[OspreyVic]

Rocky, welcome to the site. You ask many good questions.

Some of your questions come with the answers of “how much money can you spend” and “how much safety do you want to build into your boat.”

We have two AGM batteries and a switching system for the batteries that we feel serves us better. We recently purchased an AGM battery for the tow vehicle, if you wonder if we are really sold on that technology. The two batteries give us redundancy in case one fails, a safety feature. You can read about the batteries we purchased and the electrical system modifications if you go to the “Articles” section and then look for “Additions & Modifications to our 2005 Triumph 210”. We have one battery dedicated to the motor and another for everything else.

You do not state if your boat will stay in the water or be stored outside on its trailer. That complicates the bilge pump question. You list your locations as Florida, so that at least should eliminate water freezing inside the bilge pump. If like most of your boat is stored on your trailer, then I would NOT want the bilge pump to be able to drain a battery when the boat is not in use. Another reason we have our switches set up the way we do.

As to charging your batteries, one thing I was told by the manufacturer was to never put the boat to bed with partially drained batteries. So every time we return home and after using the pressure washer, we connect the charger. If for some reason we can’t go out for a few weeks, we hook the charger back up for a couple of hours. We also hook up the charger before we take the boat out. As I was told, a fully charged battery is a happy battery that will perform for you and have a longer life.

The type of battery charger you purchase might be dictated by the type of batteries you purchase. Our battery manufacturer recommended the Tru Charge 20+ Battery Charger for our AGM batteries. I am sure others would work, but I followed what the manufacturer recommended.

If you have two batteries, especially if they are hooked up like mine are, and you take care of them, then I would not worry about having a portable car battery booster for your boat. My personal opinion.

Good luck on your decisions. Learning before you make that purchase helps ensure that you only have to spend the money once, and not a second time to fix your first mistake.