Installation of Garmin 750 chartplotter

E

eddystone

Well-Known Member
Joined
18 Aug 2013
Messages
1,936
Location
North West Devon
Visit site
With a limited budget for upgrade refitting my new boat, I don't really want to spend the £2K I originally budgeted for electronics, particularly as renewing much of the running rigging and new genoa (and main in not too distant future) takes priority (it is a sailing boat after all), not to mention replacing a suspicious gate valve sea cock, automatic bilge pump, electric windlass, running all lines aft, update gas installation etc, etc, etc.

My thinking to keep cost down and make installation easy is to keep the existing Garmin 128GPS linked to almost new ICOM DSC VHF, remove the old Decca (seriously) and fit standalone Garmin GPS map 750 which comes with UK and Ireland mapping for under £600 (at that price why go for older 5" screen models, although maybe difference not that great bearing in mind different screen orientation?). What I wondered was if it was bracket mounted, would it be possible to have an extension (depending how long the supplied cable is) data/power cable so that I could remove it from the bracket and make up something so that I could clip onto the bottom washboard so that I could see it from the helm?

A few other questions, thinking of expanding things eventually, can Garmin (NMEA2000) be made to interface with Raymarine proprietary interface? And if I added an AIS receiver, in practical terms would I not need to unplug that before moving chart plotter?
 
Oh well doesn't look very hopeful - supplied data cable is 1.5 metres and Garmin don't sell extension cables? Fall back is Ipad mini with navionics and some way of keeping it charged. (use it attached to me neck mainly for estuary/ports leaving my primary nav as paper charts/GPS/portable GPS as back-up)
 
I have the smaller garmin 450 mounted in the cockpit. I'm not sure why you would want it anywhere else really.

I think you are looking at the extension issue the wrong way. The plotter end is a garmin specific plug but the other end is just bare wires. You can put that through any kind of connector you like.
 
BruceDanforth said:
I have the smaller garmin 450 mounted in the cockpit. I'm not sure why you would want it anywhere else really.

I think you are looking at the extension issue the wrong way. The plotter end is a garmin specific plug but the other end is just bare wires. You can put that through any kind of connector you like.
Click to expand...


Or he could get an additional bracket and install a waterproof socket in the cockpit as I did ( SH 300i ) can use it in either or positions then, but your suggestion is probably an easier option to be honest.
 
BruceDanforth said:
I have the smaller garmin 450 mounted in the cockpit. I'm not sure why you would want it anywhere else really.

I think you are looking at the extension issue the wrong way. The plotter end is a garmin specific plug but the other end is just bare wires. You can put that through any kind of connector you like.
Click to expand...

Because with a tiller there isn't a binnacle or anything else to hand to attach it to - mounting it on the bulkhead is a sort of dead zone between unaided distant vision and reading glasses distance and installation instructions say should be 32" away from compass anyway. But from what you say should be able to extend cable - not ideal but workable.
 
You need the plotter at the helm, it is a primary pilotage device, especially if you get radar and AIS feeding into it. You could buy a used Yeoman and drive that from the Garmin 128 at the chart table. Or if the Yeoman is attached to the 750 via Nmea 0813 then you would be able to upload/download waypoints between the two. That is what I have on Galadriel.
 
How fast does the boat go? How large is the cockpit? I have mine on the bulkhead on my 22 footer and just move forwards to have a look every now and then. I don't need to stare at the thing.
 
I had a similar siting issue having been seduced by the <£600 price tag without thinking ahead about actual usage, in the end I have flush mounted the 750 into a substantial off-cut of hardwood and fitted to inside of companionway bulkhead using a double hinge as per link below. This allows use of the plotter at the chart-table or swung out in the companionway. A remote mike allowing full control of VHF from the cockpit is also fitted to the offcut. This is a work in progress which will eventually see a NMEA2000 net incorporating the chartplotter, Garmin windex and Garmin depth/speed (this will also provide other fringe benefits such as baro and temp etc). In this situation the network bus (or whatever it's called) will be over the generic NMEA backbone and drop down cables, with the power/data cable supplied with the plotter only being used to power the plotter and therefore easily extended beyond the 1.5m supplied just using +- wires.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/eclipse-spring-hinges-satin-stainless-steel-78-x-38mm-pack-of-2/59306

In the end the system will have 2 x GMI10's in the cockpit and 2 x at the chart-table. In retrospect this now seems a bit of overkill given the ability to display any information on the system via either/or chartplotter or GMI10 & 1 x GMI10 at each location would have been sufficient.

Sods law dictates that I only came back from the boat about an hour ago but I will take a couple of pictures when down next week.

In my case I have compromised the compass but will look at this separately, these days I rely more on the plotter than the compass. The compass is easier to move and I want the optimum position for the plotter.

I find this works well for me on a Halmatic 30 (tiller) - personally I rarely steer by hand, other than when in close proximity to boats/marinas etc preferring the autopilot which seems to have a better concentration span! Acknowledge that this solution will not suit everybody but it is an arrangement suited to smaller cockpits.
 
eddystone said:
With a limited budget for upgrade refitting my new boat, I don't really want to spend the £2K I originally budgeted for electronics, particularly as renewing much of the running rigging and new genoa (and main in not too distant future) takes priority (it is a sailing boat after all), not to mention replacing a suspicious gate valve sea cock, automatic bilge pump, electric windlass, running all lines aft, update gas installation etc, etc, etc.

My thinking to keep cost down and make installation easy is to keep the existing Garmin 128GPS linked to almost new ICOM DSC VHF, remove the old Decca (seriously) and fit standalone Garmin GPS map 750 which comes with UK and Ireland mapping for under £600 (at that price why go for older 5" screen models, although maybe difference not that great bearing in mind different screen orientation?). What I wondered was if it was bracket mounted, would it be possible to have an extension (depending how long the supplied cable is) data/power cable so that I could remove it from the bracket and make up something so that I could clip onto the bottom washboard so that I could see it from the helm?

A few other questions, thinking of expanding things eventually, can Garmin (NMEA2000) be made to interface with Raymarine proprietary interface? And if I added an AIS receiver, in practical terms would I not need to unplug that before moving chart plotter?
Click to expand...

I mounted my 750 on a swinging bracket across the companion way. A couple of my friends also fitted the 750 into a flush mounted plywood insert for the washboard. A 12v socket through the companion way bulkhead makes a convenient power source. if you then want to connect more of the wires into other systems or vhf etc maplins do lots of multi cable LV plugs that can be surface mounted. Once you have made the plug connection you can bring in the other end of the connections from anywhere utilising cables joined as you wish.
 
smeaks said:
I mounted my 750 on a swinging bracket across the companion way. A couple of my friends also fitted the 750 into a flush mounted plywood insert for the washboard. A 12v socket through the companion way bulkhead makes a convenient power source. if you then want to connect more of the wires into other systems or vhf etc maplins do lots of multi cable LV plugs that can be surface mounted. Once you have made the plug connection you can bring in the other end of the connections from anywhere utilising cables joined as you wish.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't go with washboard location after seeing one in practice. Some useful tips on swinging bracket - like blue drifters arrangement - any actual as opposed to theoretical compass problem? (if you look at raymarine installation guides, possible to locate much closer to compass in certain orientations)

One concern - may need in coming years to replace quite old Autohelm tiller pilot - I think only Raymarine and Simrad do tiller pilots - would they talk to Garmin via NMEA 2000?
 
how far from compass?

eddystone said:
Just seen Force 4 have ex-demo 750s at £499 - I think I'll buy and sort out installation issues later!
Click to expand...
Go for it,. as said above the accuracy of the compass is less likely to be an issue once you are using the plotter. On the pic the black dome at the bottom of the pic is the top of the compass. I am sure many binnacle mounts are close to the compass.
If you washboard mount it you need to devise anti kick guards as in a panic moment.....
 
johnphilip said:
Go for it,. as said above the accuracy of the compass is less likely to be an issue once you are using the plotter. On the pic the black dome at the bottom of the pic is the top of the compass. I am sure many binnacle mounts are close to the compass.
If you washboard mount it you need to devise anti kick guards as in a panic moment.....
Click to expand...


+ 1 - necessity is the mother of invention and problems like this inspire ingenious solutions. Once you've got it you will sort it out one way or another. It is a good bit of kit in its own right even before you factor in the potential that NMEA2000 brings. Presumably Raymarine will upgrade their autopilot to 'talk' NMEA2000 at some point, it currently still uses NMEA0183,
but I have not got around to checking what that facilitates. I personally want to be able to feed wind info to autopilot in order to steer to wind but that's about it. It could be that this is already achievable, just need to research or rely on those wiser in these matters on this forum to advise.
 
I had a similar issue. When I bought my boat there was a Garmin in the saloon facing for'd! A fat lot of use there. I wanted a cockpit mounted unit. I looked at most of the Garmin range and settled on a 2012 model GPSMAP 551 which you can now get for around £350. I bought the flush mount kit for about £20 and installed on the opposite side to the compass. I considered the 750 , but it was dearer and although offering a bigger screen I thought the "portability feature" might become an issue.
 
One last question. If I buy now I probably won't get round to fitting it for a few months. As far as I know the Garmin "one free update to latest version of charts" is only valid for 3 months - at the same time I believe Garmin only update Blue charts once annually in late February - either way I need to take advantage of the update before it can be connected to a 12v supply (i.e. on the boat). How can I connect the device to a computer, either to update, either directly or via an SD card?
 
Ok my friend here we go. I have a Garmin 750 and having read this I put it on and placed it to a distance of 37mm before it started to make the compass swing and that was only 2 deg. (yes I know I know) you don't want any swing but I was just making a point. On a friends yacht we set it into the front of the cockpit below the bridge deck and no problems with it at all. As the other chap says the wiring is no problem just solder and insulate extensions and there you go job done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

Anibal
Garmin GPSmap 1223xsv rudder indicator
Replies
18
Views
411
Anibal
Anibal
Lightwave395
Wiring mess
Replies
18
Views
805
thinwater
thinwater

Share this page

Top