I somewhat disagree with your somewhat disagreement.
The 8 220ah 6v batteries I am using cost me $85/ea. If I wanted batteries of twice that capacity I would have spent a lot more money per kw/hr. Also when I installed the original bank I could not have afforded anything bigger, or more of what I did get. In order to avoid parallel batteries, and in order to even be able to afford a bank in the first place, and to have enough capacity to motor around out in Lake Pontchartrain all day, I had to go with the golf cart batteries. For me, cost dictates practically EVERYTHING, and so I am very conscious not only of spending my money where and how it will do the most good, but also staying within a very very tight budget.
Now, I could use more capacity, and I have a few dollars to buy more batteries, but certainly not enough money to try to find 440ah or bigger batteries. And then... what to do with the original bank... discard it, after only two years of reasonably good care and fairly light use? I don't think so. So the obvious thing to do is to buy exactly the same thing I bought the first time. And rather than charging and discharging them in parallel, with their 2 year age difference, I will run them as separate straight series banks. Even if both sets of batteries were the exact same age, I would still prefer series rather than parallel. (Of course, putting them all together in series for 96v would be an interesting option, too, but I would need a different controller and a different motor than what I have.)
So, what I have done and what I am doing and what I plan to do, is the most cost effective route for me. You might not be as financially constrained, and might be able to afford bigger or better batteries, and do things the "ideal" way. It was not possible for me and it is not possible for me now. But rather than sit and sulk and dream about one day being able to put an electric boat together the "right" way, I chose to just do it the best way that I could, and I did it. It works, and it is working better with each incremental improvement I am able to make.
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