Electronics recomendations

duchess · Post by **duchess** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 7:30 am

On Duchess i have a Furuno color chartplotter and radar combo 7 inch screen and 4 kw dome, this backed up by an older Garmin chartplotter. Icom radios up and down and Lawence depthfinders upand down . Set up was for the Furuno a little confusing . I called the tech support line and they talked me thru the entire set up as i did it on the bridge for the plotter and the radar. I have found the tech support to be absolutely superior day or nite. They up dated the software free last year . Never had a failure with the Furuno. Once you learn the terms and read the manual i have found the features and use outstanding. the only thing i would have done differently was I would have bought the 10 inch screen.

Dan Faith · Post by **Dan Faith** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 9:16 pm

I have an F32 and a transom mount transducer and have no problem at all it is accurate and has given me no problem. I also have a thirty foot sport fisherman with the transducer that I had to drill a hole to mount, since the hull is not cored it was very easy to install and it also works very well.

wowzer52 · Post by **wowzer52** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:32 pm

Dan, is it accurate while you are running? I had a transom mount transducer on a previous boat and it worked perfectly so I was surprised when they told me a transom mount wouldn't work.

Dan Faith · Post by **Dan Faith** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 8:42 am

Yes, no matter what the speed on either the tru hull and the transom mount both operate the same. I have the Garmin 178C and move it between boats with no problem. The transducer is also the dual 50/250 frequency. I also had concerns about the transom mount but with twins I believe it is out of the "wash" and not directly behind the prop. it works perfect.

LSP · Post by **LSP** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 8:29 pm

Thanks again for all the great info. I've never used radar....I spend most of my time north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge ... important to have? Thoughts?

MattSC · Post by **MattSC** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:28 pm

I installed the radar on my boat about 7 yrs ago. I was fishing a couple of miles south of the entrance to the Housatonic River in Long Island Sound. A thick fog rolled in, I had a boat pass very close by at a pretty good speed, saw his wake and heard him, but never saw the boat. That was the deciding factor for me, I researched and purchased a unit. I've gone out in good weather only to come back in with fog. If used with the Chart plotter and also with charts to check bearings, it can be an invaluable aid to navigation in poor weather. I always use it, even in good weather. That way you know what objects will look like on the radar screen when things are bad. I'm not sure how much fog you get, but it is nice to see where another vessel is.

duchess · Post by **duchess** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 7:53 am

Matt is absolutely correct about using the radar in good weather. mine is on during bright sunny days so the wife could learn what the radar pics look like. fog is no time or place to learn how to operate it . we ve also had the experiance of coming back in fog , never a great experiance,

zimmermanj · Post by **zimmermanj** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 10:55 am

I really like my Garmin 2010C GPS. It is user friendly and has worked flawlessly for the past 3 plus years. Visibility in sunlight is very good and the refresh rate is fast. Access to tide informaiton is quick and and it has all the features for trip distances and others. I like marking lumps in the river and bay to include snags and can insert a marker on the GPS with one push of the button and label it accordingly. It's look out distance is very impressive but of course the further you look out the smaller everything becomes.

I have a Simrad Auto Pilot which is top notch. It is a bit of an over kill for many but I fish by myself at times and really like it.

I have a Furuno 582 fish finder. It is OK but I will probably change to a different unit when I get the new boat. In my opinion, if you can get over the mental agony of putting in a thru the hall top end Bronze transducer, they work far better than transom mounts especially on a bigger boat with twin props.

I have a 48 mile Furuno radar that I could not be without. Again it is a bit of an over kill and your budget should be the driver. During fishing tournaments I typicall run 25 miles in the dark to have lines in the water by 7 AM. With this radar zoomed to 2 miles, I can see birds flying in front of me, can see the two flags on gill nets and pretty much can see anything of reasonable size on the water. It becomes invaluable during the day when bad weather is coming in as it picks up all the storm cells which gives you the time to either run for home or avoid them.

Jim

Stripermann2 · Post by **Stripermann2** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:09 am

Yeah, what Jim said. I let him go in front of me and I follow...

If there's anything out there, he'll know before me!

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