Chartplotter Installation
Installation of a Garmin GPSMap 3006C in a small Navpod at the helm. In the picture below you can also see the handlebar mount for a Garmin 76csx handheld chartplotter.
Summary
Summer Snow came with a Garmin GPSMap 180 mounted on a Navpod. We decided to reuse the Navpod even though it was barely big enough, to avoid having to purchase a new
one, and because we liked that it was no larger than necessary. The difficulty was that this Navpod was not that is made to be cut, so it took
quite a bit of work to get through the thick plastic.
Preparing the Navpod
The Navpod started with only a circular whole in the middle, and had to be modified to accept the 3006C. Based on the template, we cut out almost the entire face of the
Navpod. We did most of the cutting with a Dremmel which was difficult
because the Navpod is made out of thick hard plastic that melted while it was being cut. Also the battery in the Dremmel wasn't really up to the task. We probably
should have used a jig saw, but it seemed like overkill at the time. After doing as much as we could with the Dremmel, we switched to a hole saw to gouge out the corners.
This part was tricky because we had to remove a significant amound of material without removing the corner area that the screws holding the Navpod together screw into.
Mounting...
After the hole saw we removed some more material with a razor and cleaned up the edges with sandpaper. The size and shape of the cutout is
far from perfect, but since the face of the chartplotter is larger than the Navpod, its not particularly noticeable. The chartplotter happened to snap
securely into place in the Navpod, which was due more to luck than precision, but we also glued plastic tabs (not visible here) from behind the
face of the Navpod, and put some glue in the corners, and this combination of factors keeps it locked securely in place.
Connections
The back of the Garmin GPSMap 3006C has connections for video, cat5/6 and a thick cable that includes wires for power, antena connections, and probably
a few other things. The cat5 is used to connect other Garmin devices, which we aren't going to do right away, but we ran the cable for future use.
We didn't run the video cable, because there was no way to fit the connector through the conduits and deck. If we ever need to run it, its going to require cutting and
re-splicing all the wires inside the cable.
Wiring
The wiring was pretty straightforward. The cables run inside the metal tube and through a hole in the deck and into the aft cabin. From there they go to the stern and up through
one of the stantions to the antena. We used the old wires to pull the new one through and despite a few snags, it worked fairly well.
For some reason the colors of the antena wires don't match those coming from the charplotter,
but the instructions show the connections that need to be made. When finished the wiring is concealed above a wooden cover that also hides
and protects the stearing gear.
Leak fix
A side benefit of this install, is that we were also able to find and fix a pretty bad leak in the aft cabin. It was coming from the
hole in the deck that the gps wiring passes through. The hole was siliconed, but the sealant was old and needed to be replaced. We removed
the old silicon, cleaned the area with alcohol, applied plenty of silicon to fill the gaps before, during, and after passing
the new wires through the deck.
