installing my own electronics

[gary allen]

I'm thinking about installing my own electronics system on my new cruiser. What I'm leaning toward now is the Furuno 1723C Navnet setup with radar, chartplotter, and GPS/fishfinder interface. And the VHF radio and antenna. I'm not an electrician, although I worked as a carpenter for several years. My son-in-law is an electrician. Any special secrets here, common stumbling blocks for those without boat electronics experience? Any advice? Should we leave it to the professionals?

Thanks,

Gary

[TyBoo]

Gary - I'm no electrician, either, but I would do it myself in a heartbeat. Especially if all the wire ends have plugs. The Garmin I stuck in my boat had a dozen or so little bitty wires that had to be connected to each other using a color code scheme. I had to ask for help on the colors (somewhat colorblind), but the instructions were plenty clear. It all worked when I got done, with no smoke.

But that's just me. I would not, however, do a major install like that on someone else's boat, although I would be willing to help. PatA, with his self-deprecating wit, would tell you that by all means you should hire a pro. But that's just Pat. He has great talents in other areas that I, for example, could not match. (That is said from experience - I tried tangling with a city attorney a couple times. Failed miserably. And I was even right!)

Then there was this other fellow that started to do his own install in a new CD 25, but decided after looking it all over that it was not worth the hassle. Even though he was plenty capable of finishing it, he took it back to the pros instead. You always have that option after you get the stuff.

As for locating the displays, a lot of folks have used velcro temporarily for the stuff that sits on the dash, and clamps or something like it for the hanging stuff. That way you can sit in the seat, make motor noises, and get a feel for the fit before drilling any holes.

Whatever you decide, it will all work when you get done.

[Chivita]

Gary,

As with so many things, there are positives and negatives with doing it youself or having someone else do it. Half of Chivita's goodies were installed by pro's, half we did on our own. Here is what I learned from this.

When you do it yourself, you know exactly how it was done. YOU control the process in that every nut, bolt, wire, connection etc. was performed by you. You can spend extra on getting the very best in connectors, hardware, fuses, even upgrade the system that came with the boat. WE have almost completely rewired Chivita and she is a better boat because of if. If there is a problem while you are out on the water, you will probably be better prepared to fix it on your own right there since you installed the system. Personally, this is a big reason for me to do it on my own. BUT, and this is the big one, if you don't know what you are doing, you need to take the time to educate yourself on how to do it right or else you will be spending allot of time trying to get the darn thing working. Crossing the bar down in Mike's turf is the wrong time to have your electronics fail because you failed to crimp that butt connector correctly and you blew some fuse located Lord only knows where!

Since I do not outfit boats as a profession, it takes me a lot more time to install all the goodies than a pro. I also triple check everything like my kid's life depends on it. If you plan on taking your buddies out on Saturday to play with all those goodies, that professional installer can probably start Friday morning and have it done well by quitting time, you on the other hand might want to start a week or two before. If you only have a free hour every other Thursday night to work on it, you might get a bit frustrated and your buddies will have some fun pulling your leg about when that dang boat is going to be finished.

There are several books out there that can help educate you on how to wire a boat correctly and while your intent may be to learn only how to hook that GPS up, by reading up on it you will become much more competent a skipper as you will better understand your entire wiring system. On the other hand, if you have little patience, perhaps a pro would be a much better choice. I notice that when I am frustrated or trying to hurry, it seems every screw strips and every connection fails.

Greg up in Alaska (Red Fox) has almost completely redesigned and rebuilt his C-Dory, all on his own. That guy has made more modifications per square inch than I think we could count but people like Greg and Mike are the ones I would prefer to be out with in a nasty mess as they know their boats up and down and could probably rebuild an entire engine while in the middle of a hurricane! As far as I know, both Greg and Mike are self taught!

If you choose to go the pro route, find someone with whom you can communicate well. Make sure you let them know EXACTLY what you want the end result to be and where you want everything to end up. Specify what quality you expect or ask what he or she recommends. The more time you spend ironing out these details in the begining the happier you are going to be with the money you spent. Be carefull of getting a friend to help out just so save a buck or two, you might end up loosing that friend and having to re-do the whole thing again.

I'm with Mike, you can do it if you have the time and patience and you'll learn more by going that route. But if you have the extra cash, they call them "Pros" for a reason. I like knowing every last inch of my boat, this also makes routine maintenance kind of a fun exercise that I look forward to as I know Chivita so well.

Good luck either way, and no, so far we have not blown up in the middle of the shipping channel due to mis-crimped butt connector!

"Chivita" Dave

[flagold]

Gary,

I also did my own installs. A bonus is you'll know what electrical connector goes where and own your very own real crimping tool . . .








Good luck!
Matt Mattson
http://www.treasuresites.com

[C-Hawk]

Gary-
There are no tricks to installing your own electronics. I installed all mine when I got my boat, after getting bids. I have the Furuno NavNet system all on one screen- gps, radar & sonar.
As noted above, doing your own install allows you to become familiar with your boat.

[jflug]

Gary - I'd give a hearty ditto to Dave's comments. Everybody can tell you that your first go-round with the electronics won't be your last, and without a little self-sufficiency you'll get eaten alive in the long run with installation costs. Plus, the installation costs give you a great excuse to go out and buy new tools (if you needed one). I just did my own autopilot installation, which was somewhat compicated, but after lots of studying it went very smoothly. A few other tips:

Sit down and read through the installation manual beforehand (it's great bedtime reading). Every manual I've gotten with my equipment gave me enough to make me feel confident about a DIY installation.

Use GOOD quality connectors, i.e. no automotive crimp-style connectors. I solder and heat-shrink wrap every connection I do, particularly outside the cabin.

Go to the Harbor Freight store and buy a $10 assortment of zip ties, and don't hesitate to snip off the old ones and use new ones when you need to re-route wiring. They're cheap, fast, and make for a professional installation. I'm still working on the batch I bought about 4 years ago.

Good luck - Jim F.

[Da Nag]

[jflug]

Bill - Good points. Actually the only place I ever do any solder connections is for the bus bar terminal connectors inside the cabin. The other tip I should have mentioned is to avoid wire splices at all costs, particularly outside the cabin.

Jim F

[C-Hawk]

I used a lot of the crimp connections. When I preped the end of the wire I used a liberal amount of dialectric grease before inserting it in the terminal.