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Would you Pay the extra $$$$

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 2:54 pm
by Greg H
I know bass boats are really getting expensive and any increase in cost could limit some of the buyers available in the secondary market. My question is would you Pay the extra 5 to 7 K for a boat with a Lithium battery system. I am thinking it's not worth it, but just wanted hear other opinions. Doesn't seem like that technology is coming down much in price from my perspective. Thanks

Re: Would you Pay the extra $$$$

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 4:16 pm
by mmalinao
Lithium batteries are not for everyone, at least not right now. There are several advantages with lithium, weight savings (better gas mileage) , super fast charge time, life of the battery, and the ability to get the full power until they die.

That being said the average boat owner is completely fine buying $90 batteries at Costco and replacing them every 2-3 years. If you're on the water all the time and fish for a living, I think it makes sense to pay the money up front and not have to worry about changing them for 10 years.

I have a light boat and currently running a 24V system that I'm upgrading to a 36V system and I thought long and hard about buying 2 36V lithium's so that I didn't need to run 4 50lbs batteries. I didn't pull the trigger and I'm hoping the prices will continue to come down to a more reasonable price.

Just my 2 cents

-Mike

Re: Would you Pay the extra $$$$

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 5:21 pm
by Whoopbass
Your average Joe won't get em and I don't blame them. There is not enough "pro's" to buy them to get the price down. Other markets like motor homes will have to bring the price down. The entire system (4 batteries and a charger) would have to be around $2500 before I would even consider switching and I wouldn't rush to make the switch at that price point.

Re: Would you Pay the extra $$$$

Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2017 11:11 am
by crawdaddy
I think this is the same as asking would you pay $3500 for a pair of powerpoles, $4000 for Panoptix sonar, $1400 for 360 Degree sonar, $3000 for an extra graph on the bow, $3000 for an extra graph at the console, $2500 for a trolling motor with Spot-Lock, $250 for a glide-bait, $800 for Smart-Craft gauges, $600 for a Steez rod.......All this comes down to what you want and what matters to you on the water. Some of us are just happy to get out and fish for a day or two, others want to maximize every aspect of their fishing. It is just preference really.

Re: Would you Pay the extra $$$$

Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2017 1:12 pm
by ash
Short answer is no the ROI just isn't there we are talking a 10-12 ROI. I guess if you factor in the weight to gas ratio maybe you could argue it to a 9-8yr ROI but that is still damn near the life of the asset and assumes you get 9-8yrs from a lithium battery. (6,000/200)/3 I guess I just don't have the expendable money or making enough fishing to write it off against. But in full fairness I am pretty frugal, hell im still running a M17 Lowrance on my Con.

Re: Would you Pay the extra $$$$

Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2017 1:15 pm
by Fast 492
You also need to consider the operational points, our current 24/36 volt systems operate until complete depletion of the batteries slowly showing signs of needing a charge, were a Lithium Battery bank will run a little longer because of the better battery usage, but when they can no longer put out the true 24/36 volts of power they just shut down completely giving no warning signs??

Re: Would you Pay the extra $$$$

Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2017 8:35 pm
by Gary Dobyns
I am running Relion Lithium batteries. I decided to give them a try because of long warranty and fast charge rate...also because I threw 160 pounds out of my boat and didn't even have to diet :D :D

I agree the cost is terrible and I'll move to my new boat and keep them for a long time. Still tough to justify the cost.