I have an 88 with the original classic pedestal and the short straight pedestal guard. I am interested in adding either a 6.5 or 10" chart plotter. Would be interested in changes or upgrades you have done in this area. If you would like to post any pictures they would be greatly appreciated. I am thinking of changing out the guard to either the Edson 58" offset or their angled guard. I currently have no other instruments on my guard with the exception of my hand held GPS. Thanks Steve M
Chart Plotter - Pedestal guard
- Thread starter Steve_Catalina
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Colin, Excellent Setup
Colin, You have a great setup one I would like to duplicate. A couple of questions.......... 1. If you were to do the setup again with only one chart plotter would you still go with the 10" or possibility of the smaller 6.5? 2. When you replaced the pedestal were the holes through the deck allowing access to the internal pedestal for wires or did you have make these holes? 3. Did you have to run new power, for the chart plotter, where did this terminate? If you would rather, you can reach me at the following email directly. trash1492(at)gmail.com Thanks, Steve M
Colin, You have a great setup one I would like to duplicate. A couple of questions.......... 1. If you were to do the setup again with only one chart plotter would you still go with the 10" or possibility of the smaller 6.5? 2. When you replaced the pedestal were the holes through the deck allowing access to the internal pedestal for wires or did you have make these holes? 3. Did you have to run new power, for the chart plotter, where did this terminate? If you would rather, you can reach me at the following email directly. trash1492(at)gmail.com Thanks, Steve M
The devil in the details
Well...to take your questions in order: 1) If I have the money for the larger screen, I would go that way: At the helm you're trying to read it while dodging suicidal PWC Operators, hailing the oncoming frieghter, and steering the boat...amoungst other things! Having a large display makes it easier to find the information you need. Also, I tend to have a bunch of insrtument data displayed on the screen too (depth, SOG, COG, wind speed true and apparent, etc) and those little boxes take up space on the screen! On the other hand, the larger screen doesn't leave much space for anything else so you need to think about your cockpit layout...Where you mount things is going to be different if you race around the buoys, or daysail, or make long passages in nasty weather. I tend towards longer passages and hence my wistful comments about two chartplotters. For daysails or coastal hps where you are almost always driving from the helm, the one big screen makes more sense. For racing, you might actually want it below decks so the navigator can stay out of the way! 2) I have to confess. Although I've become a serious DIY sort of guy since then, the pedestal/chartplotter installation was one of the first things I had done when we bought the boat and I paid the yard folks to do it: I don't know if the holes in the cockpit sole were already there. If they were, though, I'm sure they had to be enlarged! You'll be amazed at how many wires/cables run up there... 3) Yes. Definately run new power to the chartplotter, especially if it's also doing your radar. Follow the installation recommendations about wire size (and go larger if in doubt) and run it all the way back to a dedicated breaker/switch. The chartplotters are not very tolerant of big voltage transients. I actually have all of my electronics on an isolated, filtered power supply that maintains a very steady output voltage independent of the battery voltage and filters any spikes out. Its probably overkill, but I haven't had any mysterious electronics issues since I went that way...
Well...to take your questions in order: 1) If I have the money for the larger screen, I would go that way: At the helm you're trying to read it while dodging suicidal PWC Operators, hailing the oncoming frieghter, and steering the boat...amoungst other things! Having a large display makes it easier to find the information you need. Also, I tend to have a bunch of insrtument data displayed on the screen too (depth, SOG, COG, wind speed true and apparent, etc) and those little boxes take up space on the screen! On the other hand, the larger screen doesn't leave much space for anything else so you need to think about your cockpit layout...Where you mount things is going to be different if you race around the buoys, or daysail, or make long passages in nasty weather. I tend towards longer passages and hence my wistful comments about two chartplotters. For daysails or coastal hps where you are almost always driving from the helm, the one big screen makes more sense. For racing, you might actually want it below decks so the navigator can stay out of the way! 2) I have to confess. Although I've become a serious DIY sort of guy since then, the pedestal/chartplotter installation was one of the first things I had done when we bought the boat and I paid the yard folks to do it: I don't know if the holes in the cockpit sole were already there. If they were, though, I'm sure they had to be enlarged! You'll be amazed at how many wires/cables run up there... 3) Yes. Definately run new power to the chartplotter, especially if it's also doing your radar. Follow the installation recommendations about wire size (and go larger if in doubt) and run it all the way back to a dedicated breaker/switch. The chartplotters are not very tolerant of big voltage transients. I actually have all of my electronics on an isolated, filtered power supply that maintains a very steady output voltage independent of the battery voltage and filters any spikes out. Its probably overkill, but I haven't had any mysterious electronics issues since I went that way...
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