So I have a "new" (to me) boat, with minimal electronics, and a "new" (to me) Garmin GPSMAP 546s with transom transducer. There does appear to be a thru-hull transducer already in the boat, as the one piece of electronics besides the VHF indicates current depth, speed, and a mileage log of sorts. I expect that this winter, I'll replace that transducer with one that mates up with my Garmin, thereby getting full utility out of the chartplotter, and freeing up some space in the helm for a stereo remote or something. I'm mounting it just above the VHF handset in this picture...
I already have the swivel base mounted, but am kind of terrified of drilling the hole for the wire that plugs into the unit.
Regardless of which way I pull it thru, I'm going to need a hole close to an inch in diameter to get plugs thru, but that otherwise only needs to be a half inch or so (for the cable). How do you guys do this so it looks clean afterwards? A 1" hole with a 3/8" cable and a bunch of silicone sealant seems like it would look pretty dumb.
Also, can someone give me warm fuzzies about hooking my unit directly to a 12v battery? I'd like to play with it at home, where I have a few spare deep cycle batteries, and the manufacturer says it can be connected directly to a 12v battery, but imagining the spark when one shorts across a battery...and having that go thru an $800 electronic device...well, that's kind of terrifying too. :redface: Can I really just put the red lead on the positive pole and the black on the negative and then fire it up?
I already have the swivel base mounted, but am kind of terrified of drilling the hole for the wire that plugs into the unit.
Regardless of which way I pull it thru, I'm going to need a hole close to an inch in diameter to get plugs thru, but that otherwise only needs to be a half inch or so (for the cable). How do you guys do this so it looks clean afterwards? A 1" hole with a 3/8" cable and a bunch of silicone sealant seems like it would look pretty dumb.Also, can someone give me warm fuzzies about hooking my unit directly to a 12v battery? I'd like to play with it at home, where I have a few spare deep cycle batteries, and the manufacturer says it can be connected directly to a 12v battery, but imagining the spark when one shorts across a battery...and having that go thru an $800 electronic device...well, that's kind of terrifying too. :redface: Can I really just put the red lead on the positive pole and the black on the negative and then fire it up?
