Hi all. I am looking at a 33 ft Bavaria (2011 model). Surprisingly the vessel in question does not have a depth sounder nor an auto pilot. Does anyone have any recommendations here in the Sydney area as to which providers can install such systems and an expectation of costs involved. Just like an idea before i make contact with the yacht broker. Thank you and regards
See prior discussion here which is a lot broader than your question (but could answer other questions you might have....) but the 2nd and 3rd links below are included in that 1st link and are details of 2 Sydney companies who would be able to assist. I haven't used them but would if needed.
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Sailing/General/Instrument-Upgrade
marineessentials.com.au/electrical-repairs-installation/
hydrosparkx.com.au/
A cheap option, which may turn out to be more permanent than you might think, is to buy a fish-finder with an external puck (depth sounder). Mount the external puck on the inside of the hull with a blob of goo. I used a Lowrance Hook2 4x with a blob of parfix and it works well enough for me to avoid grounding the boat (Cavalier 28). Cost about $195 for the unit and the parfix, if I recall. The advantages, other than cost, are that you don't need to slip the boat to install it, if you find you have installed it in the wrong place, its easy to pull it off and put it somewhere else, and there are no extra holes in the hull.
You need a solid part of the hull to make it work, not core-filled, so check the construction of the Bavaria 33. And, it will not work over the keel or drive shaft, for obvious reasons.
You could use this as a quick-fix while you consider a through-hull transducer, or something more permanent, or more integrated with your navigation systems.
A13 & Archinare, thank you very much for taking the time to answering my query
Much appreciation
Select to expand quoteAchernar said..
A cheap option, which may turn out to be more permanent than you might think, is to buy a fish-finder with an external puck (depth sounder). Mount the external puck on the inside of the hull with a blob of goo. I used a Lowrance Hook2 4x with a blob of parfix and it works well enough for me to avoid grounding the boat (Cavalier 28). Cost about $195 for the unit and the parfix, if I recall. The advantages, other than cost, are that you don't need to slip the boat to install it, if you find you have installed it in the wrong place, its easy to pull it off and put it somewhere else, and there are no extra holes in the hull.
You need a solid part of the hull to make it work, not core-filled, so check the construction of the Bavaria 33. And, it will not work over the keel or drive shaft, for obvious reasons.
You could use this as a quick-fix while you consider a through-hull transducer, or something more permanent, or more integrated with your navigation systems.
+1 works perfectly inside a solid glass hull
A depth sounder usually has just depth and temperature.
A fish finder display has the same, but also a running picture of the sea bottom/ depth, so you can see how quickly the sea bottom is shallowing, and it will also differentiate the composition of the sea bed - soft mud or a hard surface.
I found the picture of how quickly the sea was shallowing helped me judge how fast / slow to approach and when to drop the anchor.
