www.iFourWinns.com

Hello,

Just curious has anyone installed there own electronics? I will be attempting to install radar gps xm weather and transducer this spring. Looking for any and all advice. I think it is pretty straight foward as I have opening in my panel for the radar gps and xm. Thanks

Perfect Timing
298 vista

I have the Garmin 3010C bundle (no radar yet though). Not too tricky to install, just running the cables (2 - one for GPS and one for XM antenna) through the arch....

You'll also need plenty of real estate behind the panel for the:
Network Hub
Depth Sounder Amp
XM receiver

The only lingering problem with mine is the magnets in the electronics have skewed the magnetic compass by about 20 degrees.

The transducer is a bit tricky depending on which type you use. I have the thru-hull bronze one and you need to cut the fairing block at an angle that matches your deadrise so that it's level with respect to the water surface. That said, I might consider using a transom mount as they are MUCH easier to replace if they break. I have lost one transducer and had to pull the boat out to replace it, then it leaked - meaning the boat came out TWICE to fix that.

Garmin's service department is the best of any company I have ever worked with - bar none. If you have a problem they stand behind their stuff "no questions asked". I had a bad GSD-20 and they FedEx'd me another for next morning delivery. Same with the transducer.

The XM weather is superb. Spring for the $50/mo package (master mariner I think is the name). It shows you where lightning strikes are and where storm cells are heading. That has saved us several times on those scattered storm days when they pop up right on you. It's also saved many afternoons when everyone else pulled up anchor due to storms closing in and we've been able to see they were going to miss us and waited it out...

Good luck and let me know if you have more questions...

_________________
2004 Sea Ray 420DB
Formerly: 2005 348 Vista

First_Mate,

Thanks for the info. I have a couple more questions. Here is what I plan to do. I currently have 3 open slots in my dc panel. One slot for radar, one for chartplotter,and one for a electronics accessory. I plan on running the radar to one, chartplotter to the other and put the xm,transducer and another chartplotter on the accy. With the accy I plan on putting a fuse block and running all three to it. Does this sound right and what gauge of wire do I need? Also, Do I need to keep the inline fuses if I have a fuse block installed? In regards to the chartplotter garmin only gives you 6ft of power cable. Can I add length with 14 ga wire to the dc panel or should I go with 10ga. The length I need is about 18ft. One more questions is if you have the radar on a seperate fuse do you still need an inline fuse? same goes with the chartplotter. I don't know if your panel is the same but probably close to what I have. Thanks and sorry for all the questions

Perfect Timing
298 Vista