gps/depth instrument advice please

[gwp]

C34
need advice on a good depth/GPS pedestal mount with a shoot thru hull transducer. Don't care to have all the other functions and on a budget. Any ideas appreciated.

 

[sinnettc]

I have an Eagle SeaCharter 642c iGPS that I'm pretty happy with. Lowrance makes 'em. I epoxied the transducer up in the v-berth storage (just forward of the original thru hull ones). I have mine on a swing arm mount. Don't know if it would work in a pedestal but it might.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Hmmm. Ambiguous question

Not sure what your question is....Are you looking for a way to mount a GPS/depth finder on your steering pedestal? And are you also asking what to buy in the way of a GPS/Depth Sounder combo unit? And you want a through the hull transducer? Or are you saying you already have the GPS/DS unit and it has a through the hull transducer?
If you are looking for a unit, I recommend Garmin. They are very intuitive to learn to use and if you want a depth sounder unit too, they do have fish finder/GPS combo units which give you bottom info. You basically get what you pay for. Buy cheap and you will not have as many functions as more expensive models have. But, you can get a good unit for not that much money. Most transducers when mounted inside the hull can shoot through something like an inch and a half of solid fiberglass. It won't work if you are shooting through core material or if there is a lot of air bubbles in the laminate, that could be a problem too. Actually a through the hull transducer is not as problematic, but you, like many, probably are apprehensive about drilling a hole in your hull. If you do it right, you will not have any problems.
If you want to learn how to mount your GPS unit on your pedestal, then there are mounts available. If you have a pedestal guard you can buy mounts from Edson (wheel steering manufactures), but they are spendy. To go cheap, you can buy hardware designed to attach to a tubing like a pedestal guard and then you can make up a wooden or plastic platform that attaches to the hardware that the GPS unit can mount to. I hope this touches on some of your question.

 

[Winkfish]

Re: Hmmm. Ambiguous question

I'll second Barnacle Bill about Garmin. They seem to have a better reputation than other companies as far as marine GPS, and they have some fairly recent GPS/depth sounder combos that are really nice.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Please feel free to join us on the Catalina 34 Message Board, too.

http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/board,11.0.html

 

[gwp]

apparently no one makes what i want

Thx for the posts, but I have spent lots of time looking and there doesn't exist a GPS / depth sounder without all the "fishfinder" crap a sailor has no use for. Also I am having trouble determining the difference between a chartplotter and ordinary GPS function. Am I the only sailor who just needs depth and GPS with a shoot thru Hull transducer? Very frustrating. Thx so much for help.

 

[Ross]

Thx for the posts, but I have spent lots of time looking and there doesn't exist a GPS / depth sounder without all the "fishfinder" crap a sailor has no use for. Also I am having trouble determining the difference between a chartplotter and ordinary GPS function. Am I the only sailor who just needs depth and GPS with a shoot thru Hull transducer? Very frustrating. Thx so much for help.

That "Fish Finder Crap" is very useful when sailing in marginally shallow water because it shows you the bottom contours. You can select any feature you prefer for the screen display but remember the more units a manufacturer produces the lower the price gets. So if there are 10,000 sailors that want a plain vanilla depth sounder and 1,000,000 fishermen that want a fish finder/depth sounder/thermometer The latter unit will be less costly. Just because there are features available doesn't mean you are obliged to use them.

 

[FastOlson]

That "Fish Finder Crap" is very useful when sailing in marginally shallow water because it shows you the bottom contours. You can select any feature you prefer for the screen display but remember the more units a manufacturer produces the lower the price gets. So if there are 10,000 sailors that want a plain vanilla depth sounder and 1,000,000 fishermen that want a fish finder/depth sounder/thermometer The latter unit will be less costly. Just because there are features available doesn't mean you are obliged to use them.

Extra Points to Ross for explaining this so well!

Wished I'd thought of it!

L

 

[Stu Jackson]

IS really a chartplotter.

Also I am having trouble determining the difference between an ordinary GPS function. Am I the only sailor who just needs depth and GPS with a shoot thru Hull transducer? Very frustrating.

There really is no difference. A handheld or even a full size GPS a chartplotter which is a fancy name for a bigger screen. Took me a while to figure that one out myself!

Most of the big chandlery website, like West Marine and Defender, and other online sources, have pretty good comparison tables. Most chartplotters have a variety of transducers, some of which include shoot through hull models. There's also the West Advisors: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...reId=11151&catalogId=10001&page=GPS-Receivers

We had a discussion here about a month or so ago about the difference between GPS (handhelds) and chartplotters, and concluded there's pretty much no difference, since they use the same base maps, but the real difference is size, and your eyes!

If they come with features you don't need or want, then your choice is to go handheld or buy what you don't need. The advantage of built-in is just that, it won't go flying across the cockpit. Others like the separation of functions with a simple depth sounder and a separate GPS.

Your boat, your choice. The C34 message board has many skippers with ideas for you, too.

 

[gwp]

Ok...good info...I'm catching on now. One more question...will a transom mount transducer shoot thru Hull? Thx much

 

[wonkodsane]

RE: transom mount transducers:

Some will, some won't, and the ones that will depend on the thickness of hull they have to shoot through.

 

[Winkfish]

Ok...good info...I'm catching on now. One more question...will a transom mount transducer shoot thru Hull? Thx much

Probably not. A transom mount transducer does just that - mounts to the transom, with the actual transducer in the water. It looks like a little cone or upside down pyramid. You see them on power boats a lot.

The through-hull transducers I've seen are flat so that they can be pressed against the floor of the boat, usually in some kind of oil or gel base, to avoid air bubbles.

 

[wonkodsane]

And I should've said that if it will shoot through a hull, it will say so in the documentation.

 

[gwp]

Sheesh. Now its getting complicated again. Most All of the ff / Sounders only feature transom mounts for powerboat????

 

[Winkfish]

Sheesh. Now its getting complicated again. Most All of the ff / Sounders only feature transom mounts for powerboat????

GWP, contact Southshore Marine Services, LLC. The website is below. The owner, Barrett, is the electronics guru down here, and he can tell you what's what. I'm sure most sounders or combos will come with a through hull option for the transducers.

http://www.myshopkart.net/southshore/

 

[rpwillia]

You all are making this too complex

Get the chartplotter/fishfinder combo. I can't speak for the others, but on Humminbird's the transducer that comes with the fishfinder will work epoxied to the inside of the hull - for a while. But, Humminbird allows you a trade in for their hockey puck like transducer that is made to be epoxied to the inside of the hull. I believe it has something to do with head dissipation.

You will learn to really like the fishfinder feature as it gives you a great idea about what is below you with the bottom contours and type.

Humminbird is my favorite (excellent customer service), but Garmin, Lowrance, Raymarine ($$$), Eagle and all the others are pretty good too. For most of these you will need the Navionics chip for the charts, except for Garmin where they have their own Bluewater (?) charts.

 

[Stu Jackson]

What's so hard?

About a minute to get to West Marine's transducers.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SiteSearchView?PopularCat=No&Ne=2000000&beginIndex=0&langId=-1&storeId=11151&page=CategoryDisplayLevel1&N=377+710+2011062&Ns=Most%20Popular|0&catalogId=10001&omniTag=Category%3aTransducers&viewTaskName=SiteSearchView

Lots of options, seven pages, tie to the unit and you are finished,.

There's lots of information on this board about how to install an IN HULL shoot thru transducer.

Search on wax ring.

 

[Ross]

Re: What's so hard?

If I were installing a transducer inside the hull I believe that I would use a hard wax rather than a soft wax like a toilet bowl ring. Candle wax would be a good choice but you would need to build a dam with modeling clay to contain it as it cooled. Toilet bowl ring wax is very sticky and transferrs easily to anything that touches it.

 

[FourPoints]

one added benifit to the fishfinder type is that you have a better idea about what you are dropping the anchor ontop of.

I have a Garmin chartplotter (540s) with the dual frequency transom mount transducer epoxied under the V-Berth, and it works great.

Whenever I am getting ready to anchor in unknown waters I turn the sounder to dual frequency mode and set it on the highest refresh speed. By compareing the difference of the 50kHz and the 200kHz soundings side by side I can get a pretty good idea about what the bottom is comprised of, and how deep it is. saved me quite a bit of greif last weekend when anchoring off of city island. I could tell that there was only a few inches of bottom muck before hitting bedrock so instead of trying over and over to get the anchor to hold, after it failed to hold the first time I just found an empty mooring ball and slept easily...