OK, I might have slightly deeper pockets than some but I fish in some areas
& times of the year where there isn't other boats around & it's vital I
don't have failures unexpectedly.
Also for THAT piece of mind, for the cost of forgoing a couple of meals out
at a restaurant, I reckon it's money well spent.
Where do you live?
In Australia the size battery I use is $A120.00 & a good night out would
cost about the same with drinks included. (for 2 of us)
BruceM


"Jeff Morris" wrote in message
...
"BruceM" wrote in message
...
Guess it depends on your situation & how deep your pockets are.
Mine aren't very deep so I tend to always replace the start one each
year &
put the original one in place for anchor accessory use (if you know what
I
mean?).

If you replace a battery every year, you must have deep pockets! On my
previous boat
I replaced all the batteries once in 8 years, and they had a number of
years on them
when I bought it. On my new boat the house bank is going strong after
five years. I
replaced the starter batteries with Optima's because they were stashed in
a location
impossible to properly maintain - I expect them to go a number of years.
A cheap
battery goes 4 years in a car ... why shouldn't a quality battery do the
same in a
boat?

Usually by then that one is just about had it from too many low
drains. (Sharking at night with lights on & music playing & mobile phone
plugged in & depth/fish sounder on etc,)

If you look at the "discharge depth/service life" curves maybe you would
size your
batteries appropriately. A deep cycle battery should be good for hundreds
of cycles
as long as you don't drain it too far. A starting battery will only give
you a
handful of deep cycles.

Perhaps I don't appreciate your situation (do you have to carry a
recharged battery to
a moored boat?) but it seems like something is wrong if you're only
getting one year
of good service from a battery!