Chart Plotter

[Dean Abramson]

The boat yard is going to install my radome, GPS antenna, and chartplotter next week. I have added 8" in height to the pedestal guard, to make room for the display. My wallet and I have decided not to spring for a pod.

I would appreciate any photos, or verbal descriptions, of low-key, low-tech installations on the pedestal guard. My current plan is to take a teak wine bottle holder, which came with the boat, and use the base of it as a simple board base to attach the displays bracket on to. The board will probably attach to the guard with SS U-bolts.

Not the most elegant way to go, so I would appreciate any suggestions. It's a Raymarine C-80.

Thanks,

Dean

[Steve Laume]

I've been trying to figure this out for a month or more. I bought an offset pedestal guard and the thing looked bigger than the boat. There still wasn't and easy way to attach the monitor unless you use a pod and they are just too big and glitzy to fit with our boats as far as my taste goes. I did a mock up in plywood of a lectern kind of affair. The plan was to cut the pedestal guard incorporate a bracket with braces and then continue it up through the wood box. That might have worked but still big and the brace interfered with my table. I am leaving for Maine very soon and that was the real reason I wanted radar so I have to do something NOW. I got two tees, two 90s and some i" stainless tubing. I am going to make a U shape and bolt it to the pedestal guard with the tees right behind the compass. I will then take a teak board round over the edges and bolt it to the stainless tubing. I now have a shelf I can fasten the stock RAY bracket to and it should work okay except the pedestal guard interferes somewhat with viewing and operation of the monitor. It should still be acceptable. The bigger problem is running wires. I already have a wheel pilot wire and a power supply for a handheld running in the pedestal guard. I got a round tubing base and will drill a hole just forward of the steering frame in the cockpit sole. I bent a piece of tubing with a slight S bend so it comes up out of the sole and then lines up with the other tubes of the pedestal guard. This should allow me to keep my table. I will run this up to about the guard brace at the base of the compass. I will run the radar and as many of the other wires as I can cram in there and then goop the end. I have waited so long that I need to do something and today is the day. I hauled out yesterday and I had some boys (15 YR olds) with me so we got the bottom scrubbed, prepped for painting and the topsides cleaned up. I am now on the hard with power and my truck parked close by so the work should go easier. I will be down there all weekend so I will not be able to let you know how it works out till Monday. The beauty of doing what I have planned is that is will not eliminate other options. Okay so there is that hole in the cockpit sole but I could live with a bronze cover plate if I completely change things. I will be able to adjust up and down by loosening some set screws and I could always cut some longer or shorter tubing. I may even go back to the idea of cutting the original guard if this is stiff enough. Well I best be on my way, wish me luck, Steve.

[Oswego John]

Steve,

Yes, good luck. There is a saying that the anticipation and preparation for the journey can be as mentally invigorating as the trip, itself.

I just want to let you know about a thought I had after I read your last post.

Take a compass reading before you start working on your installation. After you finish, take another reading and compare it to the first reading. Hopefully, there won't be any deviation involved.

Sometimes, close proximity to relocated electronics, new plotter, new wiring and added metallic tubing for mounts could possibly affect the compass reading. Hopefully not, but maybe worth a check. FWIW.

Good luck
Enjoy your journey
O J

[Dean Abramson]

Steve,

Yes. Good luck! Sounds like a lot to get done in a hurry. But I am in the same mode, even though I will not be bringing the wires up myself; the yard guy will do that. I'm not wild about pods either. After I went and had the welding shop add 8" of tubing (I discussed this with my yard), now the yard electrician says that that means there will be a blob of weld which will make it hard or impossible to run the cables up! But he says maybe we can split them up between the two sides...

There used to be a guy who sat on the first base line at Maine's Triple-A baseball games. He used to yell at the players, "Do SOMETHING, even if it's wrong!" I think with some of these projects, the best approach is to get something functional in place, hopefully without too many permanent scars. Then go out, use the boat, and in a more relaxed mode, with actual experience using the gear, better ideas might flow. Or, you look at it one day and say, "hey, you work fine; let's go sailing." And it fades from the project list.

I sometimes am so determined to to it "right" that I get paralyzed with the complexity, and do "NOTHING, even if it's right!"

Dean

[Paul Grecay]

I have a CD 28 with a tiller and locating the chartplotter was a problem. I didn't want a swinging bracket and I also did not want to have the chartplotter always outside and exposed to the elements. Here is the solution I came up with and I am very happy with it.
On the port side I installed a 6" round plastic access cover. It looks very tidy and it is completely water tight. When I unscrew it, I have access to all the wiring behind the electrical panel inside. I purchased a second access cover and mounted my charplotter to the threaded cover. I used a dremel to make room for the antenna wire and the pin cable. When I am not sailing, I simply unscrew the cover with the chartplotter attached and unplug. Then I put the other cover on it and stow my chartplotter below. I liked it so much I did the same on the starboard side with my compass. So now, when my boat is on the mooring, there are just two clean access ports visibile and both my chartplotter and compass are safely below. I also realized that I can screw in speakers for those days that I don't need the compass or chartplotter and just want to listen to music in the cockpit. I hope my description is clear...I think it is a neat and tidy solution to the limited space for electronics and provides a good way to extend the life of the unit and the compass. It is also cheap.

Paul
Lewes, Delaware

[Maine Sail]

I think you really ought to bite the bullet and buy a Navpod you'll be glad you did. Not only will it protect the C-80 (which is the same display I have) but it will look a hell of a lot better. There are numerous LARGE wires coming out the back of the C-80 and I'd hate to see one get ripped out by the roots in rough weather. I purchased all my Navpod stuff from Brokenlegdave's marine (including the offsett pedestal guard. The unit you need is a Navpod CP10RC pre-cut for the C-80. I seriously doubt another 187.50 is going to kill you if you can afford to pay someone to install the stuff.... If it were me I'd install it myself (like I did) and save a grand or two.. If the height of the pedestal guard is an issue you can do what I did and cut a bit off the bottoms of the legs so your look over height is less... C'mon $187.50 is less than a gallon of bottom paint!!! Do it right.. To put it in perspective my wife, in the picture below, is 5'2" and she can see over the top of the depth, speed, wind, autopilot Navpod the C-80 pod is below it...

One last tip make sure you get the oversized pedestal guard with 1.25 inch tube diameter. It is very difficlut, if not impossible to fit all those wires in a 1" guard.. If you have install questions feel free to ask. I'll be away on buisness all week but I can check the site and respond via my web phone but I just can't attach picture files with it...
http://www.brokenlegdave.com/Manufactur ... CP10RC.htm

[Maine Sail]

Dean,

Here's another photo this time of my brother who is 5'6" tall. If you don't have wind, depth, speed etc. your height and perspective would obviously be less large.. I love having my instruments at the helm!

[Parfait's Provider]

The pod - it just doesn't look that good on a CD.

I like my minimalist approach. There is even room to move more instruments to the helm. I especially think the auto pilot should be handy and not of the aft bulkhead of the cockpit well.

As for a change in deviation, don't forget to try it wth the power on once the gear is installed.

[Dean Abramson]

Thanks to everyone who responded. My boatyard electrician has come up with a solution which I think will be just right. Once it is installed, I will post a photo.
Dean