Called Trojan today to discuss the issues with my battery. Spoke to a very helpful, knowledgeable guy called Jim. It was easy to get through to them and he was really helpful and I did not feel that I was imposing on them with my quesions.
In any case, here are the details of the discussion which I think everyone should know about to ensure the care of their batteries :
1. If you are going to be keeping your batteries hooked up to an automatic onboard charger, you SHOULD check the water regularly. This is because the water gases while being maintained by the chargers. This might be obvious to many of you, but it was not to me, because I had assumed that getting a fully automatic onboard charger would take care of the batteries for me.
2. It is true that an onboard charger will prevent your batteries from freezing over in the winter.
3. It is perfectly alright to use a deep cycle battery as a starting motor battery provided the specifications of the battery exceeds that required for the motor. Deep cycles are actually very good dual purpose batteries.
4. Aside from voltage checks and hygrometers, there is no real way to know how much damage my batteries have suffered other than to bring it to a dealer.
Thanks!!