New house battery choice: Costco

Here at this late date prior to beginning our summer trip, I am loathe to make many changes with systems that have proven themselves over the past few seasons of use. However, I've been noticing that my house batteries are no longer holding the charge they used to hold. I can't complain, they have been workhorses. I installed two Trojan SCS200's back in 2007 or so. They have performed flawlessly with only adequate maintenance. I do not have a solar charger yet, and was not always as vigilant as I would like with keeping them charged while away.

For these many years they have held a 12.8 volt state after charging and resting, and lately this has become 12.6 despite fresh water and equalization and all that. My view is that they are just slowly fading, and that 6 or so years of heavy use is more than fine from these old guys.

So I've decided to buy new batteries and what did I go with? More Trojan's? No. I went with the Costco/Kirkland Group 27 batteries made by Interstate. Why? Both ease of access, warranty and cost. The Trojan's are selling for very close to $200 each right now. I just paid $86 for the Costco batteries. They both have 115AH ratings. The Trojan is listed as weighing 60 lbs. I just put my Costco batteries on the scale and they weigh 55.6 lbs. So they are a little lighter. They may be a little less robust. But for half the price, do I expect they will last at least 3 years? Yes I do! In fact, I would expect to get a good 4, 5 or 6 years out of them, and then I have saved $200.

The scale doesn't lie!

By the way, my battery compartment does not have the height to accept golf cart batteries or I would definitely go that route.

Aeolus is a very low energy draw boat, generally. No refrigeration, no microwave, no TV, nothing like that. Our biggest draws would be the radar and autopilot, both of which are as likely to be used motoring as sailing.

If these batteries don't perform solidly for the first year or so I can always return them to Costco for great customer service. Wouldn't want to try that with my Trojan dealer, though they may be great. Just wouldn't want to try it.