. They suck up the water and measure the charge).