[Rhodes22-list] Re: GPS / Fishfinder

[David Huckabee]

Regarding GPS Fishfinders:
   
       The using the centerboard as a depth sounder option doesn't work well in rocky Maine waters.  When I switched from a Boston Whaler to a Rhodes 22 this summer,  I decided a chart plotter/fishfinder combo might be a good idea:  the fishfinder to help with the depth/bottom characteristics, and the chartplotter for the dense fogs that can arrive on a moments notice.
   
       I chose the then-new Garmin 198C fishfinder/chartplotter combo because it combines both functions in a relatively compact package, plus it includes _all_ the coastal charts for the U.S. including Alaska and Hawaii.  This may be overkill, but is was cheaper for me to buy this unit (at about $920 including the transponder) than individual chart chips to cover my Maine sailing waters in another similar sized chartplotter/fishfinder combo.
   
       I sawed a hole in the cabin sole on the right side of the centerboard in front of the ice box.  I made a dam of scrap wood and tape and then poured in slow setting epoxy to glue the transom-style transponder to the hull--no thru-hull required.  I then snaked the sounder wires toward the stern and pulled them up so they are accessible to the companionway.
   
       I have not decided whether or where I'm going to mount the unit yet, so last summer I cut a board about the width of the cockpit seat cushion and I tie the board with the unit attached to the seat cushion before I get under way.  So far the fishfinder/sounder appears to work fine in the shoot-through-the-hull mode.  Although I always carry a paper chart--the chartplotter has given me peace-of-mind now that I can't out run the fog banks like when I was a power boater.

			
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