TI Rear Hatch Dual Battery

I've just started getting into kayak fishing. My Garmin 527xs CP/FF uses a lot more power when looking for fish compared to just navigation and depth measurements. I was draining the Hobie battery in about 4-5 hours so decided to add a second. I've been using the Hobie battery mount in the rear hatch and wanted to keep the second battery there as well. I hadn't seen a mounting solution like this before so thought I'd share. My apologies if it's been covered previously.

I mounted two Hobie battery holders back to back.



To get the nut flush, I enlarged the hole with a 1/4" Forstener bit then heated the nut with a hot air gun and pressed it into the plastic. The nylon in the lock nut did get a little runny, but firmed up once cooled. I had to cut the bolts with a Dremel to get them flush as well.



I used a generic 12V/9Ah battery from Amazon which was about $22.

I wired the batteries in parallel by soldering a center stripped wire to the new battery terminals and potting the connections with marine goop. I found the Delphi two pronged connector on Amazon ($7) which made it plug and play with my existing Hobie battery.





I added a couple zip ties between the holders for insurance. I also added a zip tie on the down battery side just to ensure it doesn't fall out, but it's very snug already.

The whole unit fits in the TI rear hatch without touching the hull.



I've done one fishing trip with this mod and everything remains solid.

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Looks good. What about possible water in the hull? How high would it have to go to reach that second battery?

Another option is a lipo battery, less than a third the weight, same cost, 16ah and longer life.

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Mark
Tandem Island- 2013
2 - Sports - 2014

Good points. It would probably take about 3" of water to hit the first terminal - definitely possible but the terminals are well coated with marine goop. If I have issues, I'll investigate the lipo battery. Thanks!