Every Bass Boat Should Have A Battery Switch

[Fishing Rhino]

Mine does not, but I will install one before next season.

 

We were visiting our daughter in GA.  I brought my boat along.  It was parked outside.  One night, we had torrential rains.  No big deal, I just pulled the plug to let it drain.

 

But as I was going to pull the drain plug, I noticed the motor was tilted up with the transom saver dangling to the ground.  I thought someone must have pressed one of the three tilt controls.  So I reset the transom saver.

 

I was doing some work near the boat and I heard a hum.  Looked over, and the motor was tilting up, again dropping the front of the transom saver to the ground.  I pressed the down switch on the motor, and that stopped it from raising further.  Reset the transom saver.  In a few minutes I heard the hum of the hydraulic pump.  After some fiddling around, I found that water had gotten into the front tilt control creating a short that activated the tilt pump.

 

I reset the transom saver and disconnected the battery.  While it was an aggravation, it was also a blessing.  Had it occurred driving down the interstate at 70 mph it would have caused some serious damage.  Whenever the boat is out of the water, the cranking battery will be disconnected via the switch. 

[Hi Salenity]

Good post, I'd like to have one that kills the battery after the charging leads so I can still charge the battery's and not have to worry about something that was left on lake a fishfinder, pump, light...

One of my worst (<lol) fears is show up to the lake and have dead batteries.

[Jig Man]

http://www.harborfreight.com/battery-disconnect-switch-97853.html

[awefvawervwae]

Good post, I'd like to have one that kills the battery after the charging leads so I can still charge the battery's and not have to worry about something that was left on lake a fishfinder, pump, light...

One of my worst (<lol) fears is show up to the lake and have dead batteries.

 

Thats how mine is setup. Charger is wired directly to the batteries. Main power lead to the boat has a main breaker right at the battery.

[J Francho]

Thats how mine is setup. Charger is wired directly to the batteries. Main power lead to the boat has a main breaker right at the battery.

 

That's how my Xpress is set up, too.

[Wayne P.]

For the trolling motor circuit, one of these will perform the duty of circuit breaker and battery disconnect.

 

http://www.wiringproducts.com/50-amp-high-amperage-circuit-breaker.html

[cadman]

Thats how mine is setup. Charger is wired directly to the batteries. Main power lead to the boat has a main breaker right at the battery.

 

Mine is set up like this as well and it works great.

[FD.]

I have two of these.  One for the trolling batteries and one for the cranking battery.

 

http://www.perko.com/catalog/category/battery_switches/product/150/