New Boat ordered - now the waiting game

[Huxstang]

Paid my deposit for a new boat this afternoon.

Formosa 525 side console ordered, plenty of other stuff to sort out like sounders and trolling motor plus a Bimini before its delvered

Fortunately got some good contacts to get a full custom travel cover made at the right price.  

Build slot is March with a June delivery expected - or July.  Perfectly ready for snapper season

[ellicat]

They're a nice looking rig. Plenty of freeboard too.

[charlie.hans.fishing]

Exciting

[Angry51]

I'll bet you have some sleepless nights in anticipation.

Good luck and a quick build.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Sounds awesome!

[Hweebe]

@Huxstang first boat?

[Angry51]

He probably won't answer you, he'll down at

the front gate looking down the road to see if it's coming yet.

[Hweebe]

Wouldn't know the feeling of waiting for a new boat..

Have always bought second hand but the first tow home and launch has always been exciting.

Add to that, disappearing for days/nights in the shed tinkering away at mods just after taking the boat home.

[Huxstang]

On 7/2/2023 at 11:00 AM, Hweebe said:

@Huxstang first boat?

As in had to pay all the bills myself - yeah.  Could always lean on the old man since I was a kid but when they moved off the canal no more boat, my work life took over as well.  I didnt want to be that guy with the boat in the yard that never moved so I was not owning until I could justify that I would have time to use it.  Retirement is looming, I will soon have time to reinvest in my passions

[Hweebe]

Hahaha turning over cold hard cash  

I'm that guy with the boat in the yard LOL. Although looking at Boat pricing compared to when i bought in 2019 (pre-covid) I'm pretty happy with my investment.

How nice it will be to reinvest back into your fishing passion. (I've still got anther 2 decades of working life yet)

 

[Angry51]

1 hour ago, Hweebe said:

 (I've still got anther 2 decades of working life yet)

 

Geez, you're only a boy yet.

[Bretto77]

14 hours ago, Angry51 said:

Geez, you're only a boy yet.

I must be too then

[Huxstang]

A bit of any update.

 

Mate and I are driving down to Coffs on Monday - stop overnight after spending a couple of hours in MOTACKLE, drink some beer and have a steak  and then pick up the new boat Tuesday morning and it will be heading home.  Ahh the joys of the recently retired, the luxury of time to take it easy and have a good time along the way.

I am doing my own install on the electronics and I am still a month or more away before the new electric arrives so probably another week of doing “stuff” although will get enough electronics fitted to get it wet at least a couple of times just to keep the excitement down.  Electronics is a bit over the top but I didnt want to die wondering and I love tech and using tech, so why not.

Priority is to get the livescope pole mounted and the bimini made before it does down to Seadeck to get the gunnels and transom steps done.  It will be a work in progress for a a couple of weeks that is for sure.

Livescope pole is a nice local product (Transducer Poles Australia) who do a detachable and collapsible pole which will be awesome for travelling up north,

I have heard good things about Rays Canvas up at Caboolture for custom bimini’s.  I have a fairly specific idea in my mind and Ray was pretty decent to talk to.  Happy to hear if anyone has any other suggestions on the bayside area?

Would upload a photo but something is wrong and I get a server error.  Even with file size down to 600k.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Sounds exciting! There seems to be an issue with all photos on the forum lately.

[ellicat]

Exciting times. I'm looking forward to seeing the pics and hearing reports on electronics in due course.

[Junky]

Not on the bayside but close enough.

Rowland Street boat trimmers will be able to help you with, a custom bimini. 

[Huxstang]

Got it - still cant add a pic.  Sorry

Edited August 29, 2023 by Huxstang
Pic added

[Hweebe]

@Huxstang what sort of electrics have you got lined up to self install. Would be interested in following this once you can get photos to work  

[Huxstang]

4 hours ago, Hweebe said:

@Huxstang what sort of electrics have you got lined up to self install. Would be interested in following this once you can get photos to work  

A fair amount of electronics to go in and I will take pics as I go.  I am sure I can find some image library to upload to.

All Garmin:

GPSMAP 1253 and 953xsv flush mount in console;

GT51TM and GT56UHD transducers

GPSMAP 8416 on a  RAM mount at bow

Livescope Plus (LVS34)

GPS24xd GPS puck with heading sensor

full Garmin network and NMEA network.

Transducer Poles Australia QD and collapsible livescope pole and the TPA powerpoint for easy detachment of the Livescope.  (TPA is in Brisbane (Logan) and highly recommend for anyone after a transducer pole - mine is alloy upper and carbon tube lower - fantastic customer service)

Trolling motor is the Garmin Kraken 73” with the built in GT56UHD in it. (not likely to arrive before end of September).

North Coast Boating Centre fitted the Zipwakes and the remote head VHF for me.

Suzuki engine gauge also has a GPS puck attached.

[Hweebe]

25 minutes ago, Huxstang said:

Trolling motor is the Garmin Kraken 73” with the built in GT56UHD in it. (not likely to arrive before end of September).

Which did you decide 24v (80lb) or 36v (100lb)

What kind of switch panel is on the formosa? Enough blanks / space on the bus bar?

 

[Huxstang]

41 minutes ago, Hweebe said:

Which did you decide 24v (80lb) or 36v (100lb)

What kind of switch panel is on the formosa? Enough blanks / space on the bus bar?

 

Garmin is awesome, you decide - put in 24v or 36v, will set up at 2 x 12v 100amp lithium for 24v which by all accounts is enough for the 525.  If I am not happy it will be a simple add another battery in series.

Switch panel is the BlueSeas 6 gang….is it enough, yes for what I want as it has one switch spare which I can use for my under gunnel lights. Pretty sure the dealers will install what you want though.

I will be running dedicated power (50amp twin from house batteries to console) for my sounders into a blueseas common buss fuse panel for my electronics fit out.   I have my fitout at 6, but will run a 12 fuse block just in case  

 

Springers are best prices I can find for Blueseas switches and fuse panels and a lot of other stuff to be honest.

[Hweebe]

I'm running 24v for my trolling motor on a BarCrusher 5.75c and love it.

24v also allows me to plug in my waeco camp fridge for longer fishing trips. I'm also thinking of getting a nice pie / sausage roll oven.

I'm heavy on the Lowrance echosystem but by all accounts I see a lot moving towards Garmin. (it will be just prohibitively expensive to swap out for me. Maybe on the next boat)

 

 

[Huxstang]

OK, here is a link to pics from today.  

https://photos.app.goo.gl/xgiSKzPjLEh8q7HD6

Also a pic of the boat as I picked it up on Tuesday.

Last night did the NMEA layout on the floor to make sure I had it how I wanted.

12 fuse block with positive and negative busses - and the Garmin power leads labelled up.

Will probably rewire the supplied wiring into the single 12 fuse block as I am not overly happy with it for being able to easily check fuses etc.  

Taped up the console,- drew on the master lines and then lined up the templates and used an engineers punch to get my master holes.

Cutting a brand new console is not fun - neither is cleaning up all the swarf even when you have cloth down to catch it.

Mounted the Garmin GPS24xd puck which has a heading sensor - handy when you are trying to get back onto a mark.

Mounted the NMEA 2000 backbone in place- bit of a bugger, there is already a NMEA backbone in play for the engine gauge which also has its own GPS puck.  Unfortunately its wires into the ignition switching so turn off engine and you lose power to the network, so I will have two networks - one dedicated to the Garmin setup the other the engine.  Downside is not being able to view engine data on the plotters but the suzuki gauge is pretty good - this may need a revisit at some point.

Did some boring stuff like running 16mm wire to console and NMEA cable to console.

Tomorrow will be mounting the 16” up front on the RAM mount and work out where the GLS10 will mount.  Should also get the transom transducers and power to the main fuse panel and should have power to the plotters if things go a little smoothly.

 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Great looking boat! Looks like it’ll be a weapon on the fish  

[rayke1938]

Nice. Personalised rego number? did not know MSQ offered them.

 

[Angry51]

Very very nice, that should make you a " happy chappie ".

 

[Huxstang]

On 1/9/2023 at 6:24 AM, rayke1938 said:

Nice. Personalised rego number? did not know MSQ offered them.

 

I just asked at TMR if I could request my own and the lady said she would ask her supervisor.  I wrote down what I wanted and her supervisor came back with a letter advising it was allocated to me.  TMR staff were really good.

[Junky]

11 hours ago, Huxstang said:

I just asked at TMR if I could request my own and the lady said she would ask her supervisor.  I wrote down what I wanted and her supervisor came back with a letter advising it was allocated to me.  TMR staff were really good.

Same here. 

We asked for the initials of my late sister inlaw. 

They came back and said no problem with the letters, and then told us the numbers, which were random picks by the computer, however the numbers turned out to be her date of birth. 

My wife broke down in tears at the counter. 

Meant to be imo. 

 

 

I see you have 3 letters HUX. 

Could really personalise with 3 letters and 2 numbers. 

Almost like car plates. 

[Hweebe]

On 31/08/2023 at 8:47 PM, Huxstang said:

bit of a bugger, there is already a NMEA backbone in play for the engine gauge which also has its own GPS puck.

Are you not able to trace the Boat supplied NMEA backbone and find where the positive and negative wires to disconnect this. Once this is done you should be able to join the two NMEA networks together and single power source from the NMEA backbone you installed?

[Angry51]

Geez, I'm flat out putting batteries in a torch.

[Hweebe]

I love all this rewiring stuff (at least with DC anyway). Once you are handy with a soldering iron / crimping tool, 12v wiring is piece of cake.

Working through old boats / tinnies / trailers / 4wd camping rewiring is usually the first thing to sort out

Pairing it all back red goes positive, black to negative/ground. Bobs your uncle.  

 

[Angry51]

Do you need to use red, what happens if you like green or blue?

[Hweebe]

2 hours ago, Angry51 said:

Do you need to use red, what happens if you like green or blue?

Hahahhahaha sometimes in boat trailer wiring looms they use other colours which is a big help when troubleshooting which trailer light is connected on the wiring loom.

I have definitely used old odd coloured wiring and Future Me has definitely rued this when I've had to come back and figure what past me did....:) 

[Huxstang]

13 hours ago, Hweebe said:

Are you not able to trace the Boat supplied NMEA backbone and find where the positive and negative wires to disconnect this. Once this is done you should be able to join the two NMEA networks together and single power source from the NMEA backbone you installed?

Yes, just need to understand what the engine gauges do with NMEA and how it ties in with actual engine data.  Dont want to be bumping up engine hours just because its connected to power when the NMEA is powered up ie all the time except when main is switched off.

[Hweebe]

9 hours ago, Huxstang said:

Yes, just need to understand what the engine gauges do with NMEA and how it ties in with actual engine data.  Dont want to be bumping up engine hours just because its connected to power when the NMEA is powered up ie all the time except when main is switched off.

You won't have any issues with engine hours due to powering the NMEA. The NMEA is a effectively a "dumb" comms / network cable and is only transmitting what data is presented back from the outboard ECU. The Outboard ECU is what transmits the stored engine hours. As long as the Outboard isn't idling, engine hours won't increase

[Junky]

On 31/08/2023 at 8:47 PM, Huxstang said:

OK, here is a link to pics from today.  

https://photos.app.goo.gl/xgiSKzPjLEh8q7HD6

Also a pic of the boat as I picked it up on Tuesday.

Last night did the NMEA layout on the floor to make sure I had it how I wanted.

12 fuse block with positive and negative busses - and the Garmin power leads labelled up.

Will probably rewire the supplied wiring into the single 12 fuse block as I am not overly happy with it for being able to easily check fuses etc.  

Taped up the console,- drew on the master lines and then lined up the templates and used an engineers punch to get my master holes.

Cutting a brand new console is not fun - neither is cleaning up all the swarf even when you have cloth down to catch it.

Mounted the Garmin GPS24xd puck which has a heading sensor - handy when you are trying to get back onto a mark.

Mounted the NMEA 2000 backbone in place- bit of a bugger, there is already a NMEA backbone in play for the engine gauge which also has its own GPS puck.  Unfortunately its wires into the ignition switching so turn off engine and you lose power to the network, so I will have two networks - one dedicated to the Garmin setup the other the engine.  Downside is not being able to view engine data on the plotters but the suzuki gauge is pretty good - this may need a revisit at some point.

Did some boring stuff like running 16mm wire to console and NMEA cable to console.

Tomorrow will be mounting the 16” up front on the RAM mount and work out where the GLS10 will mount.  Should also get the transom transducers and power to the main fuse panel and should have power to the plotters if things go a little smoothly.

 

Hux. 

Are they both nmea2000 backbones? 

 

 

Connect the power to the backbone you installed. 

Cut the power to the existing backbone by disconnecting the yellow power lead from the end. 

In place of the power lead you can then connect a link cable an link it to the backbone you fitted you fitted. 

 

It's an easy fix and you can then have engine data on your plotter. 

 

Hope that makes sense. 

[Angry51]

3 hours ago, Junky said:

 

Hope that makes sense. 

No nonono,,

[Hweebe]

4 hours ago, Junky said:

Hux. 

Are they both nmea2000 backbones? 

 

 

Based on the Google Photo and the T "trunks" visible through the console cutout and the cables @Huxstang laid out on the red mat. They are both NMEA2000.

[Junky]

2 hours ago, Hweebe said:

Based on the Google Photo and the T "trunks" visible through the console cutout and the cables @Huxstang laid out on the red mat. They are both NMEA2000.

Google photo. 

Pardon my ignorance and the fact Im a complete computer/phone dumbarse, where can I see this google photo? 

 

Maybe I need to get my kids to start reading these pages with me.

 

 

 

Edit..... 

Sorry hwebee, I can see the link now. 

[Hweebe]

@ellicat any word from the admins on photos being re-enabled? So that @Junky doesn’t make the kids go crazy?