Sailing Instruments

T37sailor · **Joined:** 24 Oct 2006 16:10 **Posts:** 61

Chef,

I am in Rock Hall, MD at Haven Harbour.

JDLanglais · **Joined:** 27 Jun 2007 11:23 **Posts:** 40

Hello,

I've just replaced the old datamarine depth with an ST60+ in the same hole. I've made an acrylic plate of 1/8 inches thick (in grey color, so to match the ST60) about 1/2 inches larger than the new instrument and it covers up nicely the discolored gelcoat (that was behind the old outer ring of the instrument).

Sealed the plate with some marine sillicone (not apparent on the exterior) and mounted the new display. Had the big 3 and half hole made by the shop where I bought the acrylic.

Overall the result looks very fine (to us at least) and I have made two spares plates for when we will replace the two remaining datamarine instruments (speed and wind) that still works OK.

I'll put some pics of the work later this week.

Good luck with that project !

Jean-Denis

Solare · **Posted:** 05 Dec 2008 17:47

We decided to bite the bullet and go for the instruments.

I decided on the new Furuno stuff, as everything is NMEA 2000 and the chartplotter runs NOAA charts. I hired an ex-master shipwright from Hinckley to build the companion way panel, as the NavPod didn't cut it for me.

(depth isn't working as the transducer hasn't been installed yet)

I'm thinking I may keep the old DataMarine depth as a backup, but still need to decide what to do about the other 2 holes in the bulkhead.

T37Chef · **Posted:** 05 Dec 2008 20:00

Nice looking stuff there Solare. I am still trying to convince the admiral we need new instruments. Since I have been unsucessful so far I have a plan. The doeth is still not working, and I have been fortunate to not have run aground...so next season I plan to "ground" the boat as often as possible and blame the lack of a working depth sounder Cheers

Think it will work? Wink

Solare · **Posted:** 05 Dec 2008 21:34

T37Chef wrote:

Nice looking stuff there Solare. I am still trying to convince the admiral we need new instruments. Since I have been unsucessful so far I have a plan. The doeth is still not working, and I have been fortunate to not have run aground...so next season I plan to "ground" the boat as often as possible and blame the lack of a working depth sounder Cheers

Think it will work? Wink

Chef,

I really don't think your trying hard enough. You know there are only 2 kind of sailors on the bay, those who have run aground, and those who will.

We had our challenges this year, notably coming out of Smith Island at high tide with a 7-10 kt following current. Not pretty when you crabbing sideways down the channel with no steerage knowing it's less than a foot deep on either side. Needless to say we were lucky enough to get a local to pull us off, as SeaTow would have taken several hours to get to us, if they even bothered.

Have had many other soft groundings, but we went hard aground at Smith, he had to pull us over 30 degrees onto our side to get us off. Shocked

As for wind instruments, we went half of last season and most of this with out even a windex, the difference is amazing, especially when telling the Admiral or other crew where on the wind to sail. Seemed like every time I gave someone the helm, I come back in a minute and find them way off course, then they say "but it so much faster and fun to sail this direction" and I'd say "but there's only two feet of water over there"....

Have a great off season, hope to catch up with you next year.

Cheers,
Glenn

Down2TheC · **Posted:** 28 Dec 2008 01:51

Jealous! I'm so sick of having to ask people to move so I can see the depth.

sord · **Posted:** 04 Jan 2009 12:11

But the bulkheads make great back rests Very Happy

Doug R · **Joined:** 30 Dec 2006 18:37 **Posts:** 66

Solare,
Did you get much chance to use the Furuno instruments after you bought them? I'm curious what you thought of them. Easy to set up? Any calibration issues? Visiblity in shadows vs direct sunlight, day vs night? Who did you buy them through? Did you replace your transducers also? There are a couple pretty attractive alternatives on the market, but I'm drawn to Furuno myself. Debating whether to take the plunge this winter or next. At the rate Mr. DOW and Mr. Jones are depleting my savings, I better buy them quick.
Also, any feedback on the chartplotter?

Thanks

Doug
Kinsale T37#22

Solare · **Posted:** 21 Jan 2009 21:52

Doug R wrote:

Solare,
Did you get much chance to use the Furuno instruments after you bought them? I'm curious what you thought of them. Easy to set up? Any calibration issues? Visiblity in shadows vs direct sunlight, day vs night? Who did you buy them through? Did you replace your transducers also? There are a couple pretty attractive alternatives on the market, but I'm drawn to Furuno myself. Debating whether to take the plunge this winter or next. At the rate Mr. DOW and Mr. Jones are depleting my savings, I better buy them quick.
Also, any feedback on the chartplotter?

Thanks

Doug
Kinsale T37#22

Hi Doug,

So far I'm very impressed with the Furuno gear, NMEA 2000 made the install a simple plug & play, visibility is excellent (except the wind speed at night is kind of off), and super low energy usage, about .2 amps. I'll be installing the depth, speed, temp transducer during spring commissioning.

The plotter is as advertised, super fast redraw with pretty much unlimited ability to zoom, comes preloaded with the entire NOAA raster & vector US chart library plus you can download the photo overlays for your region. Eventually I'd like to replace the current stand alone Raymarine radar with an integrated Furuno unit. Next challenge is to add the laptop to the NEMA 2K network, so I can transfer routes to the plotter.

I bought everything through Defender and the market situation is exactly why I bought when I did.

Tartan37.com

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