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Garmin 541S

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jsmithcds

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I am going to be installing a Garmin 541s in our "Q". I want to be able to mount it in the location of the fish finder that is there now.

I have purchased the flush mount kit along with the Garmin unit and await their arrival for the install.

My questions are geared to all that have the factory install 431 unit. Is there an external antenna mounted in your boat? I assume the answer is no due to the fact it has a built in antenna. Since it is semi recessed it may not have a clear view to the sky. I am wondering if you have reception issues due to this and/or does the bimini top affect the signal.

I am not sure if I need the external antenna when mounting it like the factory does.

thanks

Justin
 
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I can't help you with the antenna question although the bimini won't affect it. I'm installing a 431s on our boat (as soon as it gets a little cooler) so I'm interested in this thread. Cutting the dash is the scary part.
 
I have the factory installed 431s and it looks great and no need for external antenna. It fits right on dash great and looks good too. And binimi does not effect its reception . My boat 2012 2075gli Hoss
 
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Hoss said:
I have the factory installed 431s and it looks great and no need for external antenna. It fits right on dash great and looks good too. And binimi does not effect its reception . My boat 2012 2075gli Hoss
Click to expand...
hey Hoss,do you have a pic of where it's installed on your boat?
 
Internal antenna. I've run garmin with both internal antenna and external antenna. Only a external antenna is required when you don't have a clear line of sight to the sky. I'm at the boat this week. I'll take a pic for you

Todd
 
I have attached the stock photo of the unit installed from the Bennington website. Sure looks like it belongs there.......

For clarification the 441s is the model with the coastal maps downloaded. The 431s has the inland lakes loaded. There is a card available to enhance both the inland and the coastal maps. I bought both of these cards as I run the Lake Winnebego and River Run primarily and also travel Lake Michigan around Door County area. There is little difference between the models besides the base maps that are loaded. A fellow member advised of one potentially important feature not included on the 431S that made me go the 441s route. That is the ability to hook up to the NMEA 2000 network between the unit and the motor. This will allow the user to get all the engine data displayed on the Garmin unit. Info such as fuel consumption GpH, MpG, Cruising Range, Water Pressure, Oil Pressure. For the extra $50 to go from the 431S to the 441s it may be important for some. There is additional wiring that must be done to link my Yamaha and Garmin that I still need to figure out. I have been told it is a couple hundred dollars worth of product. It will be interesting to be able to track these things over the life of the motor. Thanks forum user tcpip95 for that info.

The parts all come in on Wednesday for a Friday night install. Any tips/lessons learned from someone who has done the install themselves let me know.

Thanks

Justin
 
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The new dash is different than my 2007. That's why I have to cut out where the fishfinder is.
 
I will have to make the cut as well to make the install look like the picture. There is a $20 kit you need to buy to recess the unit into the dash as shown in the picture I attached. I too am a little leery about cutting the dash. I do want the clean look of the recessed install vs. some kind of arm mount that the kids will eventually tear off anyway:) The current fish finder that is installed is surface mounted in the location shown in the attachment on my toon. If I have time I will snap a few pics of the install.

Justin
 
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I have the flush mount kit as well. FWIW, use blue tape where you are going to cut so you'll have clean edges. Cut the vinyl with a razor knife and the fiberglass with a sharp fine saw blade.
 
Thanks for the tips. What kind a saw do you or will you be using? I was trying to figure that out this morning. A miniature saws-all seems to fit the bill but I am not sure if there is such a thing. All my tools are to big to fit down into the recessed area without contacting sides of the recess.

cwag911 said:
I have the flush mount kit as well. FWIW, use blue tape where you are going to cut so you'll have clean edges. Cut the vinyl with a razor knife and the fiberglass with a sharp fine saw blade.
Click to expand...
 
On my dash it's not recessed like yours. I would suggest what I'm doing which is cutting the hole manually. A good hacksaw blade and blade holder which is easier to control and not make a mistake. There's not much "wiggle room" with that adapter as far as the size of the hole. Now if I could get this painting done in the house (momma comes first) I can get to the install. My last project on the toon was a water pressure guage that took 2 years from the time I bought the guage till it was installed. :D
 
You could use a, well as silly as this sounds, a cut out tool. Sorry, that's what they're called, Dewalt makes one, which is what I have. People use them for cutting drywall around junction boxes and whatnot, you could also use a dremel, high speed and a steady hand will make super smooth cut, still wouldn't hurt to put tape around the cut out, if for no other reason than it makes it easier to see your line. Also make sure no wires behind area or else your job got infinitely larger!!

Derrick
 
I thought about using a rotozip or a dremel tool. I found a small air operated sawzall with a fine blade. The foot print of the tool will allow controlled cutting of the surface. Rotozip and dremels tend to wander when you have no guide. I would shoot myself if I mess up that pretty dash!!!

I will let you know how it goes.

Justin
 
For those interested; I just uploaded my pix of the Garmin 531s to the gallery. Just fits my raised helm console using a flush-mount kit. Also noted that the flush mount kit seems to prevent the Garmin cover from snapping on tight, the cover actually fell off trailering to the lake. I will have to play with that.
 
Great install Link. Very well done indeed.

Todd
 
Can't take credit mtudb, my dealer, Point Breeze Marina on Saratoga Lake did it. Broke in my boat, 20 hours on Saratoga Lake. They changed the oil and on Thur night towed it to our place on Sacandaga although it was late enough that we didn't launch. Heading up shortly but dang, it's raining!
 
I got a chance to use the 541s that I purchased along with the v2 blue chart chip. We are up in Door County, Wi and it succesfully navigated us on a nice 20 mile ride today. The "Q" handles incredible even in fairly rough water. I tried to install it on Friday but ran into a little snag with the depth sounder. I will need another pair of hand to help me pull the wire thru the underside of the boat since the wave shield cuts off all access to the underside of the boat. It will be possible i just need some one on the other side of a fish tape to help out. The five inch screen is a worthwhile investment as link said. I reinstalled my garmin 100 so I had depth and then hard wired the 541s in and set it on the dash as a navigation only tool. What a great product to have.

Tons of compliments on the boat today. Thank you Bennington for the best boat we have ever had.

Justin
 
I installed my Garmin 431s today and the hardest part was cutting into a perfectly good dash. :D It was a little tough for this old man wih a bad back to play around under the helm but it was worth it, the install came out nice. I did luck out because the transducer was the same part # that's already on the boat so now I have a spare. I posted pics in the gallery.

Garmin 431s.JPG
 
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