GPS Mount

Time: A few days on-and-off.  A good winter project.

Level: Intermediate

Bravery Level: 2 Stars - You can make this either simple or elaborate but it is just plain fun to build something for your boat!!!

 

I wanted my GPS to be mounted in an easy to view area and I also wanted to have it in a place where it could be easily stowed.  My solution came from my good friend Bob.  His Catalina 22, Sir Elidor, has its compass and depth sounder mounted on a simular but somewhat smaller wooden mount as that pictured below.

The top wood mount is screwed to the headliner just inside the cabin hatch via the counter-sunk holes.  The wood mount and the long wood piece forming a "T" are glued and screwed together from the top.  I added the long screw with the spring to give a little more shock resistance and a brass latch (Not Shown) to keep the GPS either in the storage position or the in-use position. 

So when not in use the GPS just swings under the Pop-Top Hatch and is out of the way.

 

The wood block beneath the GPS is semi-circular and accommodates all the mounting screws.  It is screwed to the swing arm.  I did not glue this piece to the swing so that I could change it to accommodate different models in the future.

 

My Current GPS is a Garmin 440s with an external antenna and depth sounder.  It has a slightly smaller screen than my previous Garmin but the resolution is much better and the price was better too.

 

I bought my current unit from www.westmaring.com.  Go to www.garmin.com for a look at their other offerings.

 

 

 

Following are photos of the actual GPS Mount.  Notice the use of 1 brass lock and 2 brass lock clips.  There is one lock clip on each side of the swing arm so the GPS doesn't swing around whether it is in use or stowed away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Another handy item you can see in front of the fish pillow is a 12 volt vacuum I bought at Walgreen.   It was $17 and works way better than any battery powered unit I've used.  I keep it in the car for cleanups there.  Additionally keeping it in the car prevents it from being exposed to high humidity witch took out the unit that came with the Christopher-Jin.

 

Return to Project Gallery    Backup GPS    Home Page