Chartplotter Installation on Edson Guard

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Apr 7, 2012
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I have purchased a Garmin 740 chartplotter for my 1988 Catalina 30 and am figuring out how best to install it at the Edson pedestal. The options I am considering include 1) putting it in an Edson housing with a sidearm mount without replacing the current straight angle guard, 2) purchase a new Epson angle guard with a single bend, 3) buying a Navpod precut housing with a single bend angle guard and replacing the current Epson guard.

Has anyone else grappled with this question? Iam concerned that the Epson housing mounted on the straight angle guard will not be angled upward enough to easily view and operate it.

Bob
 

jrowan

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Mar 5, 2011
1,294
O'Day 35 Severn River, Mobjack Bay, Va.
I have a 1980 C 30 with a Garmin 440 GPS. Not a lot of difference between the boats or the GPS, but your unit is a lil bigger in viewing area. Mine comes in a self contained case with a screw type mounting bracket. Mine is mounted on a teak base for a now removed autopilot. So I have plenty of room for my unit beneath the binnacle. I'm not sure what you mean by "straight track" as the binnacle is curved around the top to protect the compass. A self contained Nav Pod may not be necessary, as there are several mounting arms that will bolt the unit to the binnacle S.S. tubing frame. These are less costly & take up less room. Some of the Nav Pods that I've see stick up way too high & block view forward. I like my unit visible, but less obtrusive. I feel that the GPS is a supplemental guide, but I'm not trying to us it as if I were driving a car type directions. Actually if I had always followed the specific waypoint directions that Garmin provides I would've ended up grounded more than a few times! Also I find that when sailing at night a GPS unit set directly in your field of vision will cause night blindness.
 
Nov 26, 2008
1,966
Endeavour 42 Cruisin
Mounted my 3210 plotter on a straight pedistal with RAM mounts. They have tons of options, plenty of 1" rail mount parts, etc. Surf around for ram mounts
 
Feb 6, 1998
11,667
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
I just installed a new Raymarine e7 and Raymarine AP last week on a brand new Edson pedestal. Owner wanted to stick with a straight guard and this meant no NavPod for the e7 or the screen would be tough to see.

This is my latest bracket design for electronics/plotter mounting. Easy to make, costs a lot less money than one from Edson and it looks professional or factory made.

The secret ingredient I came up with are the stainless clamp collars from McMaster-Carr. I have been using these on PSS seals for a looong time (PYI got the idea from me and they now sell them too). The collars are relatively inexpensive. The 304 versions can be polished well and they hold up well once polished. The 316 versions are more expensive but don't need to be polished as much.

All you do is drill two holes in some Starboard with the diameter and hole centers of your pedestal guard. Then cut your mount to your desired shape, you could also add cup holders etc.. Then just slide it onto the guard and position it with a clamp collar on top and bottom.

I really need to patent some of my ideas...:D



 

CCHer

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Jul 7, 2010
230
Beneteau 37 Cranes Creek, VA
That is an elegant solution maine sail. I did mine with some left over teak-not factory looking but still looks good and is functional-like being able to swivel it which a navpod doesn't allow. Also, I too opted for the 740 and after a season of use, really like the touch screen.
 

Attachments

Apr 8, 2010
1,942
Ericson Yachts Olson 34 28400 Portland OR
Please read Page 8 of the Appendix in the 740 Install Manual.
http://static.garmincdn.com/pumac/GPSMAP720_InstallationInstructions.pdf

Note the minimum compass-safe distance is 32 inches. Garmin believes that publishing this info, albeit hiding it rather well, will be their defense in a damage or wrongful death suit. I doubt that they could find 12 jurers that would go for it... but you have to wonder.
FWIW: Many of their current products are designed for a non-sailboat (binnacle mount) market. Due to changing to a powerful permanent magnet closer for the chart chip door.

Choose Wisely, as the aged knight told Indy.........

:(

LB
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,760
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Good point. From what I've read on this and other boards, most skippers simply remove the dumb magnet.

When I bought a hockey puck GPS for my laptop, the BU-353 had a super sized strong magnet in the base, and the recommendation was to remove it to protect your hard drive iin case it happened to somehow slide across the keyboard. Good advice! Guess they made 'em to stick outside on a car top, like Romeny's dog.
 

CCHer

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Jul 7, 2010
230
Beneteau 37 Cranes Creek, VA
[Please read Page 8 of the Appendix in the 740 Install Manual.]

Saw that LB (of course after I bought ithe thing) and ignored it to see what impact it would have on the compass before taking out the magnet. No impact on any point of sail. Even on a power boat one might be hard pressed to find a convenient mount >32" from the compass. Anyway I figured if there was impact and I lost the GPS compass, I can easily take the thing off the mount-also have a great little hockey puck compass.
 
Dec 2, 2003
480
Catalina C-320 Washington, NC
I used one of these on our C-320...works like a charm and looks good too...Price $23.00 pair...I bought several off of a closeout table.

Siimply replace the clamp's screw with a slightly longer screw through the garmin mount base.

http://tinyurl.com/7eqwe3q
 
Apr 7, 2012
2
Thank you for all of the suggestions. I am currently planning to use a piece of teak that I will mount the bracket. I've purchased rail mounts from West Marine, which came today, but think I may try the McMaster- Carr rings. Stay tuned...
 

mortyd

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Dec 11, 2004
952
Catalina 30 easy living
i got an angled mounting for a 3010 and if memory serves from a very helpful navpod who also supplied a side swivel bracket for my autopilot. again, navpod was extremely helpful and edson was not. navpod really knows our boat.
 
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