Installing a Kayak Trolling Motor Battery

Want to upgrade your kayak in an instant? Add a trolling motor and a kayak trolling motor battery. With a kayak battery, you can cover more water and catch more fish.

There are many advantages to installing a kayak trolling motor battery. Want to find out what they are? Keep reading to see how the right battery can turn your kayak into a mean, lean fishing machine. Plus, we’ll explain how to choose the best kayak battery for your needs.

Why Install a Kayak Trolling Motor Battery?

At the risk of being too obvious, you need a kayak trolling motor battery to power your (drumroll please)… trolling motor. A deep cycle 12v marine battery will get the job done.

But a kayak trolling motor battery can also power many useful electronics. Think fish finders, lights, a GPS system, and a phone charger.

Installing the right kayak trolling motor battery can help you enhance your kayaking and fishing adventures. For example:

• Stay safe. Power your navigation lights, emergency calls/flashers. Use the trolling motor to get home if injured.
• Add comfort. Paddle less. Avoid achy arms. Listen to music. Charge your phone and stay in touch with friends and family.
• Catch more fish. Power your fish finder with your trolling motor battery.
• Fish farther and longer. A trolling motor helps you cover more water. Stay on the water all day with a reliable battery.
• Fish after dark. Battery-powered lights are essential if you want to fish safely after sundown.
• Power any and all kayak accessories. Sonar hub, satellite XM radio, marine radio, waterproof Bluetooth speaker, VHF radio, personal locator beacon, etc. You name it, your kayak trolling motor battery can probably power it.

By now you’ve probably got your wallet out, ready to grab the first kayak trolling motor battery you can find. Not so fast! Not all kayak batteries are created equal. Some of them can actually hinder your experience if they’re too cumbersome. So let’s talk about the best kayak battery next.

Choosing & Setting up the Best Kayak Motor Battery

Kayaks are small vessels. Small boats and big batteries don’t mix! Unless you want to chug along as slowly as a tugboat pulling a barge. Or amp up your arm muscles by paddling around with a heavy battery.

Chunky, heavy batteries take up precious space in your kayak. They also create more drag. This makes your vessel sit lower and your trolling motor work harder.

So the best kayak battery is the one that’s large enough to power your motor and electronics, but small enough to keep your kayak light.

What kind of battery is that, you ask? Ionic lithium, also known as LiFePO4 lithium batteries. Lithium kayak trolling motor batteries weigh up to 50% lighter than lead acid. They also take up less space, and charge in as little as 1-3 hours.

Benefits of Installing a Lithium Kayak Trolling Motor Battery

Lithium is the best kayak battery for many reasons. Yes, the price tag for these high-tech batteries can be higher. But that’s what you’d expect from the “big fish” in the battery pond. Lithium batteries use materials and technology that’s lightyears ahead of traditional battery types.

For example, lead acid batteries require a lot of maintenance. Cleaning, watering, babysitting while charging…you need those things like a fish needs a bicycle. Lithium batteries need none of that nonsense. Their chemistry is safer, acid-free, and toxin free–a must for marine batteries.

Also, your motor will perform better with a lithium kayak trolling motor battery. As the day wears on, lead acid batteries suffer from voltage drop. Not so with lithium. You get the same amount of power all day long, even when the battery is discharged below 50%.

How to Choose the Best Kayak Battery for Your Needs

We’ll say it again: we believe the best kayak battery type is Ionic lithium. But what about battery capacity? You want to get a battery that’s as small as possible, but still powers all your gadgets.

You can get a 12 volt lithium kayak trolling motor battery with an amp hour rating of as little as 9. This battery weighs just 2.8 lbs. On the other end of the spectrum, there’s the 12v 100 Ah battery.

Learn more about how to choose a battery for your trolling motor!

What you choose depends on what you want to power. If you just want to use a small screen fish finder, you can get away with a 12v 9Ah or 12v 12Ah. If you have several fishing accessories, you might want our 12v 20 Ah battery.

What if you want to power a trolling motor? In that case, you’ll need more capacity. If you need 30 to 55 lbs of thrust, try a 12v 30Ah or 12v 50Ah kayak trolling motor battery. You can also hook up your batteries in parallel to increase the capacity and run time.

Have questions about choosing and setting up a kayak trolling motor battery? Contact us here! We’re happy to help.

Looking for lithium marine batteries? Go here.