How Many Batteries Should I Have on My Boat?

There’s one thing you can be certain of if you’re heading out on the water—you only have as long out there as you have battery power to get back safely. If you’re new to boating in general, you might not realize that most boats have multiple batteries onboard, as opposed to a vehicle like a car that only has one. If you find yourself wondering how many batteries you should have on your boat, read on to learn more!

Recommended Number Batteries for Your Boat

Boats require a lot of power, as there’s a lot more going on in them than in most land vehicles. For this reason, you’ll likely need multiple batteries onboard your boat unless you are in something very small and simple. The minimum for many boats is two, even for something diminutive in size. If you’ll be out for a long time, have twin engines, or you’re running a trolling motor, the standard usually goes up to three batteries total for safety purposes.

The Importance of Multiple Batteries

Why do you need so many batteries on your boat in the first place? There are a couple of critical reasons that you’ll want more than one. While you obviously want to ensure you can always reach land again, having multiple batteries is mostly useful because it extends how much time you can spend on the water.

Starting Load vs. House Load

Most boats require two different kinds of power for proper operation. The first is known as starting load, and boaters refer to the second as the house load or running load. Starting load comes from the starting battery, which understandably is what kickstarts the engines. The house load, on the other hand, runs via a secondary battery and keeps the boat’s electronic components running.

Avoiding Accidental Stranding

If we understand the power loads above, it becomes clear why having multiple batteries is essential. If your starting battery also ran the electronic components of your boat while you were away from land, you wouldn’t have very long before you needed to return to charge back up. Having one battery dedicated to the house load means that your starting load has its own dedicated battery, ensuring you always have the power you need to get back to shore.

Abyss Battery makes it easy to always have the power your boat needs to stay running properly. If you need to add or replace batteries on your vessel, check out our trolling motor lithium batteries that will last much longer than traditional batteries.