Chartplotter in Cockpit - preventing Theft!

[Richard10002]

Hi,

I am currently agonising over putting a chartplotter in the centre cockpit of a Moody 44. was thinking of flush mounted to the left of the companionway, but the coaming isnt high enough. Anywhere else would be sideways on, so no good.

Other alternatives are mounting bracket on coachroof below sprayhood, or clamped to the wheel pedestal, (although, as we spend most time forward of the wheel, this would also be not much good unless it swivelled so as to be seen from forward of the wheel)..... 2 Questions:

1) How do you stop a bracket mounted chartplotter being stolen.

2) Is there such a thing as a swivel mount, so the the plotter can be seen from in front of, and behind, the wheel.

I'm hoping for something like a 10in screen - we have a 7" Raymarine below, and it doesnt seem big enough for actually navigating.

Many Thanks

 

[No1_Moose]

1) Take it off the bracket and lock it downstairs?
2) I think scanstrut make a swivelling plotter mount but it would be require some extensive modification to fit onto a pedestal.

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day Richard,

Have you looked at swinging arm type mounting. The plotter is mounted inside near the companionway on an arm that can swing out through the opening and be viewed form almost any point in the cockpit.

Avagoodweekend......

 

[guernseyman]

I hadn't thought of swinging mountings as being anti-theft, but they have the advantage of being able to work on the instruments inside the saloon, while also having them visible from both behind and in front of the wheel.

 

[Blue5]

Take a look at this site, they supply mounts specially for laptops, we have one mounted in our 4x4 and the laptop is just removed when we leave the vehicle, the beauty is that it will pivot in any direction and the company is keen to help, if you have a difficult position they will work you out a solution.

http://www.gpsw.co.uk/cats/cl3_432.html

No tie to the company just a satisfied customer

 

[Robin]

We have Navman plotters on board not 10" screens but one 5500i and one 5600. The 5500i has an integral GPS aerial, the 5600 a separate one, both are classified immersion waterproof and both come with the same swivel/tilt mounting bracket and additional swivel/tilt brackets are available. We have our 5500i mounted on the coachroof under the sprayhood, it is stowed away below when not in use, the bigger 5600 is mounted at the chart table. At sea away from pilotage situations the cockpit plotter is mostly set to display navigational data rather than the chart, it is configurable as you wish but we display BTW/DTW/COG/SOG/TTG/VMG. This screen can be read easily from anywhere in the cockpit of our 41 footer and we have a large cockpit.

IMO you will find it much easier to do passage planning, waypoint entry, routes etc down below so either the plotter needs to be moveable, or you have two separate or two linked units. In our case we have separate units, each on different battery banks and we even have a 3rd older black & white 10" Raytheon kept as a backup as well. Having separate units has the advantage that a fault in one will not affect another but means that you need separate chart cartridges for each although except for close in detail, the adjacent area cartridge will often be OK, just keep the main one in the cockpit plotter. Our Navman plotters and the old Raytheon all run on C-Map and we also have C-Map PC Planner on the laptop. This can be used for planning on a big 15" screen, setting waypoints, routes etc and transferring these to all the plotters via blank C-Map User Cards, or you can plan on one plotter and transfer to the others directly via User Cards, data BTW is stored in each plotter not on the chart cartridges.

I'm not a fan of mounting instruments at the wheel, simply because our autopilot as yet cannot read! We have most of our instruments over the mainhatch, readable from anywhere in the cockpit, although we do have the pilot control head and a multi repeater at the wheel, also a separate pilot control head below at the chart table.

 

[pvb]

I've got a Raymarine C120 mounted on its standard bracket under the sprayhood. It's angled at about 45 degrees to the centreline of the boat, and is easily visible from the helm or from most places in the cockpit. It sometimes needs tilting slightly for best viewing angle from the helm, depending on whether the helmsman's standing or sitting.

As far as theft prevention goes, I simply take it off the bracket if I'm leaving the boat unattended for any time in a strange place. I did consider permanently fitting the display in a NavPod, but decided they looked a bit bulky.

 

[Talbot]

You beet me to it about the Navman.

Do you know that there is a new version of the 5500 out that will accept C Map Max?

 

[Robin]

[ QUOTE ]
Do you know that there is a new version of the 5500 out that will accept C Map Max?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes I saw it and was aware it was coming when I bought our 5600. I'm very happy with C-Map NT+ though and so not bothered about the extra bits fron C-Map Max, bit gimmicky I thought.

 

[pvb]

Max features...

Also think that to get the best out of the additional Max features, a higher-definition screen is needed than Navman's 320x240 pixels.

 

[rwoofer]

Good to see another Moody 44 owner.

I have a Navman 5500i attached to the grab bar above the binnacle. I simply remove it whenever I feel there is a threat of theft. If I sit forward of the helm, I simply rotate it around.

I can post a picture this evening if you're interested.

Richard

 

[lydiamight]

The following may not prevent theft, but would seem to solve your problem of "swivelling" the chart plotter
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product/10001/-1/10001/3999/10001/-3/0/0

 

[Talbot]

Re: Max features...

The Navman 5500 spec is 320x240 pixels, but the new one (5505) is much higher than that (at least double if not better)
The 5500 is NT+ but not capable of Max, whereas the new one is max capable.

 

[pvb]

Sadly, not the case...

Sadly, it's not the case that the new 5505 models have a higher-definition display - they use the same 320x234 pixel display as the older 5500 models (and indeed the 5600/5605 models also have the same definition).

 

[Talbot]

Re: Sadly, not the case...

I bow to your knowledge as I have not been able to find any specs on them. They are not even listed on the Navman site.

 

[pvb]

Re: Sadly, not the case...

All the specs are in the 2006 Marine brochure, which you can download here on the Navman website.

 

[Talbot]

Re: Sadly, not the case...

silly me, looked at the list of products from them on the website - they werent there so naturally didnt bother looking at the new catalogue!

Looks to me as if they have just upgraded the processor to cope with the max, and not changed anything else.

I agree that a better display (especially for the 5605) would have been sensible.

 

[pvb]

5605...

I had a 5600 for a couple of seasons and really enjoyed using it. Navman seem to have created a very intuitive user interface for their plotters. Its display was fine for most purposes, and certainly the definition was OK when viewed across the cockpit. I think though that the aerial photos which are incorporated in the MAX charts won't look too good on the Navman screen, so agree with you that a better display would have been nice to have.

 

[sbrockman]

Have just faced the same problem and went for a RAM mount supplied by the GPS Warehouse (GPSW.co.uk). I bought an extra ball mount which I fitted at the chart table so that I can mount it inside or out.

 

[Richard10002]

Thanks for Quick replies

Fabulous - Thanks for all the quick replies. Didnt know you could detach them and take them below, (presumably the cables have waterproof caps or something)

I keep swaying between the options, so it will be interesting to see where I land. I like the idea of it being at the wheel and being able to turn it round. But also like the idea of under the sprayhood. Dont like the pods - a bit in your face.

many Thanks again.