I am new to the world of small metal boats. Most of my marine experience is on bigger stuff and jetskis and a little bit of hydroplane/small raceboat experience. I have been around the last category but never raced those. On larger stuff, it doesn't care a whole if the battery is right at the transom of a couple of feet forward because its simply not a big deal overall (a battery basically being one exhaust manifold and riser on a mercruiser). It strikes me that a whole lot more care is required when rigging a smaller and lighter boat. Two batteries and a full tank of fuel being over half the weight of a 45 cubic inch OMC twin, I figured I should ask for advice on my setup.
The boat is a Fisher Hawk 3v. Not the bulkier Marsh Hawk. Its 15 feet long and about 60 inches across the gunwales. Starboard side console, has a factory front and rear deck. No wood except the hatch up front and the live well hatch and the transom board. The rear deck has a hatch which flips up giving access to a well for batteries and fuel tank. I will be running a 50 hp Evinrude twin with manual trim on this.
I guess my question really pertains to locating the battery and fuel tank. The boat came with a low profile 12 gallon Moeller tank, and no battery setup at all. There are holddowns on the floor at the front of the compartment for a battery on each side. The moeller tank takes up one entire half of the compartment. Should I mount both batteries on the port side to offset driver weight? Should I swap over to two 6 gallon tanks and put the batteries back against the transom since 2x60 pounds of weight of the batteries is "fixed"? Or install them forward in the compartment like they were presumably done from the factory?
The boat is a Fisher Hawk 3v. Not the bulkier Marsh Hawk. Its 15 feet long and about 60 inches across the gunwales. Starboard side console, has a factory front and rear deck. No wood except the hatch up front and the live well hatch and the transom board. The rear deck has a hatch which flips up giving access to a well for batteries and fuel tank. I will be running a 50 hp Evinrude twin with manual trim on this.
I guess my question really pertains to locating the battery and fuel tank. The boat came with a low profile 12 gallon Moeller tank, and no battery setup at all. There are holddowns on the floor at the front of the compartment for a battery on each side. The moeller tank takes up one entire half of the compartment. Should I mount both batteries on the port side to offset driver weight? Should I swap over to two 6 gallon tanks and put the batteries back against the transom since 2x60 pounds of weight of the batteries is "fixed"? Or install them forward in the compartment like they were presumably done from the factory?