Jfet,
Yes, you need to buy what is needed and you are comfortable with. As for watering the flooded batteries even if you can't easily get to them, there's the auto water system thats very cheap and dependable. Mine get watered once each year and usually only need a small amount per cell. Never have had any water being below the plates tops or even close.
For tipping and spilling acid? If my flooded batteries ever tipped enough to spill any acid, the spill would be the least of my worries as tipping the rig back up on it's wheels would be the first task always and changing my underwear would be next.
If on an off-road insane trail and the rig tipped over, I could care less if any acid spilled back in the bed anyway as I'd be too busy figuring how the heck I or we are going to get out of the truck with out anyone around to help us!
Perhaps you do know how long 5 group 31 deepcycle flooded batteries will last per charge with a 1500 watt inverter used only when needed and having LED interior lights etc? Extremely long as in many many days+ and then by having dual alternators on the truck diesel engine to quickly recharge or use the 3400 watt PP TC built in generator with an additional 40 amp automatic 110 AC battery charger to recharge some or all of the batteries plus the TC converter charger for the rest etc of what's not being recharged by the 40 amp plugged in charger makes very short work of battery recharging if ever needed. We'd run out of fresh water (40 gal in TC and a few 2 gal aux's) or foods/beverages or need to dump so LONG before worrying about battery reserve or fuel for the truck or PP! There's a need to be realistic too!
For us, it has nothing to do with just money but for most RV'ers their budget controls most of what they do or buy. That said, we'd not be in the economic/financial position we're in if we hadn't paid close attention to and employing the wise basic driving force called "ROI" (Return On Investment) principles during our lives both in personal and with my business prior to our retiring. It's been golden! Must pass the smell test of being a wise, smart, and have proven expectations when the spending hugher extra dollars are involved. Not meaning buying the cheapest by any stretch but getting the best bang for the buck over a reasonable time while getting the job done. Simply throwing money willy nilly at a simple issues might not be very smart at all! In other words, justified or justifiable!
Yes, it's funny how we humans think differently but that's what makes the world go around!
