New Electronics Install - Worth it!
After many months of research, then several long days and nights of modifcations and install, the Whaler electronics upgrade is complete. Its been a labour of love over the past few weeks, not to mention a heap of bucks. Worth it.........shit yeah!
First off, had to pull out the old Airmar 1 kW SS264 transducers and Furuno FCV587 that have served me so well and caught plenty of fish. Good gear always sells easily, this has been excellent stuff and will no doubt serve others well for many years. But the itch to try new stuff had to be scratched.
With a few dirty great big holes in the hull, out with the grinder and fibreglass. Ended up routing out inside the hull to create an hourglass effect as well as fully feathering the inside and outside.
Then filled the holes building up layers of chopped glass matt, glass matt weave and glass dust reinforced epoxy to fill the hole. Well over 15 layers of layup and this is a repair that will never fail! First time I have used fibreglass, a bit daunting to start and apart from a bit of an overheat when I did a layup too thick, it is pretty easy and quite rewarding.
Then onto the new transducer. Almost everyone who I spoke to here and overseas said the transducer with performance fairing is way too big for a 23 ft boat and would adversely affect the boats handling etc......I wanted the best transducer performance....period.....so I ignored the lot of em. When this beast arrived, I almost fainted. This thing is huge!
Measured about 50 times, made up dummy foam copies and finally cut the fairing on my mates band saw.
Installed along with the 2 other thru hulls in my arsenal......a total of 3.7 kW of transducer power covering High/Lo CHIPR, sidescan, downview, medium chirp and hi/low tone burst with all 3 transducers able to be electronically switched via the head units to display any combination. Happy to report no noticeable effect on the boats performance despite this beast hanging down well below the Whalers keel.
Onto the head units.....time to make space for a second 10 inch screen. Had to move the radio to the overhead hardtop to make enough room.
Had to do a lot of cutting, shutting and more fibreglassing of the dash to get these bad boys to fit....just.
First trial was straight out for a deep drop. Performance was better than I had hoped.
The result, my daughters boyfriend Ross with a nice Blue Eye.
Very satisfying doing everything yourself and it actually working better than you expected.
Boston Whaler 235 Conquest......getting the flogging it was built for.
Gertcha
Posts: 80
Date Joined: 05/05/14
awesome post John love the
awesome post John
love the photo
man Ross is one lucky fella !! does he knows how lucky he is ?
what Garmin gear are you using and what is the power of the airmar transducer ?
wangler
Posts: 607
Date Joined: 26/04/08
Wicked! Incredible!
Ditto
Want to make someone mad... tell a lie! Want to get the world upset... tell the TRUTH !
Dougie
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
BIG
BIG, awesome that theres no effect on the hull performance.
Stevo81
Posts: 1278
Date Joined: 16/04/12
Well done Mate! Wish I had
Well done Mate! Wish I had room in the dash for 2 x 10" flushmounts
•••••••• Electrical Contractor NOR ••••••••
scotto
Posts: 2472
Date Joined: 21/04/08
Neat job JF
that tranny is gnarly! Does it pre-cook the fish before they're boated?
Pretty nice job aye. That sounding is pretty impressive.
Boydy
Posts: 623
Date Joined: 26/09/12
Nice job start to finish,
Nice job start to finish, always satisfying doing it yourself.
Screenshot looks mint.
But what will all the Furuno diehards think?
I'm sure I've read on here sooo many times that no other sounder really works, and it's the only brand that can find fish in anything other than a duck pond!
Is this a challenge to the masses?
Nice work and I'm sure there will be plenty of proof in the pudding.
JohnF
Posts: 2839
Date Joined: 07/07/10
Does OK at 25 knots in deep
Does OK at 25 knots in deep water
And shows bait pretty well
Sold my Furuno....
Boston Whaler 235 Conquest......getting the flogging it was built for.
Boydy
Posts: 623
Date Joined: 26/09/12
Sharp
Bit of pudding with cream right there I recon.
Tim
Posts: 2497
Date Joined: 26/09/06
Not really
Boydy
Posts: 623
Date Joined: 26/09/12
Not really, what?
Your point is, it's not a sharp picture at 25 knots in 150m?
Here we go, the Furuno faithful.
I wasn't knocking any other brands.
Simply saying other brands do the job as well, despite what many say here.....
resurgence
Posts: 578
Date Joined: 23/04/14
I think he was saying that
I think he was saying that good shallow water performance is achievable with most half-decent brands these days, providing it's set up correctly.
z00m
Posts: 1086
Date Joined: 10/05/14
Nice job
Well done! Does the boat sit a bit lower in the water now with all the extra brass and screens? ha ha
Simo_
Posts: 1843
Date Joined: 13/11/06
Nice setup and nice fish
Nice setup and nice fish
Bring on April
Ectopic
Posts: 208
Date Joined: 19/10/09
Wow! I don't even have a
Wow! I don't even have a boat, but I enjoy reading your posts. You're obviously a perfectionist, keep up the good work!
http://db.tt/DXvNMYOU
quest
Posts: 248
Date Joined: 03/08/15
Killer job
Killer job John. It looks awsome both the work and the soundings. I'm sure many more fish will follow.
nathan hume
Posts: 42
Date Joined: 03/11/12
What made you go with Garmin
What made you go with Garmin John
Gertcha
Posts: 80
Date Joined: 05/05/14
AWESOME PHOTOS you can read
AWESOME PHOTOS
you can read the bottom of 150 m at 25 knots !! that is what I dream of !
was it hard to tune it ? ie adjusting gain etc...
Gertcha
Posts: 80
Date Joined: 05/05/14
thanks for sharing it John
thanks for sharing it John
I am tossing up between Furuno and Garmin, heard mix result. the performance on the Garmin is fantastic ! the resolution is really good and the reading the bottom at 25 knts in 150 m of water is so impressive!!
Jason P
Posts: 521
Date Joined: 16/02/13
Geez, with that much power
Geez, with that much power the fish will be stunned and come floating to the surface. Lol.
DM306
baron
Posts: 55
Date Joined: 28/07/12
Cutting of fairing block
Very nice job it's all about the cutting of the faring block and it's a whaler. Haha
Luke
Posts: 167
Date Joined: 02/11/09
Nice setup mate I ran a very
Nice setup mate I ran a very similar transducer an you will read 1000m easy. Are you running a GSD 26 or straight from your head unit?
Edit: i can tell from the screenshot your just using the head unit.
azza1
Posts: 199
Date Joined: 30/04/11
Looking great John. Looking
Looking great John. Looking forward to seeing some awesome fish soon
crasny1
Posts: 7006
Date Joined: 16/10/08
Call me stupid
and I have only ever had transom mounted units, but how do you seal a beast like that through hull. I would be Sooo worried about holes in the hull, and that unit would make a huge hole.
Build a couple of hulls/boats from scratch with glass, and apart from being catalyst "fumed" loved it (might have even liked the fumed bit but was as high as a kite and cant remember. I was called chameleon afterwards,as apparently my eyes looked in different directions )but I would still be concerned regarding any holes in a glass hull
PS: Was rude. Meant to say fantastic job and great post
"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk
z00m
Posts: 1086
Date Joined: 10/05/14
Holes
Looking at the work John did, he now has a smaller hole in the hull than what was there before. At least now if, god forbid, the transducer 'fell out' then John could plug the hole with a simple rubber bung in an emergency. The blue part is outside the hull, not through it.
John, can you explain what is in this image - is it a shim made from the scrap performance fairing?
JohnF
Posts: 2839
Date Joined: 07/07/10
Spot on Zoom
Spot on Zoom
Boston Whaler 235 Conquest......getting the flogging it was built for.
resurgence
Posts: 578
Date Joined: 23/04/14
No huge holes
The fairing block is bolted and/or glassed onto the bottom of the hull. Generally the only holes are for mounting bolts and the cable.
Thru-hull holes are not a problem if done properly. My boat, albeit a bit larger, has over a dozen holes through the hull for various things.
resurgence
Posts: 578
Date Joined: 23/04/14
And to think I was worried
And to think I was worried about putting similar fairing blocks on my 32 footer!
Looks like a good install, and good performance.
JohnF
Posts: 2839
Date Joined: 07/07/10
Not sure I would recommend
Not sure I would recommend the fairing on anything smaller than my boat, and the Whaler 235 is a very big 23.5 ft, more like a 25 ft. On a smaller boat, once would think the bloody huge fairing would make the boat go in circles......
Boston Whaler 235 Conquest......getting the flogging it was built for.
West Coast
Posts: 332
Date Joined: 10/12/07
Trailer..
Did you have to modify your trailer?
crasny1
Posts: 7006
Date Joined: 16/10/08
Cheers Guys
for clearing up my concerns.
"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk
abrohlosorbust
Posts: 99
Date Joined: 08/06/12
Double post
.
Getting wet is part of the Fun
Boston Whaler 235 Conquest
abrohlosorbust
Posts: 99
Date Joined: 08/06/12
WOW
John
Sweet write up and photos. Most wouldn't be game to cut and make holes or fill them on the boat. You show it can be done.. The fairing block is a beast. Lucky you were able to cut it down. Has it made any diffence to the trim or attitude of the boat?
Getting wet is part of the Fun
Boston Whaler 235 Conquest