Winter projects


I do not have axius. I want an indicator because when coming in to dock I am always steering until I get close. Then I always have to be going forward momentarily to make sure I am going straignt and looking at the emblem in the center of my wheel. I always dock with my shifters. Sometimes though when coming in I have to momentarily move the wheel to correct something. I would rather be able to glance at a gauge and position my drives quickly to continue docking rather than having to go in forward again when in tight quarters. It will just be helpful for me. And for $500, it will be a lot more useful to me than my mph speedometer which I NEVER look at!! It will be mounted in place of that which is the only spot left on my dash to add anything. I have a speed in knots on my gps which is all I use. I will simply be using a raymarine st60 rudder indicator which will match my depth sounder and a rotary transducer. I haven't done it yet but will be in the next few months. It will be simple. As far as I know, I just need to plug the seatalk connection into my depth sounder and it will get it's power from there. I believe that the dimming feature on either gauge will control both once connected. Then all I have to do is run the transducer cable to the engine compartment, and mount the transducer somehow on the back transom in such a way that I can connect the linkage to the steering ram and adjust it to read correctly in all positions. I may have to make some kind of stainless bracket to hold it. Time will tell. Will try to post pics once done. They also make a linear transducer. I'm still not quite sure which one would work better but I think the rotary is the way to go. You definitely don't need autopilot to do, don't know why they would say that. There are also many other styles of rudder indicators out there but I think the raymarine is the nicest and by matching my depth sounder I think it would look nicer than any of the others.
 
not sure about the rudder indicator on the outdrives?? i'm with Gary, don't really see a need.

wood work for custom speaker mounts is well underway. i'm thinking my sub box is going to look sick! amp just arrived yesterday, head unit coming today. all i'm lacking is the sub. maybe Santa will bring me one.....
 
Well, ya don't really need a steering wheel either, you could always hang a paddle out the side but it makes life easier!! :D
 
I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH. DON'T AGREE, BUT UNDERSTAND.
I FIND IT MUCH EASIER TO POINT THE DRIVES THE WAY I WANT THEM TO GO. NEVER ANY TIME TO WATCH A GAUGE ON THE DASH WHILE MANUVERING BACKWARDS.
IF THIS WERE COMMON, THEY WOULD MAKE AN OUTDRIVE INDICATOR. RUDDER INDICATORS ARE COMMON, BECAUSE THEY DONT HAVE THE LUXURY OF TURNING THE PROPS. THEY NEED TO KNOW WHERE THE RUDDER IS.
LET US KNOW HOW YOU MAKE OUT, AND IF IT WAS WORTH THE EFFORT.
 
Totally agree. I have a 31 PC and by setting the drives straight-on as I approach the dock I am generally good to go i.e., using forward/reverse to back the boat in and then if needed us the Wheel. The drives are positioned correctly when needed.

Evidently you have either a narrow slip and/or extreme current/wind conditions. That said, how in the heck will you have time to:

A. Turn around
B. Look forward/down to the control panel and
C. See what position the drives are in

before you hit something is besides me? IMO I'd spend the $ on something else like an upgraded soundsytem, LED's, etc. ;)
 
I don't look forward when backing up, nor will I be looking at the gauge when docking. I don't really need it, however when I am coming into my marina, I usually pull into the fuel dock to fuel up. Then I back away, usually turning the drives to pull out before moving over to the pumpout station. Then I back away, turning the drives again to get away from the pumpout dock before going forward down the channel, stopping, turning with the shifters, and manuevering into my slip. I personally will find it much easier after backing out and away from the dock, to simply turn the wheel without counting turns and look at a gauge and know my drives are straight without even moving, rather than backing up, having to go forward while turning the wheel and get the boat tracking straight before getting to my slip which is only a few slips away to know that my drives are straight to be able to manuever with just shifters. Definitely makes sense to me or I wouldn't be doing it. I surely could get by without it as I have for two years. I am confident in saying that, by growing up around boats, I can handle my boat better than a good majority of the people I see out there, it's just something to make things a little easier, that's all!! :)
 
I feel EXACTLY the same as Jay....so hopefully after his install he can tell me how easy it is and then I will fly him into Cleveland for the weekend and he can help out a fellow formula owner 8)

Happy Thanksgiving!
 
Thanks Toofast. I knew I wasn't nuts or the only one!! ;D I will be ordering it as soon as a guy from my yacht club with a wholesale account gets back so I can get it cheaper through him. Should likely be installed in the next two months. I don't anticipate it being too hard. I'm hoping this time I can somehow fish the wire down the stbd side unlike my battery monitor which I ran across the arch. Then it's a matter of removing my Speedo, filing the hole to fit the new gauge as there isn't much play without it hanging over the dash panel due to the tachs. This is of course with the raymarine that I will be installing. They do make smaller round gauges however I wanted it to match at least something on the dash. Most of them seem to be black or something that doesn't match anything so the raymarine was the cholce to match my depthsounder. I do like it the best also, being a good size, and really easy to glance at and read. And like I mentioned, as far as I know, the wiring will be a snap too since it should plug via seatalk connection into my depthsounder, get it's power from there and they should dim together. Then the only tricky part is to mount the transducer to work with the steering ram. With my boys at the metal fab shop, I can definitely come up with some easy way. With installing myself, will be under $500, and far more useful then that silly mph speedo!! Will keep ya posted toofast!!
 
Fishing the wire should be easy, I put a few aftermarket smartcraft units on and I fished down 2 relatively large wires down the stbd side as well. Almost a straight shot.

Good luck and can't wait to see how it works out.
 
Yep, no worries. Will keep ya posted!! Will do as soon as I get my paws on the cheaper gauge!! ;D
 
finally finished the installation of 3 new bilge blowers. gotta tell ya this was no easy task. glad to have that one behind me. i'm still in the process of building some custom speaker mounts so the sound system upgrade is still in progress. as that moves forward i'll be moving on to the next couple of items on my list. since my new washdown pump has arrived i think i'll work on it next along with my holding tank/sender issues. quick question: i'll be replacing my holding tank vent hose. do i need any type of oder control/blocking hose for this or can i just go to Lowe's and pick up some 5/8 standard hose since it is just for the vent. i'm thinking i need something special there but not sure??

as a side note, i'm still on the lookout for a non-working ice maker (u-line BI-95) for parts. i really need a door assembly. i am also interested in trying to determine if there is fridge that will fit where the ice maker goes. if anybody has any info about either, i'd be interested in what you have/know.
 
new washdown pump has now been installed. i still have to do the wiring which will be all new including a switch and install the hose from the pump to the deck fitting.

also installed new Co2 detector in mid cabin. the date on the one i removed was May '02. I had no idea it was that old. it tested fine but i think those things only have a useful life of 5-7 years. either way, it was way past either one. i'll date the one i installed with a sharpie so i will know when the time comes to replace again. i'm thinking about adding another one somewhere in the v-birth/dinette area.

i removed the sending unit from my holding tank last night and cleaned it up. all the floats were moving freely (tankwatch III) so i reinstalled. still don't have a green light on the indicator panel though. not sure where to go from here so i'm looking for suggestions.
 
If you can get to the connections for the green light, try ohming it out with an electrical meter. Make sure you test on all resistance settings because depending on the resistance of the light you may not get a proper reading on just one setting of the meter. If it shows open load on all settings then the lamp is your problem. Also check for power there with your head pump breaker on.
 
LED indicator light could be bad i suppose but power to panel is not the problem. mid-level and full lights come on as they should. i noticed when i installed the sending unit that the longest probe seemed to bottom out on something solid. i wiggled it around a bit and it then fell into place. i suppose that could be the problem but i'll need to get to the pump out dock for a few good flushings of the tank before i remove the sender again. i think i would rather just replace everything with the Scad Solo External Monitor and Gauge kit. wouldn't have to worry about cleaning the float assembly anymore that way.
 
So what is this washdown you are talking about? Why do you need to install another pump? Do you not have washdowns like my boat where you just plug in the hose to the quick connect fitting and it runs off your main water pump?
 
no, jaydubya, i don't. gotta keep in mind that your boat is WAY newer than mine. mine is set up like this: the raw water intake for my genset has a "t" connection that feeds an independent pump. this pump supplies raw water to a fitting on the transom that i can hook a regular water hose to for washdowns or whatever else i may need it for. this pump was toast when i bought the boat so i'm kinda glad that it will be working now. as an expansion of this little project i want to look into running a water supply line to my anchor locker so that i can keep a seperate hose up there for washing down my anchor & rode. it is a never ending battle to keep the muddy river bottom that ends up on my bow pulpit at bay. Seadoc, who used to own my boat, said she just carried a hose up to the bow for this but i'm hoping to make things a little easier for the admiral if ya know what i mean ;) i just gotta figure out if i can get a water line up to the bow without too much trouble. my water tank is under the v-birth so i'm pretty sure i can get it that far without too much trouble. not sure about getting past that though.....
 
formula tenn,
it seems to me that you went thru a lot of trouble to add a washdown pump. why not feed the waterline from it up to the pulpit?
why use fresh water to wash your anchor instead of river water?
 
that is exactly what i'm talking about. i have no intention of using fresh water for a washdown. ideally, i want to add a "t" on the output side of my new (raw water) washdown pump and run a water line from there to the anchor locker. i haven't looked into it yet so i'm not sure how much of a challenge it will be to get the water supply line to the bow. i'm THINKING it will be fairly easy to get from the bilge all the way to the v-birth because there are already fresh water lines there. just not sure about getting from the v-birth to the anchor locker OR if there is another way i should run the water line (for instance, attempt to follow the windlass power cables??). adding the new pump was really no problem at all since the boat already had one, i'd just like to add a bit more convenience. this would be a huge help in keeping the bow of the boat cleaner.
 
I must say that i use my rudder/drive indicator on the smart craft all the time with I/Os. Just before i get into the area of the slip i change from the RPM syncro screen to the rudder indicator screen. Then i use the throttles mostly to manuver just like an inboard. then if i need a little more help/thrust when backing i will turn the wheel and watch the indicator for a split second to put it in just the right spot and bang! right into the slip.

I find it very helpful. however you must be prepared to go with out it just incase it stops working ;D
 
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