New member with trolling motor battery location question.

[99FisherMan]

What's up guys. Been a lurker here for quite some time and have seen some of the awesome builds.

Background: I bought a 1999 Fisher Dominator 175 and I'm doing a compete gut and rebuild. The Dominator is a complete length V-hull, 16.5' in length and the stern is 80" wide and a 20" stern. There's no info on these boats on line so I figured I'd give some back ground

So here's my question. I am upgrading from the original 12v TM to a 24v TM. The original battery location was about 3 feet from the bow of the boat. I'm going to be putting another storage compartment just forward of the steering console. So would it be better to locate the batteries all the way up front in the original location, or move them back about 3 feet to just forward of the middle of the boat? If I put them in the second option, they would be all the way to the sides (one far left and one far right) which could possibly help with stability.

My fear is to put too much weight forward. I'm putting a 50hp Evinrude on it and the gas tank holds 30 gallons (which I probably won't ever run full), so that gives you an idea of stern weight. I've never had this in the water, so I don't know how it will sit. I just don't want it to sit too low in the front, but would like to distribute weight as evenly as possible.

Any ideas or personal experiences? All opinions welcome.

Thanks!

 

[highgeardaddy]

Its hard to say exactly what placement would work best. You are on the right track though, IMHO weight bias cannot be towards the front.

 

[shallowminedid]

im playin the weight game my self right now.put new bigger motor on moved tank and battery forward got my tank under the deck just forward of drivers seat in the center and 24 gal 4 batteries infront of that and mines still got too much junk in the trunk my motor weights 406 lbs and my next step is to move the consol a tad forward and center and have a fat friend on my seat on the bow. i run a jet so i want the stern as high up as possible. my opinion put it all forward. it will help with choppy days

 

[gillhunter]

Does your boat look like this?
https://boats.iboats.com/2000-fisher-modified-v-v-bass-17-dominator-00-wedowee/1245271.html