What are my best possible battery options ?

[TomCat58]

haha, 11 volts to me means dead battery. I rarely let my landlocked bank get less than 24.4V (that's 12.2 for your 12v system). Different use altogether tho as I don't draw high amps like a trolling motor. Doubt that charger reading makes any sense.. let that battery sit there a while without charging and voltage will climb when the battery balances out inside. (Sunking is better at describing battery chemistry than I.)

Most cheaper charge controllers do have a very small amp value on their load terminals, but Morningstar with better design/construction will let you draw more. I'm a Morningstar fan myself and have read the manuals. Your battery selector switch seems redundant, the only advantage you get is not having to watch your voltage. "Then I would slowly and gentle return to the land at about a 2-3 amp draw which on calm water and little wind is about 1 mph." Designing a boat for ideal conditions can get you in trouble, wind, tide and current do not always agree with where you need to go.
oh yeah... back to the battery... single string is always better than parallel and a pair of 6V would be better. If you have a need to spend money AGMs would eliminate cell checks and give you a faster charge time with a bigger charger. Concorde SunXtenders good choice. Read the info at Trojan , Concorde , and others to decide what suits your needs. Use the 5-8Ah capacity rating which applies to your use better than 20-24 hour rate. The knowledge is out there. It takes time to research. You can do it yourself or listen to Sunking's (his name should be BatteryKing) excellent advice.

Thank you FloridaSun for your reply and information. I need to now do some reading and understand better what you folks have shared with me. I know sunking is very knowledgeable but he could come across in a better sociable manner. Everyone is on a different level of knowledge and its not productive to be rude when a newbee post a question.

I will do my home work now and get back to you good folks soon

TomCat58

[axis11]

Is your current battery on its way out? If its still accepting a good amount of charge, I would still use it until it dies. And then get a new set of batteries. With 260 watts of panels and a 100 watt motor, and sailing only during the day, maybe you can get away with a smaller battery. Less weight=faster. The downside is your reserve capacity to sail on less productive hours and night will be reduced and you need to drop anchor earlier than usual. Im not sure how much distance covered you would loose or gain from reducing battery weight but with shorter sailing time, compared to longer sailing time with the heavy batteries.

[TomCat58]

Is your current battery on its way out? If its still accepting a good amount of charge, I would still use it until it dies. And then get a new set of batteries. With 260 watts of panels and a 100 watt motor, and sailing only during the day, maybe you can get away with a smaller battery. Less weight=faster. The downside is your reserve capacity to sail on less productive hours and night will be reduced and you need to drop anchor earlier than usual. Im not sure how much distance covered you would loose or gain from reducing battery weight but with shorter sailing time, compared to longer sailing time with the heavy batteries.

No Axis11 my two walmart deep cycle batteries are only 6 months old. I am just looking at my system and its components and trying to learn how to make it function better. A amp or two or a better battery that maybe charges faster or whatever. I guess what i am saying is with my boat/Canoe I feel like I have reached a max on panels and I have a great motor so now I am trying to learn if small things and changes can improve on what I already have.

I should explain something clearer. When I woke up while I was camping along the beaches of the Columbia River I had a few hours of day light before launching. Packing up and making breakfast and waiting for the sun to come over the ridges.

I might leave shore and my panels are reading 3 to 4 amps. BUT I went ahead and turn the trolling motor up to a nice speed of 2.5 to 3 mph which is about 7-8 amps. Now after a few hours and with not many clouds I was bring in 9-11 amps but left the motor speed the same at 7-8 amps. Now if I thinking correctly I used solar and battery power in the morning but am not replacing it with 2-3 amps and I am still holding my speed.

Late in the afternoon the winds start to come up river and it can get pretty nasty so about 6pm I would get off the river for the day. This allowed my battery to top off with the 2-4 hours if light left in the day.

Sunking says it can't be done. Well with this system yes it can be and has been done. I would have explained my system earlier but I don't want to argue with sunking. I want to learn from sunking.

Anyone is welcome to ask any questions they my want.....

TomCat58

[axis11]

I plan to build a solar boat in the near future. I will be using lightweight semi-flexible solar panels(about 6 x 100 watts). About 200 watts motor for propulsion. The panels will take a lot of space and will catch lots of wind when there is a breeze. But since they are light, I can configure them to be folded almost the same as how they fold plane wings on an aircraft carrier. The only difference is the panel folds downwards and under, leaving some of the panels still productive. Not more than 100AH @ 12V battery. Battery wattage will mostly be used on camp at night. Early on the next day, once the panels are able to produce 150 watts, start sailing again. In about an hour later, panel output will be more than the motor consumption and start charging the batteries. In the afternoon, when the panels production drop lower than 200 watts, throttle down and consume only what the panels generate. Lower than 100 watts, i'll set for camp. In this way, the battery will serve mostly as a regulator for the motor , back-up and camp use.

[TomCat58]

I plan to build a solar boat in the near future. I will be using lightweight semi-flexible solar panels(about 6 x 100 watts). About 200 watts motor for propulsion. The panels will take a lot of space and will catch lots of wind when there is a breeze. But since they are light, I can configure them to be folded almost the same as how they fold plane wings on an aircraft carrier. The only difference is the panel folds downwards and under, leaving some of the panels still productive. Not more than 100AH @ 12V battery. Battery wattage will mostly be used on camp at night. Early on the next day, once the panels are able to produce 150 watts, start sailing again. In about an hour later, panel output will be more than the motor consumption and start charging the batteries. In the afternoon, when the panels production drop lower than 200 watts, throttle down and consume only what the panels generate. Lower than 100 watts, i'll set for camp. In this way, the battery will serve mostly as a regulator for the motor , back-up and camp use.

I look forward to seeing your ideas take shape. My solar canoe is going through a complete once over right now. I am addressing the many things I learned on the 5 day Columbia River trip. With a bit of luck it will be back in the water around new years and I will share a few pictures. There is another tread on this forum posted by SolarCanoe and he is building a solar canoe/boat also. Maybe al three threads should all be on the same page/thread and we can compare notes ?

Thanks everyone for your post and input. When you all get your solar canoes in the water your going to notice something. Its almost totally silent. Its even quieter the paddling a canoe because there is now paddle noise from a paddle dripping water between strokes. The wildlife allow me to come right up to them. I have gotten within 30 feet to deer on shore as well as a massive moose in my canoe.

There are some things we give up by having a solar boat BUT there are other things we gain. No Noise, no smelly gas and oil and no wondering how much gas we have left and the cost of fuel and internal combustion engine break down and repairs

TomCat58