A decent marine battery will do the job depending on how long you want to be out for. I use mine for fluro nav/cabin lights and a GPS/fishfinder unit probably about 15 hours worth of lights, 20 hours worth of fishfinder, probably more in the last month and have yet to recharge the battery. If I was to go on an extended trip, a decent 10w BP solar panel will probably be more then what is required for both yours and my own low power usage. Im not sure what type of battery it is, haven't had a decent look at it yet and probably wont till I need to charge it :). I cant imagine it would be something very flash.

Also I love my fishfinder/gps combo. It is a cuda eagle something that sells for about $400 or so.

Great, thanks a lot guys :)

I'll buy one of those batteries and search around for a panel.

Cheers

I don't know what class of boat you are sailing, but there is a fair bit of information on the subject you are inquiring about in my ebook "Cruising Essentials for TS and small boat skippers". It includes some advise on batteries, recharging your power source and keeping your consumption to a minimum.

You can download the ebook for less than five dollars from the ww.bookhabit.com. website. From their home page click on nonfiction and then adventuring (or sport). There is a free download of the "first chapter" which in this case is a compilation of a selection of pages including the contents pages. The "first chapter" is a bit fuzzy-edged due to the way it was compiled but the full download is razor sharp print quality.

Hope it will answer many of the questions you might have.

Cheers
Bob Couper

if it is a trailer boat u wont have a problem but if u keep the boat in the water listen up ....... u must ,must conect ur earth lead to a brass plat that is allways under the water ...... or anny thing metal /( props) with corode away like thier is no tomorro .... ur prop will only last bout 2 months

In the time before kids I use to live on a yacht (4 of us in fact) which had minimal electrics, Depth sounder, VHF radio compass/nav lights and interior lights. The only way to charge the 1 X 70A house battery was with solar panel. (solarX 40W). We had heaps of power as long as we didn't read all night or leave lights on when not needed. I would recommend getting a regulator (fairly cheap) so you don't boil your battery and an amp meter so you know that it really is charging your battery. Things like the shadow from a piece of rope or a towel draped careless across 2% of the solar panel can have a substantial effect. Ah the good old days, boozing I mean cruising the coral coast.