I want to upgrade my chart plotter for the original Simrad NSS8 to a B&G Zeus 3s. Unfortunately the 9” plotter is too small (in height) for the hole, and a 12” is too big to fit on the binnacle of an Oceanis 37 (and is much more expensive). Is there anyway to fill the hole that doesn’t look crap and is suitably waterproof? Or can i replace the front plastic part of the instrument binnacle and cut new holes? If so where would you buy the part?
New chart plotter wrong size for hole
- Thread starter macdoug
- Start date
I had the same problem and used a panel of white Corian. I cut the correct size hole out of the middle and sized it to cover the whole surface of the binnacle.
Looked good and worked ok though there may be some long term issues with UV degrading it.
Looked good and worked ok though there may be some long term issues with UV degrading it.
Welcome to the forum!
We did exactly that a couple years ago after lightning damaged our NSS 8. Our yard covered the hole with a piece of starboard, then installed the Zeus into that. It came out looking pretty good.
The only other thing is that the Zeus does get pretty warm, and technically the installation manual says to installed in a vented area or space bigger than the binnacle. On the warmest summer days with sun hitting it and calm wind it would get quite hot, and would slow down as if the CPU was throttling itself from heat. I installed a 12V computer fan inside The binnacle blowing on the back of the Zeus. Since then it still gets warm but doesn’t seem to throttle itself anymore.
We did exactly that a couple years ago after lightning damaged our NSS 8. Our yard covered the hole with a piece of starboard, then installed the Zeus into that. It came out looking pretty good.
The only other thing is that the Zeus does get pretty warm, and technically the installation manual says to installed in a vented area or space bigger than the binnacle. On the warmest summer days with sun hitting it and calm wind it would get quite hot, and would slow down as if the CPU was throttling itself from heat. I installed a 12V computer fan inside The binnacle blowing on the back of the Zeus. Since then it still gets warm but doesn’t seem to throttle itself anymore.
I installed a new Raymarine plotter that was physically smaller than the original, issue.
Instead of a piece of Corian, I used 1/4 “Starboard, beveled the edges, covering the existing opening and creating a new one. From 50 feet away at 50 miles an hour, a passerby wouldn’t notice. Seriously, though the installation looks really clean, and I haven’t really noticed a heat issue. My instrument pod is considerably larger than yours though.
Instead of a piece of Corian, I used 1/4 “Starboard, beveled the edges, covering the existing opening and creating a new one. From 50 feet away at 50 miles an hour, a passerby wouldn’t notice. Seriously, though the installation looks really clean, and I haven’t really noticed a heat issue. My instrument pod is considerably larger than yours though.
Thanks. Looks doable and neat which is what I want. Especially since the pictures are from an identical boat to mine.
I ran into this problem on my 343 replacing Raymarine C80 with Axiom 9 (largest size for binnacle ). Raymarine had not made adaptor plate so I made one from aluminum, painted glossy black and mounted. Looks like part of the Axiom.