Small Boat—Small Power Stations

An up-to-date look at battery and power options

My Potter 15 is a bare bones boat…a spacious cockpit, a dry cabin for my stuff, and no electricity. I’ve been considering adding a high-capacity battery to supply power for my fishfinder/chartplotter for years, but high lithium-ion battery prices, Covid restrictions, and supply chain issues were good arguments to defer any purchase. Now, as I consider getting Blue Knot back on the water, it’s time to buy some power.

What I don’t want is another heavy, lead-acid battery. Previously I’ve used small, sealed batteries—the kind commonly used in emergency lights and small computer UPS systems. They weigh six pounds, have about 60 watt-hours (Wh) of usable capacity (assuming I don’t completely discharge them), and each battery could run my Garmin for a day (maybe…) before they would need to be recharged. Typically I’d carry two or three batteries and a small 10W solar panel, just to make sure that I didn’t run out of power to run the cabin fan during the hot, still nights that are common on the Chesapeake Bay.