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Butch Davis Butch Davis is offline
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First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 102
Default Installing a Largish GPS?Sounder on a SMALL Boat

Received a Lowrance LCX-111C HD package from Boaters World (BW).com this
week. Nice bit if kit as the Brits would say.

Began the install yesterday. What a mother of a job. In hindsight I
shoulda ordered a smaller unit but I was a sucker for the price. The head
unit just almost fits on the helm space of my 16 BW Dauntless. It's so
tight the screen cover won't fit without some mods. Obviously had to remove
the previous Lowrance LMS-160 and cables which left gaping holes in the top
of the CC. In order to fit the head unit in the space I had to sacrifice
the compass. Another big hole.

So, got a sheet of 1/4 Starboard, made a template, cut the board, and
resurfaced the top of the CC. OK, that's almost ready to go. The new ducer
(dual freq) wont fit where the old one was. Another piece of Starboard to
cover and seal the old holes and provide a good mount for the new ducer.
That's now almost ready to go. Cut another piesce of SB for the water speed
(log) and temp ducer(??) for the opposit side of the transom. They have to
match don'tchaknow? That's now ready for installation.

The worst part is having to drill about four 1 inch holes in the CC and
another two in the transom for the cables. Had to go to two WM stores to
get the caps (clams??) for the holes, three two wire caps and three one wire
caps. Cleaned them out but at least got what I needed. $6 a pop, yeow!

Only other thing left to get is the SS screws, etc. Have a BW store close
by with a pretty complete stock of hardware so I'll get it in the AM. Just
hope I have all the electrical stuff I need.

Conclusion: Tiny boat and big electronics big pain in ass.

Hope it's worth it.

Butch