Replacing Garmin 101

[New to Boating]

My new boat came with a Garmin 101 "fish finder"/depth finder,  I want to put something a little better on, with color display and down view imaging.  Will I have to replace the cable and transducer if I stay with a Garmin product.  I was looking at something like a Garmin Striker 4dv.  If I do have to replace it all,  any hints on how to do that?  I put one on my last pontoon but it did not have the under deck wave shields,  which hides all the cabling.  Would I be to attach the new cable to the old and pull it thru?  Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Michiman]

Not sure about the cable, but you will need to replace the transducer for sure.

 

[mattb]

I ran wire for LEDs from the console to the center toon transom, its possible.  If you need to do it, pm me and we'll talk.

 

[SEMPERFI8387]

I know my old cable was held in place with cable clamps when I installed my 53DV.


Luckily, no skinning, so I just stood in the water underneath and ran it.

 

[Spoiledrotten]

My new boat came with a Garmin 101 "fish finder"/depth finder,  I want to put something a little better on, with color display and down view imaging.  Will I have to replace the cable and transducer if I stay with a Garmin product.  I was looking at something like a Garmin Striker 4dv.  If I do have to replace it all,  any hints on how to do that?  I put one on my last pontoon but it did not have the under deck wave shields,  which hides all the cabling.  Would I be to attach the new cable to the old and pull it thru?  Any help would be appreciated.

I kept my Garmin 101 as a backup, but added the Garmin Striker 5DV. It came with new cable and transducer. Now, I have two Garmins/two transducers. I guess one is a good backup just in case. The cables, to the best of my memory, weren't interchangeable, and I believe it's because of the down vision.

 

[Buoyfriend]

Just changed mine out this week.


The transducer cable is secured with ties that screw to the underside of the deck when done by the factory, so you can't tie to one end and just pull it through. I ran the new transducer by "weaving" it under/through 3 trusses then used a wire fishing cable to pull it across to the other side. Then secured it in the wire loom that was already there until it ran up into the helm. The wire harness from the 101 worked on the new 53 dv so no new wiring needed for me. I did need the extension for the transducer as it was about 3 feet too short. Not too bad of a job, now just need to get out and test it on the water.


Bennington uses a Garmin transducer that is short, pulls apart just a little way under the deck, but the new transducer wouldn't connect to that cable. Too bad, would have made the job so easy. I did leave the cable in place, just tucked it in above the 'toon, who knows if I may need to use it again in the future.

 

[bcpnick]

That's a bummer that the wires are secured under the deck. I broke my transducer on some driftwood on a trip last week. Looks like I'll be going fishing (wires)! Has anyone has luck doing that with an ESP hull with the aluminum sheets between the tubes?

 

[tcpip95]

My cabling all ran down the starboard pontoon, behind the outboard side panel, and had wire ties along the way, so pulling it via a fish is out.  To get to it, you must pop the rivets that hold the side panel to the brackets.  Only way I got to is was because the had removed the panels to work on the pontoons.  I would be nice to be able to take those off at will.  I'm going to ask and see if they can re-attach them with aluminum screws when they work on my boat (it's in the shop now).

 

[bcpnick]

Popping rivets is probably out for me for a while. The next time I see my boat to do the work, I'll be camped out in the desert doing it with whatever I have on me and that's probably not a good time to figure out rivet drilling and replacing. Hopefully I can get it there somehow with fish tape. 

 

[Michiman]

Popping rivets is probably out for me for a while. The next time I see my boat to do the work, I'll be camped out in the desert doing it with whatever I have on me and that's probably not a good time to figure out rivet drilling and replacing. Hopefully I can get it there somehow with fish tape. 

Good luck with that and post a follow-up on how it went. I've been contemplating doing something similar but have ruled it out as being too difficult to do while in the water. 

 

[bcpnick]

Will do!