Can I Use ONE GPS/Chartplotter at TWO Helms with ONE Transducer?

[cricketman]

Have a houseboat on a local lake, have had a Lowrance HDS8 on the upper helm but it's died, time to upgrade!

I typically drive from the upper helm, but if bad weather I do sometimes drive from the lower helm inside the boat, would like to be able to easily transfer a unit from upper helm to lower in that case, is it possible to have this setup using just ONE transducer to serve both locations?

Money is not UNLIMITED, but not reallly a major concern so can basically do whatever is needed to accomplish this. That said, I obviously would prefer to do it as cost effectively as possible, so I'd rather not have to buy two separate chartplotters, would prefer to have just one & move it back/forth between helms, again using just one transducer if possible.

The Lowrance served me pretty well, but I'm thinking of going back with a Garmin, have a friend who has a 16" GPSMap & he raves about it. I won't need one that big but I do want a unit with great mapping, easy route/waypoint management, good screen in sun or darkness, etc. I do like a good view of the bottom but really just for "observing" (I'm not a fisherman, so actual fish finding is not a big concern for me).

Just want to know if anyone else has done something similar, and what the best path might be.

(Don't mean to start a sub-thread but any thoughts on Garmin vs Lowrance would also be welcome - especially in regard to how each brand could accomplish what I am trying to do.)

Thanks in advance to all who offer thoughts!!

 

[Horigan]

We have Garmin with two stations and one GPS transducer and one thru-hull transducer. We move the chart plotter between both stations with no problems. For the GPS function I think you only need to set up a NMEA 2000 network that would have cable ends at each station, plus power to the network. For radar or depth sounder data I think you need a high-speed network (ethernet) cables to both stations. There are likely network hubs that may be required. This was already setup in my boat when I got it.

 

[dingbat]

If you want to go with a budget system, you could get a MFD with built-in GPS then install a A/B box to switch the output of the common transducer to either one of your helm position.

You would need
-Two display mounts
-Two power cables
- A/B Switch box and transducer cables to each helm position

SIMRAD bounced Lowrance tech down a few rungs in support of the "retail" market.