Trolling motor and camping

jimraelee	hi all... I'm going camping this weekend and need some ideas on how to recharge a deep cycle while out there.... I'm going to be gone for 5 days and I don't think morning and evening trolls around the lake will make it all 5 days... what can be done to recharge the deep cycle.. FYI the boat is a fiberglass 14' with little Minn Kota I know that cars alternators are not made to charge batteries.. so hooking the jumpers to the van is not an option......jim	2002-06-24
martyscher	You can get a power inverter that will convert your 12vDC to 120AC. These work quite well and a reasonably priced. The problem is that since the troller battery gets a trickle charge, your vehicle will be running a long time. Can you rent an outboard?	2002-06-24
Fishbusters	All I can suggest is purchase another battery and get a solar charger. Use one day while charging the other for the next then swap out. It sounds good on paper and might work. I usually use my running motor to charge my trolling battery if I am out for an extended trip. I hook it up every time I crank up and run. In a toon any trip is usually long enough to bring it back up quite a bit.	2002-06-24
crab bait	I was in a similar spot one time.. I drove 6 miles to a little gas station an paid the man a few bucks to put it on a charger .. I picked it back up later that day..	2002-06-24
jimraelee	thanks all... yes I have a 18hp Evinrude for cruising around... but with 140 min of reserve time on the deep cycle... I think 1hr trolling morning and again at night will kill it in a day.. I'm looking into the idea of using the nearest store to hook up my 6am trickle charger.. will 2a charger work.... or is that just for keeping charged???	2002-06-24
ebbtide176	since you have chargers you definitely need to find a place with an outlet to use. and 2amp will charge it, just takes a lot longer. you'll have to get to the store before closing time, so that might hamper good evening fishing, but it should mean enough charging time for either charger. the best would be to have a fuel powered generator with 110v outlets. expensive though. you can take some jumper cables and hook it to your van battery and let it run. its no different than letting the alternator charge up a dead van battery. it puts heavy current into a dead battery, but since they'll be in parallel, the amount will be much less (slower charging), and should be fine. if you are curious as to how well its going, buy a cheapo (like $10)multimeter at auto parts store, check the voltage on the TM (trolling) battery b4 you hook it up. good=12.6v, it might be @12.2 ea day. then hook it up to van, let it charge for 1/2hr, pull it off jumpers, let it sit (to stabilize)5mins, then check voltage. you might be surprised how well it works. -or just buy an extra TM battery	2002-06-25

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