Weight Movement

[Lil Troller]

I have a 14ft MFG boat. I have way too much weight in the back, I would like to know about moving the two batteries up under the bow. The only problem piece is the engine. How can I extend that bunch of wires to the batteries?

I have a 14ft MFG boat. I would like to move the two batteries to the front of the boat. There is way too much weight on the stern, trolling motor, batteries, gas tank, downriggers (4), boat engine (outboard 55hp). My main curiousity is moving the wires for the outboard up to the front of the boat. Can anyone help?

[holy mackerel]

A lot of guys put a couple sandbags in the bow, I used to have about ten extra cannonballs in the bow of my old Starcraft.

Long battery cables are not a good idea unless you go up in wire size.

Just my $.02

[stinger]

This may help you with cable size> http://www.alternatorparts.com/wire_size_chart.htm

and then look for something like this > http://www.amazon.com/2-gauge-20-Jumper ... B002TLWXWQ

Heavy duty jumper cables are a easy way to run heavy wire in a nice neat bundle. Just cut off the clips and use proper connectors on each end.

[Mickey Finn]

Putting Extra weight in the bow will help bring it down but it will also add extra weight to the boat and decrease freeboard. If it's a high sided boat, thats fine. Moving the batteries is a good idea because it won't increase the total weight in the boat. Just might need heavier cables, thats all. I watched a guy in a small 12 footer troll by us one day and his butt was about 6 inches from the water. I told my buddy, that guy is asking for it. It was in May and the water was very cold. About an hour later I though I heard a noise. After a little listening and looking, I could see something on the water about a mile away. We pulled up and headed that way. The guy was clinging to the bow of the boat which was held floating by a small cooler under the seat and his life vest which he was not wearing. The only other boat on the lake was the one that produced the waves that capsized him and they didn't notice that it had happened. He would have never made it. The only thing that saved him was that I had just replaced my noisy old kicker motor with a new 4 stroke Honda. Otherwise we never would have heard him. So to make a long story short, or short story long...You are doing something that could save yourself.

[jimski2]

14 foot boat/ 55 hp motor? that is a problem.

[LongLine]

Have you considered moving the gas tank?

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[rail bird]

Do you have an A B switch on the boat? I would move the batteries up front, mount the A B switch in the back and not extend the motor circuits. As others have said be careful of the Wire Guage and truth be told you should be using tinned Marine Wire as copper wire will corrode.

I bought some wire from these guys last year and had a good experiance.

http://tinnedmarinewire.com/wire/