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Old 04-14-2013, 09:46 PM   #9
Peter B
TF Site Team
 
City: Ex-Brisbane, (Australia), now Bribie Island, Qld
Vessel Name: Now boatless - sold 6/2018
Vessel Model: Had a Clipper (CHB) 34
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 10,101
Allan, when I bought my boat, there was engine controls and instruments up on the flybridge, but nothing else, not even a compass. I added compass, and moved the old Lowrance X70-A Sonar from downstairs main helm up there when I bought a Lowrance GPS/Sonar combination unit for the main helm down below, where I do drive from most of the time. I then managed with a handhelp GPS unit up top by adding Marine mapping to my car GPS and for some time this sufficed. However, more recently I got an iPad with GPS, and Navionics mapping on it, and it does for that now, and provides a good backup for downstairs as well. The large HD display is superb, and I can use it at home as well for all the other stuff it does. However, recently, almost within days of each other, both the depth function in the downstairs combo unit and the old depth sounder up top failed. This latter development being quite a good example of why getting separate units rather than all combined in one is better if one can. The GPS function in the Lowrance downstairs still works perfectly, so I have just put in a relatively inexpensive Lowrance greyscale sonar only unit, setting it up so the transducer just fires thru the hull, so avoiding a thru-hull fitting - works well, and I'm liking the huge depth numbers separate and not overlaying the GPS chart. Up top I will do the same, as I now have the Navionics on my iPad, I don't need or want a permanent GPS upstairs, as being portable, it is saved the potential damage of weather exposure up on the flybridge, which is quite hard to avoid. I used to try and put the old Lowrance in the flybridge cupboard out of the weather, but the heat in there, even with a solar vent into it, was not kind to it, then one day I forgot to do that, and overnight rain finally killed it off - so much for allegedly being water proof.

So my advice for the flybridge is to get the engine control info up there somehow - I definitely agree with you on that, but the depth and GPs functions can be added as separate and fairly inexpensive items by not trying fancy networking, but using standalone units, both of which can be demounted quickly and kept safe out of the elements below when not in use. Flybridges are not instrument friendly places at all, unless converted into what FF calls oxygen tents, and even then heat and humidity will do their worst.

Since the aforementioned failure of the sonar in my combo unit I am also convinced of the sense of redundancy, created relatively inexpensively by keeping old equipment if it still works, and just adding new as required. When both my main sonars died together, the thing that saved the day was the old original stroboscopic Seafarer (with digital readout as well), that still works and was still in place. You might want to rethink the removal therefore of that radar. I wish I had one actually, but can't really justify buying new. But if my boat had one which still worked, no matter how old, I'd keep the dang thing for sure.
Peter B is offline   Reply With Quote