Mark Hofman
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2001
- Messages
- 3,095
- Reaction score
- 5
Wow. This is taking me longer than I thought it would, but I'm closing in on a finished project.
I mounted the R.A.M. micro mount on the angled plate between the front deck and the bow deck. It's just off to the right side of the trim/tilt button and trolling motor plug plate. The R.A.M. mount from Garmin is really slick. I can position the display at nearly any angle I need to improve readability, and I can easily remove the display for storage overnight. I routed the transducer cable behind the angled plate to keep the wires off the deck, and the power cable up underneath the front deck near the bow.
The hard part was routing extra wire from the unit's cable to the battery compartment. I decided that I would first try to get a direct connection to the cranking battery. Failing that, I would route power to the fuse block and, failing that, I was going to wire the unit to a night light on the side of the driver's console. I knew I could get power there without having to use the accessory rocker switch on the dash every time I wanted to power up the display. As a last ditch solution, I would have used a rechargeable gel battery, mounted in the bow storage compartment.
As it turned out, it took me about an hour to route a 4-gang wire (red, green, white, and black encased in red sheething) from the battery compartment right up along the rest of the wiring to the bow. I had to take a a trim piece off to do it, but it went through with only some minor "adjustments" along the way.
Once I had the wiring in place, I stripped the black and red leads and hooked everything up for a quick test. Power!!! ARggghhhh, ARggghhh!!!
Tomorrow I'll pick up some crimp connectors and the connectors to hook the wires up to the cranking battery. Then I'll tuck everything away nice and neat, finish rigging the transducer cable so it's tight and out of the way (don't want to be tripping over it or pinching it somewhere).
Then, God-willing, on Friday Rachel and I will be off to Lake of the Ozarks for three days of trying-to-catch fishing. I'll get to fine-tune the transducer puck and learn how to read this wonderful unit. When I'm finished, and everything is cleaned up, I'll snap a photo for y'all to see.
This is FUN!!!
By the way, how should you neutralize battery acid that has leaked into the battery compartment? It's a potential hazard to the welds, and has already eaten through the paint in a couple of spots.
I mounted the R.A.M. micro mount on the angled plate between the front deck and the bow deck. It's just off to the right side of the trim/tilt button and trolling motor plug plate. The R.A.M. mount from Garmin is really slick. I can position the display at nearly any angle I need to improve readability, and I can easily remove the display for storage overnight. I routed the transducer cable behind the angled plate to keep the wires off the deck, and the power cable up underneath the front deck near the bow.
The hard part was routing extra wire from the unit's cable to the battery compartment. I decided that I would first try to get a direct connection to the cranking battery. Failing that, I would route power to the fuse block and, failing that, I was going to wire the unit to a night light on the side of the driver's console. I knew I could get power there without having to use the accessory rocker switch on the dash every time I wanted to power up the display. As a last ditch solution, I would have used a rechargeable gel battery, mounted in the bow storage compartment.
As it turned out, it took me about an hour to route a 4-gang wire (red, green, white, and black encased in red sheething) from the battery compartment right up along the rest of the wiring to the bow. I had to take a a trim piece off to do it, but it went through with only some minor "adjustments" along the way.
Once I had the wiring in place, I stripped the black and red leads and hooked everything up for a quick test. Power!!! ARggghhhh, ARggghhh!!!
Tomorrow I'll pick up some crimp connectors and the connectors to hook the wires up to the cranking battery. Then I'll tuck everything away nice and neat, finish rigging the transducer cable so it's tight and out of the way (don't want to be tripping over it or pinching it somewhere).
Then, God-willing, on Friday Rachel and I will be off to Lake of the Ozarks for three days of trying-to-catch fishing. I'll get to fine-tune the transducer puck and learn how to read this wonderful unit. When I'm finished, and everything is cleaned up, I'll snap a photo for y'all to see.
This is FUN!!!
By the way, how should you neutralize battery acid that has leaked into the battery compartment? It's a potential hazard to the welds, and has already eaten through the paint in a couple of spots.
