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Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board
B31 electronics
Posted By: Vic Roy
Date: Sunday, 21 November 2004, at 5:57 p.m.
Been over at the camp since Friday morning. With the B20 gone to NC, AJ in the yard, only part of the UV navy left is the old Goo Boat. New Goo Boat we will pick up tomorrow and rig at the house. Rained all weekend, but us coonasses can adapt. We had a rain party all weekend.
As for basic electronics for the B31, here is my view:
For basic navigation and depth sounding, nothing beats the Garmin 2010C 10" color machine. Chart plotter has huge letters and pointers, and wide area Blue Charts. I have one little chip that covers the Gulf from Brownsville to Key West down to 20'. For another $225, add depth with a simple hockey puck in-hull 'ducer for it and it will read to about 250' at 24 kts. If you want to go deep, do the bornze thru hull and read the bottom in 1,000 ft.
Radar should be free standing. Most of us use a 4KW open array to get the range, and mostly, the low range resolution where you can see your wake on the screen and a beer can in the water at 100 yards. A second free stnading GPS is a good idea, and if you have an old loran, keep it on board and hooked up, 'cause who knows when my favorite Uncle will decide in a time of crisis to turn the GPS system off. Oh yeah, and keep the compass and the paper charts, old and mildewed they may be. And the plastic protractor plotter.
And if you go fish or cruise offshore, get an autopilot. Will seriously enhance your boating. It can steer way better than you can, and if you can interface it with the chart plotter, more better, but just a "point and shoot" autopilot that is not hooked to anything is wonderful, just sit back on the flybridge and drink beer and look out for debris, watch your cross track bearing on the GPS and click a degree or two now and then on the pilot, and you will save the cost of it in fuel savings in just a few years.
As fior VHF, I prefer the Icom products as they are built heavy. My favorite remians the Icom 125 VHF and I have an Icom 126 backup, but the 125 is the best I've ever seen. For SSB, the state of the art is the Icom 802, which I have, installed it myself, and it's long range, real long.
You also want a Dytek sea water temp gague with a ducer thru the hull if you are a fisherman, as a .1 degree temp change is important.
UV
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