1st Hatteras

[riverrandy]

Seems we are neighbors. Our girl is home ported in Urbanna.

Urbanna was home to Hurley Hatteras. He did a ton of custom work Hatteras did not want to do. He was an eccentric in the day and never changed. I grew up on Carter's Creek, and Urbanna was a great place to zip over to in my 13 Whaler. The Drug Store had a Soda Fountain.

 

[riverrandy]

Do a real rebuild. Send it out if your not sure how. The old pumps are quite often well worn and just a quick rebuild will not suffice. Theres a bunch of important parts to be checked. I have my customers stuff sent to Depco for a "whatever it needs" rebuild. Never had one let me down afterwards.

No customer let you down, or Pump?

 

[Pascal]

Don’t go crazy on electronics, get why you need for YOU use YOUR boat. Some folks will talk you into spending $15k 20k…

A couple of years ago I redid the electronics on my 53MY. I went with a pair of 9’ Simrad GO9 touchscreen, one for the FB and one for the PH. On sale at defender for $499 . I also installed a Simrad AP and considered adding a radar but decided I didn’t really need it for our use. It’s all NMEA2000 so very easy to install it all. If I needed a radar I probably would have added an extra MFD at each station.

The Simrad GOs are pretty nice displays, not as fancy as some Garmins but they work well and very customizable. The interface is pretty good and intuitive.

If you install a pilot make sure you use a rudder indicator (NMEA) as the « virtual » indicators are not accurate.

I just added a Simrad wireless remote for the pilot which works great.

As a full time captain I have used a variety of systems over the years from Furuno Navnet and Navnet 3d, Garmin touchscreens, Raymarine including big Axioms on our 35’ tender. While I like the big Garmins (and hate the Rays), the little Simrads are perfect for my 53, after all they got me from Miami to eastern Tn a year ago

 

[Boatsb]

Im glad to hear the small bass boat screens worked for you but please look at reality. Not that I do this every day but 3 to 4 times a week might make me a competent person.

If your serious about getting a propper package for your needs talk to an installation based dealer and stay off the internet. Garmin terminated defender for cause for about 15 years. They're not able to help with technical issues and I can guarantee most DIY installs lack setup, programming or interfaces because the installations are not done right.

We do not sell on the internet. We do not have our suppliers dropship to our customers (like the one mentioned) and we can design and prepare systems before sending them out.

Inventory on websites is misleading. Its usually in the distribution warehouse and most online dealers.dont ever see the units in their shops.

 

[dar636]

Welcome and congrats on the 53'! The info here is essential, good move on the boat selection and forum discovery - have fun!
+1 on Simrad too.
And I've gone through a couple of summer trips without the bow thruster, while it was a bummer cause I had something else to fix, not a big problem as these boats handle so well. Cheers-

PS: Pics please - -

 

[edward]

Has your new ownership been what you expected ? Are you docked in Urbanna VA ?

 

[bigbill]

after looking at several different size screens, i decided to go with 12 inch displays, and happy i did so, garmin is the way to go as far as user friendly. the price from a smaller unit to a larger unit is not that much.

 

[bigbill]

i might just add .... do you have a small tv at home or a nice sized one? in this case bigger is better.

 

[ChrisinVA]

Urbanna was home to Hurley Hatteras. He did a ton of custom work Hatteras did not want to do. He was an eccentric in the day and never changed. I grew up on Carter's Creek, and Urbanna was a great place to zip over to in my 13 Whaler. The Drug Store had a Soda Fountain.

It is still a great little town. We enjoy the restaurants and shopping in the small boutiques. We are looking forward to the Oyster Festival this November.

 

[ChrisinVA]

Don’t go crazy on electronics, get why you need for YOU use YOUR boat. Some folks will talk you into spending $15k 20k…

A couple of years ago I redid the electronics on my 53MY. I went with a pair of 9’ Simrad GO9 touchscreen, one for the FB and one for the PH. On sale at defender for $499 . I also installed a Simrad AP and considered adding a radar but decided I didn’t really need it for our use. It’s all NMEA2000 so very easy to install it all. If I needed a radar I probably would have added an extra MFD at each station.

The Simrad GOs are pretty nice displays, not as fancy as some Garmins but they work well and very customizable. The interface is pretty good and intuitive.

If you install a pilot make sure you use a rudder indicator (NMEA) as the « virtual » indicators are not accurate.

I just added a Simrad wireless remote for the pilot which works great.

As a full time captain I have used a variety of systems over the years from Furuno Navnet and Navnet 3d, Garmin touchscreens, Raymarine including big Axioms on our 35’ tender. While I like the big Garmins (and hate the Rays), the little Simrads are perfect for my 53, after all they got me from Miami to eastern Tn a year ago

Pascal - great advice. We haven’t purchased anything yet, just enjoying the boat with the older Garmins. My plan is to do the electronics upgrade over the winter. I’m still toying with the idea of a radar.

 

[ChrisinVA]

Has your new ownership been what you expected ? Are you docked in Urbanna VA ?

Hi - yes we are docked in Urbanna, which has been nice. Ownership experience has been great so far. I would say that the learning curve has been a bit more than I expected in terms of learning the subsystems but overall has been fun. We’ve managed to take a couple of 2-3 night cruises on the Chesapeake since purchasing which has been invaluable in learning the boat.

 

[ChrisinVA]

after looking at several different size screens, i decided to go with 12 inch displays, and happy i did so, garmin is the way to go as far as user friendly. the price from a smaller unit to a larger unit is not that much.

Thanks - I think I’ve decided on 12” MFD for the FB and the PH. It will take a little modification at both stations to fit a 12” display but I believe this will be sufficient for my needs. Still debating the need for a radar. I think I’d like one but debating whether i “need” one.

 

[bigbill]

Thanks - I think I’ve decided on 12” MFD for the FB and the PH. It will take a little modification at both stations to fit a 12” display but I believe this will be sufficient for my needs. Still debating the need for a radar. I think I’d like one but debating whether i “need” one.

if you ever go out at night or get caught in bad weather or fog radar is very nice to have. not mandatory but very nice to have

 

[ChrisinVA]

if you ever go out at night or get caught in bad weather or fog radar is very nice to have. not mandatory but very nice to have

Exactly what I keep coming back to in my internal debate. I think I’ll install the NMEA 2000 and the two MFDs this fall so that I have the backbone built and then make a decision on the radar in the Spring. We would like to take longer trip next year and I keeping thinking that a radar would be nice to have.