Recently purchased this new to me 2010 ZX200, and it has a 80/24v Fortrex on it. I am going to be upgrading to an Ultrex in May or June, and I'm going back and forth on what size TM to get. It seems like it should be a no brainer of a decision, but I see good reasons both for and against going up to the 112/36v.
I'm about 90% settled on going with an 80/24v Ultrex. Two biggest reasons for this...
1) I just spent the last 10 years fishing out of a 20' 3" Ranger 488Vs with an 80 lb Maxxum in it, and even running it on that heavy pig of a boat, I never once had an issue of needing more power to be able to fight the wind in any conditions that I fished in. Yes, more power would definitely have been nice in some instances, but I never felt like I couldn't fish for a full day because I was lacking peak power or lasting power for the day.
2) I like the idea of a straight drop in replacement over my current Fortrex. No fussing with anything else, just unbolt the Fortrex, drop in the Ultrex, and I'm done.
That being said, I realize that IF I'm going to upgrade to a 36v, NOW would be the time to do it. But I would like to hear from people with the same size boat on their experiences (pros and cons) that you went through if you did upgrade from the 24v to the 36v TM.
If I were to do it that way, I want to get it all done right & proper the first go. Make sure I have the proper power cables/wiring running from front to back of the boat, obviously add the extra battery, and buy a new 4 bank charger so everything can be charged from one source. To add the extra battery though, I have to move the cranking battery, as it's in the middle of that spot for batteries in the bilge area.
So thoughts from those that have gone through this? I know the 80/24v will be just fine for me. I'm trying to decide if it's worth the loss of a day and about an extra $700 total to go the extra mile and throw in the 36v model instead.