It's been a while since I researched the battery issue but my recollection from my housboating days was to run the batteries between 50% and 80% of capacity. Taking them below 50% can do damage. You can bulk charge deep cycle batteries back to 80% of capacity but taking them between 80% and 100% can only be done with a trickle charge.
On the boat I had four 6V Trojan golf cart batteries hooked up in pairs and then connected in parallel. Was able to run a 1800 watt inverter that handled microwave, hair dryer, and sundry other DW appliances without a problem. We could go 4 or 5 days before taking the battery bank down to 50%
I had a monster alternator from a bus that put out lots of current and easily allowed me to recharge back to 80% relatively quickly when anchored out for longer periods. Once back in the marina, I plugged in and the three stage charger in the inverter took us back to 100% for the next trip.
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