What is the Best Marine Battery?

[JigginFool]

I need to get a new dual purpose marine battery for my boat this year.  Last year at the start of our 2nd week on Kipawa we had to go to Villa Marie for essentials like beer and food.  When we arrive back at our boat it was deader than a door nail, to the point of not even trying to turn over.  Luckily I had a pull rope for my 60 hp and surprisingly it started on the 2nd pull, it would have been a long ride on the 6 hp kicker and I would have probably been out of beer again when I  arrived back at camp.  By giving it a charge and running the motor I survived the 2nd week but need to get a new one at the start of this season.
I see great reviews on Odyssey, Diehard Platinum, Exide, and Optimum.  Does anyone have recommendations?  I use it for starting the motor, power down rigger, fish finder, radio, etc.  Any recommendations would be appreciated.  Tx's.

[Jay Thomas]

Just my 2cents JigginFool. I'd have two batteries on board. A starting battery for your 60 HP and the radio. A deep cycle battery to run your sonar unit and your down rigger. If you're a jigger 90% of the time, you won't be running the 60 HP long enough to replenish the charge on a single battery. I've been using 3 East Penn deep cycle batteries for 6 years now. Very happy with their performance. Besides, I'm the type of guy who likes to have a back up.

Jay 

[JigginFool]

Jay-That's what I was thinking too but didn't want to buy 2 batterys if I didn't need to.  The only time I use the down rigger is when we go to  Kipawa, and last year I used them a lot for lake trout and I think that's what caused my existing battery to die.  With going up there for 2 straight weeks again I'm sure the battery will get another good work out since it's a continuous up and down.  I am a big jigger in the morning and evening but when the sun is high I like trying for lake trout.  We caught a bunch last year only bummer was they were all just a little too short, but still fun, especially when I let my 9 year old real them all in.

[SgtCrabby]

First, I agree with Jay.  Two batteries are best; 1 for the engine and radio, and 1 for the other electrics.

But if you take only 1 battery; I would at least have a charger and recharge the battery every night.

[johnny walleye]

cabelas advanced agm

[JigginFool]

@ Johnny walleye - I was also  looking at the Cabalas advanced agm's, mainly because I have a lot of points and it wouldn't cost me much, have you had experience with them?  If I went that route I would take a charger with me just to top it off each night or if it started to drop.  I would like to buy a cranking battery and a deep cycle since that would be the best route, but I didn't want to drop that much if I didn't need to.

[johnny walleye]

I like it because it holds the charge well ,when not in use we have a 14 and 16 ft lowe ,we do not use the 16 ft boat that much so it helps if the the charge holds. plus good reviews

[Dog]

the cedar strip has two cabelas agm batteries for the bow mounted trolling motor. They've been great so far with limited use... they did have some trouble handling the bumpy ride  in the boat back to Lake O but I think any batteries would have not faired well on that road. It took them 3-4 days to settled back down and then they were fine the rest of the week (and have been since). Moral of the story is now we transport the batteries in the vehicle when trailering and install them upon arrival prior.