Off grid Bass camping with Pro 170 and need battery advice/ideas.

[Mid-Fisherman]

The last couple years a couple of us who have Pro 170's get together and set up a camp somewhere on the lake and spend a few days catching bass. We generally load the boats up with all of the necessary things like ice chests and tents fuel for the boats and lug four to six lead acid batteries for the trolling motors, since we don't have shore power or a generator. I was thinking about upgrading to Lithium ion battery's and purchasing a 200w folding solar array that could charge a spare at camp while we go out and fish for the day. The other obvious solution was to purchase a small generator but then we would need additional fuel and have to listen to it run for however long it takes to charge the battery's.. Not sure I can get away with not having to change out the battery's but wanted to see if anyone has Ideas that could help make this issue less inconvenient?

[GaryH]

For a lot less money than lithium batteries and solar charger you could purchase a super quiet Honda generator 42 decibels that only has a .5 gallon tank that runs between 3 and 6hrs depending on load. Heck one 5 gallon can would do 10 fill ups.

 

 

 

[Mid-Fisherman]

I was just thinking about maybe I just rent the generator for a week, Cheaper yet. Thanks for the input..

 

[Darth-Baiter]

my EU2000.  well it is the new model EU2050?  i forget.

 

i can run it for 9 hours on a single tank of fuel.  less than a gallon if i remember correctly.  it is pretty quiet.  i paid $999.  having said that, my old boss bought the Yamaha 2000 from costco, i have to admit.  i think it is quieter.  he paid $450ish.  

[desmobob]

A few years back, I bought one of the cheap Harbor Freight two-cycle 50cc generators with a coupon for $99!  I used it all one summer for running battery chargers for R/C airplanes and it worked great.  It wasn't as quiet as the other guys' Hondas, but it was quiet enough, and a LOT less expensive.

[Mid-Fisherman]

Curious how long the tank of fuel lasted for you?

[desmobob]

I never ran it for much more than probably four hours and I don't remember how long it would run on a tankful.  I'm guessing more than eight hours...