Boat Forum / Electronics / June 2006

I am about to fill some large 2v traction batteries and wonder whether
to use 1260 or 1280 acid.  I understand that 1280 acid will enable me
to pull higher discharge rates but at the expense of battery life.  The
batteries' original spec was for 1280 acid, but then they were being

The new free RayTech Planner software looks exactly what I need to plan
routes and to transfer them to my C-80. From reading the instructions
it seems tough that a special reader ($75) is needed to read the
Navionics Charts. Question are:

Hello all.  I just found this newsgroup and am hoping that someone will be
able to help me.  I have a 2004 Hydra sports 212WA.  I am interested in
purchasing an electric windlass for it.  Of all the dealers I've contacted,
only one dealer has responded.  Unfortunately, he hasn't ...

Anyone out there know how to make a program like Excel (or whatever)
capture NEMA data from the GPS and put it into a spreadsheet or
database.  What I'm trying to do is set up some kind of an auto ship's
log so that when I'm sailing the GPS will create a log for me every 15

Just thinking of gettibg a portable all around, cheap, neat, and easy to use
GPS. I saw some refurbished Garmins. Just wanted to know if I'm missing anything.
How much trouble is it to have Great Lake coverage on these?
greg

Wondering if anyone had any problems with hummingbird wide eye, mine
works fine until I start the boat and then just the depth reading
disappears and as soon as I turn the motor off again it comes back. Any
ideas?

I am interested in upgrading the wiring that came with my e-80
chartplotter, S1G autopilot, wind machine, and speed/depth instrument.
What are good reference matierals to read, to plan this out?   I want
to accomplish:

I cannot get the seatalk to function on the chartplotter 320 GPS ,I have it
connected on the Seatalk daisy chain connected to Autohelm ST 50 upgraded to
ST55 and Autohelm auto pilot. As soon as I plug in the Seatalk cable to the
input on the 320 ,the TRUE wind crashes on the wind ...

I have an MP3 player that requires 5VDC.  I'd like to use this on my
boat and adapt it to my 12VDC system.  Any suggestions?

Has anybody connected the garmin gps128 to the
Raymarine 54e vhf.
Cant seem to figure it out (doh).
What interface setting should I use on the Garmin. i.e

Help with boat problem
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I have a 140hp Mercruiser engine in a boat I just got ,,I was wondering if
I could get some advise???

Since my post a few days ago, spoke to our marine electrician and the
on-staff electrical expert retained by the Harbor office. We are going
to have to install an isolation transformer in our dock box. This will
cost about $1,000 after parts, labor and some mods to the box. All 90

I have some questions about depth finders and fish finders.  I am looking at
basically just seeing how deep the water is while im at speed (old 16' volvo
penta unit so not extremely fast) pulling skiers and tubes.  Will a fish
finder do this reliably or do i need a dedicated ...

I hope that this is a simple question to answer.  My Raymarine manual
says to attach the 12V power cable's braided sheathing that surrounds
the positive and negative wires to the "boat's earth/ground".   I
assume that this is for interference (RF) reasons.  Is this as simple

I am installing a Lewmar Horizon 600/900 horizontal windlass on a 27
foot power boat. The users manual says to use #4 AWG marine grade wire
from the battery to the solenoid to the breaker to the windlass and
back to the battery. The wire leads on the windlass are #10 AWG.