January 15, 2009 00:48
4K (pounds I assume, since you mention the UK) is ~$6000 and for that I'd get a chartplotter/radar unit like a Raytheon as it has GPS built in, and a Garmin fishfinder that can export NMEA to the Raytheon. You'll get depth, speed, and temperature (depending on the fishfinder you buy) but you will have to put a hole in the boat for the transducer (shooting thru the hull is questionable) and you'll have to put the radar transmitter up the mast - neither of which is hard but somewhat nerve-wracking the first time you do it. The hardest thing to do, other than decide what to buy, is figuring out how to run the cables. None of them can be spliced and the radar one is especially difficult, being rather thick.
Oh, and when it comes time to bed the transducer into the hull, don't skimp on the bedding compound. I didn't, and had to have the boat put back on the stands when it started leaking. If you have a tube of 5200, use all of it and clean the excess, but not too aggressively, you want that puppy to be leak-proof!
Oh, and when it comes time to bed the transducer into the hull, don't skimp on the bedding compound. I didn't, and had to have the boat put back on the stands when it started leaking. If you have a tube of 5200, use all of it and clean the excess, but not too aggressively, you want that puppy to be leak-proof!