On board Charging

What the best pratice for charging the batteries on the boat.
IE 24 hr after fishing and 24 hr before or leaving it plug in all the time

I always leave mine plugged in 24/7. I believe that is what you will hear most of the guys on here do.

Thanks

Stay plugged in 24/7...that way the boat is always ready for any trip...

There is some debate about whether to leave them plugged in all the time or not. I used to leave mine plugged in all the time, but kept having to add water to the batteries. With my last two boats, my Cougar and now with my BayCat, I plug them in as soon as I get home, recharge, then unhook them the next day. So far all seems to work well. I've talked to two different "battery experts" in recent years. One said to leave them plugged in 24/7, one said to not leave them plugged in. So I really think it makes little difference.

+1 on the charge when return home, then unplug. I usually do plug it back in the night before just to make sure its "topped off" -- no issues.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by billius &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">There is some debate about whether to leave them plugged in all the time or not. I used to leave mine plugged in all the time, but kept having to add water to the batteries. With my last two boats, my Cougar and now with my BayCat, I plug them in as soon as I get home, recharge, then unhook them the next day. So far all seems to work well. I've talked to two different "battery experts" in recent years. One said to leave them plugged in 24/7, one said to not leave them plugged in. So I really think it makes little difference.</TD></TR></TABLE>
I do much like Bill, except I have my charger plugged into a timer which turns the charger on for 1 hour every night at 4 a.m. I turn it on when I get home from the lake and it runs until 5 the next morning, then daily until it's time for the next trip.