Electronics for C-Dory 16 Cruiser

S

Stan Major

New member
Any recommendations for electronic equipment? Would prefer user friendly, easy to read components. Is it better to have them installed when ordering the boat or wait and add on later? :?:
Stan Major (386) 785-4396
 
Stan, who will be your dealer? If its Marc at Wefings, I'd let him do it, unless you like to do that sort of stuff, many of us do.

What to install depends on several things:

- The depth of your pockets
- The potential use of the boat. rivers, lakes, near shore, offshore. How will will you use it? Day trips, overnight?
- Some like integrated units. Others like separate units. Both have advantages and disadvantages.
- A basic installation would include a good VHF radio and a good integrated chart plotter which includes a depth sounder.

Talk to us, we'll help you spend your money! :mrgreen:

Welcome to the Brats! :rose

Charlie
 
An 3G iPad (cellular service is not required) can used for navigation at the helm with a RAM mount. It has a 10" screen and useful for many additional purposes like reading books, checking email, web browsing, checking weather, watching movies.... to name a few

Then select your favorite navigation app.. Garmin, Navionics, and others. Go to Active Captain https://activecaptain.com/ and read their tips and suggestions
 
I would get a basic Garmin GPS/sounder--like the 541S, which has the depth and GPS functions. These are not expensive, do not require an external antenna, and can have features such as AIS added when you buy the Standard Horizon 2100 VHF radio.

I pad is nice, but is not a dedicated marine unit--use an i pad to supplement the Garmin. A 5" screen is fine for the 16--if you really want a 7" screen then the Lowrance Elite 7 Down scan--which has a very good fish finder.

As for installation--these are all easy to install. I would caution that you want to put a block of Starboard on the transom (screwed into holes which are over drilled, under cut and then filled with epoxy, then screw the transducer into the Starboard). Then you want to put a hole in the transom below the splash well so there is not damage to the transducer cable. This hole has to be large enough for the connector end of the transducer cable to pass thru. Again the sides of this hole are sealed with epoxy. Then a "Cable Clam" is placed over the hole, and has a hole drilled in the rubber, with a slit to allow it to fit over the cable and seal the hole in the transom.

Be sure that the dealer is going to do the job right with the above precautions!
 
In addition to a basic Garman GPS depth sounder, a good radio is also necessary in this day and age for a variety of reasons to include receiving alerts from the coast guard, security warning notices, boat to boat communications, and etc. If you are going to be operating your boat in large waters, radar is very important if you can afford it. I frequent the busy waters of the NorthEast, and have frequently been in dense fog. I was n a CD 16 on LI Sound several year's ago in dense fog, and felt helpless as idiots with radar sped by our boat at high speed. Large boats and ferrys plied those waters, too, and there I was sitting there helpless traveling at only 3 mph, because I could barely see my hand in front of my face. For those of you thinking I had other options to avoid the fog, this happened to me in the middle of the day and with bright sunshine when the wind suddenly reversed its direction and blew a heavy fog bank over us in only a few minutes time. And as it happens, it was the worst place first to be blinded by heavy fog: right near the mouth of the heavily trafficed Thames River. We now have radar on our Marinaut, and we have never regretted its expense.

Rich
 
Our 16' C-dory "Cachita" had the full complement of electronics less AIS. There's a premium of space to install everything on a 16' Cruiser. I would suggest installing an integrated unit.

Keep what you can to a minimum. If your electronics do fail, a ditch bag with a spare GPS capable handheld vhf-fm radio, a small battery powered GPS display (like a Garmin 276c), and a personal locator beacon take up very little space.

Radar is a must for coastal cruising in SE Alaska. Fog can come out of nowhere fast. and 16' C-Dories don't show up well when the big boys go passing by.
 
Marc's the man. He knows the equipment, how to install it, and will do a good job maintaining it for you. Read the advice here, it is helpful, but then let Marc know how you plan to use your boat, and respect his opinion. Enjoy your boat and remember to have some good back-ups.
 
El and Bill":1zeansb5 said:
Marc's the man. He knows the equipment, how to install it, and will do a good job maintaining it for you. Read the advice here, it is helpful, but then let Marc know how you plan to use your boat, and respect his opinion. Enjoy your boat and remember to have some good back-ups.
Click to expand...

Your are right on that one, Bill. We may understand most of the issues, but we may not know what we don't know. Early on, I sustained five on-the-water engine failures on our CD 16 Suzuki 40 HP. After describing the problem on this site, and getting many varied responses, Marc from Weifings said I should check the wiring harness. Did I listen to him? -- no, that would have been too intelligent. He really knows his stuff.

rich
 
Back
Top