Where to put my battery(ies)

[Airwave503]

'61 Safari 22' rebuild from scratch. Trying to plan out the electrical and deciding where to store the batteries. Top 2 options are the tongue or making a storage box and access through the opening behind the road side wheel where the old H20 heater used to vent out. Most of my camping will be without shore power and usually limited to weekends and occasionally as long as a week. Thinking I will start out with a single deep cycle and add a second someday.

Tongue
Pros: more room inside, no risk of fumes in living space, pretty easy to weld on some angle iron to make a shelf for the battery box.
Cons: Can probably only fit 1 battery unless I move the propane tank tray, may interfere with distribution attachments when I get those, more prone to theft, longer distance to run certain wires like the charge wire from the converter.

Side Hatch
Pros: More space to house everything in my "power center" (converter, fuse boxes, etc.), I can build the box out of plywood and it would live under a bunk bed frame with no access from the inside, can lock it up, more central to most things I am running wire to.
Cons: Less storage space under the bed, need to figure out how to fabricate a door, battery weight not centered and towards the back instead of the front.


Flip a coin? I'd appreciate any advice.

[Silver Hawk]

I put mine under the bed up next to the rear axle in a little used corner. I used AGM batteries -6V. No fumes, but are heavy: 2x90lbs. so as close to the axle as I could get. Did not want to use any outside accessible storage space - you'll need it! I moved my propane forward about 2" - just enough to clear the jack, and mounted a spare tire between them and the trailer. Better use of space I thought and not having a spare 3,000 miles from home and 200 off the beaten track freaked me out.

[Boxite]

I like batteries in open spaces. Keeps 'em cool, accessible (in case of mishap or fire and quick/easy to disconnect in case of same) and no gassing-off of hydrogen etc problem.

[idroba]

If you do go to a side mount, it would be best not to have your electronics such as converter/charger and such in the same space as the batteries, as you seem to indicate in the original post. The outgassing of the batteries can cause damage to those other items over time, and they should be in different compartments.

[Airwave503]

Thanks guys, I am pretty committed now to the side hatch compartment for the batteries. I got 2 6V Interstates from Costco. The charger/converters and stuff will be about 4-5 feet above the batteries and they'll be directly accessible from the inside.

The battery compartment will have a vented door to the outside and will be roomy as I need it to be. The inside box will be sealed to keep fumes out.

That's the plan anyway...I am going to consult an expert before going much further, but I did all my in wall wiring according to this plan.