Seafari electronics locations

[Bushwacker]

Rhody, your pictures are a good example of how much more space there is behind the windshield on the later model Seafari's (73 or 74 and later) vs 72 & earlier models like mine and Fr. Frank's! Side window appears to be maybe 4-6" further forward and front part of windshield is probably moved forward the same amount, in addition to being raised by the addition of the lower panel. Looks like they moved the compass mount pad closer to the helm also, another good move. A friend of mine bought a '76 OB model new, and some other changes his had compared to mine were a raised cockpit sole (1-2", based on deeper scupper wells), a 50 gal gas tank instead of 34, smaller stepdown (just big enough to open cabin door), and some teak shelves up along the flared part of the hull in the cabin. I liked everything but the smaller stepdown. A 70 qt cooler fits in that larger stepdown real nice - doesn't slide around and it's nice to have that weight up front in rough seas! Have to move it to get into the cabin however!

Gillie - I believe the Danforth bulkhead mount compass is cheaper than the Ritchie; the Plastimo is even cheaper but I think it's French made. May base decision on which one is most tolerant to being mounted on a slightly less than vertical surface, as I don't think I want a completely vertical instrument panel. Also don't want to cut corners on something as important as a compass. We made all our Bahama crossings by dead reckoning, so an accurate compass was a must. Even now I'd consider the GPS as a back-up to the compass - hard to beat a magnet for reliability!

[McGillicuddy]

Fantastic feedback guys. Thanks. Big difference in your dash and mine rhody, I wonder if the cuddy is a lot bigger, too.

Dig the spartan look Padre, that little compass in the center (if it is a compass) is a nice fit. So clean and concise. Everything is right there. That's what I'm after. Unfortunately (or not) a friend gave me a fried NAVMAN fishfinder which I had fixed for a hundy thus I was forced to get a separate GPS. Extra unit forces clutter, guess I'll have to leave the loran at the ranch.

Dennis, Roger on the compass thing, Ritchie is all I've known, but the Saturn from Danforth is sharp. Plastimo no go, French make some ingenious stuff (like thanks for the help in 1776 and Lady Liberty) but it doesn't mean I have to buy it...hey I'm a Spaniard

I just got a used rocket launcher and outriggers from my primary fishing partner. He backed the BW Revenge closer to the curb and forgot about a tree branch. Snapped the welds at the base and bent the base up...didn't phase the Whaler -tough boats. My neighbor builds bike frames and is pretty confident he can fix it for me... If that works out I'll be running the VHF antenna up there and likely the gps disc, too. We'll see how this progresses. I was thinking I'd have my wiring done today, but new options will delay completion as I reconsider the final electronics mounting locations. Much appreesh the pics and insight guys McGill

[Fr. Frank]

Dig the spartan look Padre, that little compass in the center (if it is a compass) is a nice fit.

Yep. That's it. I put it where the Navman Fuel flow meter used to be.

With my new 90 Optimax, I can hook the motor to my laptop and get a readout of fuel flow at various rpm's. But you need the Mercury software and adapter/DB25 connector to do this. It does NOT work, by the way, with a serial to USB adapter inline. SO if you don't have a serial port on the laptop, it won't work.

[gofastsandman]

Hey Gillie,
Congrats on Wimbledon,
Carrie Fisher , please allow me to introduce John Belushi. John , Carrie.
gfs