Damn it! $$ Fishfinder lesson

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    Posted: 01 Dec 2021 at 10:31am
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Titanium
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You lot might have seen that Ive been in the market for a new grunty sounder gps combo.

Put in the mahi with heaps of research and had some fantastic advice and PMs from some peeps on here. 

Settled on a Furuno GP 1971f 9”
Had it all, plus the wind back on sounder to mark fish that translates to a way point etc. also Accufish so it roughly tells you the size of the fish under you. I also wasn’t spending money on features I wouldn’t use like Side scan Etc. 
Perfect unit with the P66 transducer. Ready to go.

Thinking my only issue would be learning to operate the touch screen quickly. 

Then…installer says the GPS won’t work through my hardtop!! I never even considered that as a factor !!.

Argh so about another $1k to fix that as head unit is flush mounted so can’t be moved.

So anyone planning on getting a new sounder with built in GPS you now have my experience to learn from.


A slither of light in the tunnel is we were trying to get a GPS fix on a boat on trailer on flat ground. Hoping on the water with nose pointing up a bit it may pick up GPS saving me some $$$

If anyone has a furuno GP330b second hand etc let me know!
The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent on fishing - Assyrian Proverb
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Alan L Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Dec 2021 at 11:05am
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RD - you had a previous unit in the boat. How was that working?
I have heard of them working thru the hardtop - but I guess placement and thickness of the top comes in to play. 
Alan
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Structfab Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Dec 2021 at 11:06am
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the flush mounting is a double whammy for it to have to deal with, when trying to get a signal. Alot will handle a roof of some sort.
$1K for a solution though Confused......external aerial connected via NMEA network?, was that the fix?
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote MJ Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Dec 2021 at 12:45pm
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GPS on my Lowrance works fine mounted on the dashboard of my tinny hardtop without an external aerial.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Reel Deal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Dec 2021 at 1:01pm
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Alan L - yes previous unit had a GPS recover on the roof I just put it down to being an older unit. 

Structfab- you got it right NMEA

MJ - I’m thinking the extreme 645 is super thick double Ali on the roof. ICAN jump up and down on it and super solid and I ain’t light. Structfab you are onto it dash etc isnt light Ali either so the GPS m guessing is there not a screen wrap Ariel receiver like mobile phones 
The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent on fishing - Assyrian Proverb
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote spin king Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Dec 2021 at 1:36pm
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can't help sorry but interested In why you don't want side scan? I can't not use it now.... sonar is good for finding fish but doesn't tell you where the fish are in relation to your boat, that's where side scan comes in,   I use it to tell me which side of the boat bait fish are on and how far away, I'll attach some pics
this here is the barge wreck that I can only find by using side scan. if you don't have a jig directly on top there's no point being there
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote spin king Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Dec 2021 at 1:37pm
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wreck shown under the "c" ^
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Structfab Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Dec 2021 at 1:44pm
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Originally posted by spin king spin king wrote:

can't help sorry but interested In why you don't want side scan? I can't not use it now.... sonar is good for finding fish but doesn't tell you where the fish are in relation to your boat, that's where side scan comes in,   I use it to tell me which side of the boat bait fish are on and how far away, I'll attach some pics
this here is the barge wreck that I can only find by using side scan. if you don't have a jig directly on top there's no point being there


yeah it def has some benefits for finding fish in the top of the water column..... and checking dive terrain is crystal clear with the mega high frequencies they run
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Reel Deal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Dec 2021 at 2:16pm
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side scan not for me. Bait bring fish in same as lures. Fish often move about. I can’t imagine why I would want to catch more fish than I do now to be honest. So wasted tech on me. I’m planning on deeper fishing also. All that and the cost of side scan it’s a no go. 

Have a couple mates with the big 12” screen with side scan and don’t use it so it must take some getting use to.
The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent on fishing - Assyrian Proverb
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Originally posted by Structfab Structfab wrote:

the flush mounting is a double whammy for it to have to deal with, when trying to get a signal. Alot will handle a roof of some sort.
$1K for a solution though Confused......external aerial connected via NMEA network?, was that the fix?

Yup. Thinking that myself.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Reel Deal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Dec 2021 at 6:23pm
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no way out there ideas? Drilling holes in top part of dash wouldn’t help ?
The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent on fishing - Assyrian Proverb
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Alan L Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Dec 2021 at 6:40pm
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Yes, the internal aerial may well be having to deal with two layers of Al plate. That would be a tough call.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote kimber7wsm Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Dec 2021 at 6:16am
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Technically you should be able to fit any NMEA2000 gps antenna, and have it work. The Simrad GS25/Lowrance Point 1 (same thing) retails for less than$400 and can be found for close to $300 in Aussie plus a little shipping.

Do you have a mate that has either of those already? Garmin may do something at a similar price point too. Park your boat next to his and run a longer nmea cable to your unit and see if it works. I'd offer for you to use mine but I'm not near you. I do have a long nmea cable, you could borrow if you want.

That is of course if you don't mind having different brands on the boat. That could get you a gps antenna that works for less than %50 of quote.
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Originally posted by Reel Deal Reel Deal wrote:

no way out there ideas? Drilling holes in top part of dash wouldn’t help ?

The GPS antenna needs to be able to "see" the satellites to work properly so holes ion the dash would work intermittently at best.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Steps Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Dec 2021 at 9:48am
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Then…installer says the GPS won’t work through my hardtop!! I never even considered that as a factor !!.

Chances are not as bad as may seem.
 An acquaintance had the issue, but did not know it at the time..
We had good gps position, even compared to a tablet and 2 cells under the Alloy roof..  The Garmin was mounted way back from the window. Has a huge dash top to the window. The cells and tablet where a little closer to the sloping window and side windows

 What we did notice is the speed was a couple mph different on the Garmin. Since checked 1 cell and a tablet against a fixed distance and spot on.

So may not even be an issue or maybe just a minor one...
Can check position with say navionics on a cell or tablet out on the deck, zoomed right in.

Fix maybe simply mounting closer to the window.

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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Big -Dave Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Dec 2021 at 10:07am
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Originally posted by kimber7wsm kimber7wsm wrote:

Technically you should be able to fit any NMEA2000 gps antenna, and have it work. The Simrad GS25/Lowrance Point 1 (same thing) retails for less than$400 and can be found for close to $300 in Aussie plus a little shipping.

Do you have a mate that has either of those already? Garmin may do something at a similar price point too. Park your boat next to his and run a longer nmea cable to your unit and see if it works. I'd offer for you to use mine but I'm not near you. I do have a long nmea cable, you could borrow if you want.

That is of course if you don't mind having different brands on the boat. That could get you a gps antenna that works for less than %50 of quote.


Re any nmea antennae, not all nmea devices are recognised but could be worth a try
you can't fix an idiot with duct tape, but it does muffle them for a while...
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (1) Likes(1)   Quote Reel Deal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Dec 2021 at 1:33pm
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yeah it’s flush mounted so not on a movable bracket so got to work with that.

Kimber7wsm that was some good advice. I ran with it and did a ring around. Turns out Airmar do a GPS receiver that will work perfectly with the furuno head unit. Got told Airmar do a lot of the parts for Furuno Simrad etc. and at $450 I’ve halved the cost phew. So the project can continue ….
The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent on fishing - Assyrian Proverb
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote smudge Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Dec 2021 at 2:21pm
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Great advice Kimber!
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over yar ago i noticed when traveling at speed for few seconds i've lost gps signal. also was told to get external aerial connection. I didi't. 
My is flat mounted, 9 millimetres of alloy + glass to go though, maybe you should run-it and see if it works Wink  
 
Rain or shine very strong gps lock

  
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Reel Deal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Dec 2021 at 10:58pm
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in the drive I get GPS loss connection alerts but intermittently so was thinking on the water bow up it might be ok. I’ll try Sunday. But after all the expense it’s not fit for purpose I’ll need to dive into the pockets again.
The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent on fishing - Assyrian Proverb
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