Mounting Garmin 50s Chartplotter H34

[Dave19957]

Now that I have my new Garmin Echo Map 50s Chartplotter, I need to mount it. I haven't found anything useful "yet". My 20 year old hand held had a plastic clamp accessory that fastened around the grab rail hoop in front of the binnacle. The old unit snapped on and off with ease - clean and simple.

My new GPS is larger and heavier, and the mounting that came with it is designed for screwing into a flat surface. I don't have a flat surface to work with, so unless there's some hardware out there that I haven't yet discovered, I'm going to have to create something.

I spent the better part of an hour behind the wheel last night letting my mind try to solve the problem. There were two ideas I came up with.

One idea I didn't like much, and that was to build a 4" platform of wood up from the teak table in front of the grab rail.

The other was to take some scrap teak I have (3/4" thick) cut it to two thicknesses of about 3" wide by the width of the two sides of the grab hoop. Notch each side so that I could straddle the railing on both sides like a two pronged fork, and then secure each side with screws through the tubing into the wood, and maybe underneath use something like hose clamps to help with stability.

Anyhow, if there's an easier way to do it, I'd sure appreciate your thoughts and any photos you have.

 

[Bill Murray]

Turn it on and hold temporarily in the positions(s) you are thinking of. You may find it creates a big change in your compass heading when it is operating :--)

 

[kloudie1]

GPS Mount

I used an Edson "side mounting arm" which supports the chartplotter to the right of the compass to get the little magnet door catch as far away as possible. It pulls the compass about 5 degrees whenever the GPS is on the bracket. No difference if the power is on or off. I don't know if your model has the magnetic door or not..
http://www.edsonmarine.com/marinestore/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=100
The arm I bought a few years ago is not made any more, it looks like..
Yes, they are outrageously expensive.
This is the one I have, which appears to have been discontinued
http://www.pyacht.com/edson-stainless-gps-arm.htm

EDIT: Garmin says the "compass safe" distance is 17.72", so there must be a magnet in it..

 

[Dave19957]

Re: GPS Mount

Thanks Claude - you've helped me once again! I called, and the one you have is still made and available. The 3" is $155.70, and the 5" is $166.50. So you're right - not cheap!

I'm gonna do more research and see if I can come up with a way to make something that mounts on the side like yours.

Thanks Bill! I was aware of the impact on the compass, and I'll have to live with some of that. Always somethin'

 

[Bill Roosa]

You could copy the factory mount but eliminate the need for a flat surface. Then the "uprights" end in a custom curve that fits your binical. Screw it to the binical from below

 

[Allan12210]

Dave,

I have an older Garmin 478 that I mounted to the teak binocular holder like yours. I used the AFI Mounting Clamps which gave me an additional 1 inch of depth to fit the GPS between the binnacle guard clamps. I had an extra piece of teak left over when I converted those Coaming pieces to Trex (see them in the background) and contoured it to sit on the compass and screw into the bottom of the teak box. It allows the whole thing to sit up higher. That's where I mounted the GPS holder. I don't know if your GPS is much thicker, but this might give you an alternative.

The really nice thing about those clamps is that I unscrew them, disconnect the wire and can put the whole shebang (gps, radio, beer can) below for safekeeping.

I also bought the side arm attachment (expensive) to mount my Autopilot head on. When I take the teak box off, it swings around backwards and stows so the wheel cover can still fit.

Depending on the point of sail, the Autopilot compass heading matches with the Ritchie Compass and on other points there is a difference. I use the GPS Course over Ground (COG) as the final authority as the other two data points only tell what direction the boat points, not which direction it is going. If the power fails, its back to the paper charts and bearings with the hand held compass.

Good luck with your set up. Let us see it when you get it figured out.

Allan