Chart Plotter Replacement

May 20, 2016
3,014
Catalina 36 MK1 94 Everett, WA
Boat vibration tend to crack joints made with solder. Not at the joint but up the wire where you. Have a mix of soldered and unsoldered wire.
 

KZW

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May 17, 2014
831
Catalina 310 #307 Bluewater Bay, FL
There are two reasons I wanted to keep the existing pod
- NavPods are rather pricey
- I didn't want to drill new mounting holes in the stainless steel and then figure out how to plug the old holes.
Picture of the bottom half of the existing pod attached
 

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KZW

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May 17, 2014
831
Catalina 310 #307 Bluewater Bay, FL
Wired up the pod. Used a terminal block, then covered the block with liquid electrical tape for insulation. Did a smoke check and all the existing instrumentation still works. Mounted the starboard on the NavPod using 3M 5200 and let it dry a week. Cut out for the Garmin and bolted it in. Will mount it on the boat and connect it up when the weather permits. I still need to drill the hole for the USB plug.
 

Attachments

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Likes: Tom J
Sep 11, 2015
147
Hunter 31 Marina del Rey
You made a great choice with the Garmin Echomap... one of the best chartplotters if you want to stay in the 0183 world. My other suggestion was to get a second hand RL70 which is a drop in replacement and adds radar. You could have used the money invested in the pod for a second hand radar dome.
 

KZW

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May 17, 2014
831
Catalina 310 #307 Bluewater Bay, FL
For me, radar is a nice toy, but I cannot imagine sailing in weather that requires it. One must understand one's limitations. I'm not going out into blue water, won't sail in fog or rain (yep, fair weather sailor). I also don't need the aggravation of something else to maintain.
The chart plotter will keep me off the bottom (most of the time) and provide estimates of time to go enroute. I don't need much else.
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,989
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
One must understand one's limitations.
This is a great awareness. It requires preparation. It requires avoidance. And survival means you need to have a plan should the conditions change.

All this is possible and congrats for being aware.
 
Dec 19, 2006
5,809
Hunter 36 Punta Gorda
I have not used my Radar much in the last few years but when in NY we were heading to
Connecticut fromLong Island about 25 miles any way fog came in so fast and could not
see past my bow and it started out nice day and ferry boats we needed to stay out of there path.
Also traveling from Key West to Punta Gorda had fog and could see fishing boats on my Radar.
I sure was glad I had Radar for sure but yes most times not needed but I do do trips over night here in Florida and it does help for sure.
Nick
 
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Likes: Tom J

KZW

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May 17, 2014
831
Catalina 310 #307 Bluewater Bay, FL
If one didn’t sail on rainy days us PNW’rs would only be out ther one day a year.
Well, some believe there is no reason to live north of Interstate 10, nor west of the Mississippi. Of course, we do get the occasional hurricane to mess up our otherwise generally nice weather in Florida.
 

KZW

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May 17, 2014
831
Catalina 310 #307 Bluewater Bay, FL
Well, I got it all installed (actually twice - turns out the Garmin won't work unless you connect the plug on the back). Took it apart, connected the plug and hit the Nav power switch. No smoke. USB power port works fine. Garmin fired right up, and linked up with my phone via WiFi. Issue: no NMEA 0183 data is getting to the Garmin. Now, I don't need that as I have stand alone Raymarine 4000 series instruments. However, it would be nice to get wind speed, water depth, and water temperature from the Raymarine SeaTalk to the Garmin. I gather Raymarine's implementation of NMEA 0183 via SeaTalk on their 4000 series instruments is different than others. I need an interpreter to go from Raymarine SeaTalk 1 to NMEA 0183. Possibly this, but I'm not sure:
https://www.hodgesmarine.com/Digita...w5XScQjeq7rlhXSrzj6-HDEaAj7TEALw_wcB&click=19

Of course, I have now what I was initially after and maybe it is time to be happy and leave well-enough alone, and go sailing.
 
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Likes: Tom J
Jun 2, 2018
19
Catalina 28 mk ii Port Orchard
Of course, we do get the occasional hurricane to mess up our otherwise generally nice weather in Florida.
I don't know, sailing during "thunderstorm season" in the summer in Tampa/St Petersburg kind of sucks.
 

KZW

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May 17, 2014
831
Catalina 310 #307 Bluewater Bay, FL
Well, I don't have a N2K network and have no plans to get one. A nice to have is to get the data on the Seatalk1 network (wind direction, wind speed, water depth, water temp) into the Garmin chart plotter. It didn't appear on the Raymarine RC435 that died, replaced by the Garmin. I don't need to get it there. I have Raymarine 4000 series instruments for water depth, wind, and autopilot. The autopilot gets wind and compass from the Seatalk1 net. It didn't get anything from the Raymarine RC435. The Garmin works and can be stand alone. It would be nice to have the data on one device, but not required.
I have no intension of discarding all the instrumentation on the boat and starting up a new, from scratch, system.