I agree, read the articles. There are several that go into some detail. Many more are available. Google will find many.
http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s4/board-power-made-easy-28564.html
Panbo: The Marine Electronics Hub: The DIY lithium battery bank; Bob Ebaugh has 330 cycles so far
Living the Lithium Lifestyle – 3.5 Year Lithium RV Battery Update | Technomadia
Many installs that I have run across [read] were done by E.E.s who could truly understand what they were getting into and had the knowledge to fill in most of the gaps.
Note, there is a difference, a big one, between the lithiums that go into our small devices and the LiFePO4 type cells that you would put into your boat.
I could have reduced my battery weight by about 300-400# and the space by ~ 1/2 by utilizing the higher discharge and higher recharge capability of the Li batteries vs Gels.
I was semi seriously looking at them 2 years ago but decided that the recharging requirement equipment was not quite there, the cost was still too much higher and did not feel like being another guinea pig.
I was comfortable with wiring and such but between the still quite high cost, the limited cell size availabilty necessitating more cells than I liked and the know quality of my old gels I stuck with what I have for hopefully another 10 yrs.
It will come but as of yet , to me at least, there is still a bit to much of the bit fiddler stage at play.
I'l guess even another two or three years and there will be GOOD recharge systems and a better supply of cell sizes/capacities that will take care of the problems I was concerned with.
AGMs went through something like this although I'm looking back 10-12 years. There were some AGM mfgr. that demanded a specific charger be used [Lifeline was one] or WHEN, NOT IF, your new, expensive AGMs failed you were on your own. Since then I think most AGM mfgr realized that demand was impractical so batteries have been modified. That is a a guess on my part simply because I do not see that demand any longer. Your AGM will perform better and longer with a proper recharge setup but it is not longer a demand from mfgrs.