Camco 55394 Group 24 Battery Tray Hold-Down

A loose battery is a problem waiting to happen. The Camco 55394 Standard Battery Tray keeps a group 24 or 24M battery bolted down so it isn't sliding around under your seat or in the engine bay every time you hit a wake or a pothole. It's the simple, no-drama hold-down a lot of boats, RVs, and work trucks should have had from the factory and didn't.

Here's how it works. The battery sits in the molded tray, two rods drop through the base, a cross bar lays over the top of the battery, and a single knob tightens the whole thing down. No tools, no fuss. You can pull the battery for winter storage or a swap in about a minute and put it right back. The kit includes the tray, the two rods, the cross bar, and the knob, so there's nothing else to buy to get it mounted.

Fitment is the thing to get right. This tray is built for group 24 and 24M batteries and takes a battery up to 11-1/8 inches long, 6-3/4 inches wide, and 8 inches tall. The tray itself measures 11-9/16 inches long, 8-1/2 inches wide, and 9-5/8 inches tall, so leave yourself a little clearance around it when you pick a spot. If you're running a group 27, 29, or 31, this isn't the one. Measure your battery case before you order. Group sizes look close on paper and the difference is exactly what a hold-down cares about.

One common question is whether a group 24F fits. The F just means the terminals sit on the opposite side, so the case footprint is the same group 24 size and it drops into this tray fine. A group 27 is a different story. It's longer than the 11-1/8 inch maximum here, so it won't seat right, and forcing it defeats the whole point of a secure hold-down. When in doubt, measure the length, width, and height of your battery case and compare it to the numbers above.

For boaters, the compliance piece matters. Used with a group 24 or 24M battery, the 55394 meets U.S. Coast Guard CFR 183.420 and ABYC E-10.7 for battery installation. If you've ever had a surveyor or an insurance inspection flag an unsecured battery, you know why that's worth having on paper. The design is patented, and it's the same style of tray we rig up on plenty of center consoles and pontoons where the battery lives in an open compartment and takes a beating.

The build holds up where batteries live. It's heavy-duty acid-resistant plastic, so the occasional spill or a little vented gas won't eat it the way a bare metal tray corrodes. The hardware is stainless steel, which is the part that usually rusts solid on cheaper trays and strands you when it's time to loosen the knob. Salt air, bilge damp, a dusty RV storage bay, none of it bothers this setup much.

Mounting is straightforward. Pick a flat, solid surface, a battery shelf, a bulkhead base, or the floor of a compartment, and through-bolt or lag the tray down before you set the battery in. Because the hold-down clamps from the top with the cross bar, the tray works in any orientation the compartment allows, though flat and level is always best for a lead-acid battery. Keep the terminals clear of the cross bar and give yourself room to swing a wrench on the cable lugs. Once it's anchored, that battery isn't going anywhere.

Who's it for? Anyone mounting a single group 24 battery who wants it to stay put. RV house batteries, a trolling motor battery in an open deck locker, a starting battery in a truck or trailer, a genset battery out in a shed. It's not a sealed box, so if you need spill containment or you're mounting in a passenger space that requires a covered case, look at an enclosed battery box instead. For a straight hold-down that clears surveys and survives the weather, this is the honest answer.