Boat,  Projects,  Wind Dragon

Depth, Speed, Temp

This project to relocate and install a new Depth, Speed, and Temperature transponder took place in March 2011.
newDepthTHullLocation After much thinking and measuring, I decided that the best location for the new Depth, Speed, Temp transponder would be under the forward salon cabinet.  This is the closest to center and forward of the keel as you can get without building a raised floor.I starting to make the hole by going through the drawer holes but soon decided that was never going to work.  So, I removed screws and persuaded the end of the cabinet to come off.  Then I was able to cut this nice rectangle hole to work in.

An added benefit to this was I decided to add a door for easy access and a shelf to take advantage of the dead space between the drawers.

newDepthTHullBacker I created a 1/2″ thick fiberglass backer plate just like the ones used with the thru hull assemblies for the Raw and Black water systems.  This one did not require the Bronze flanged adaptor though.  I purchased an AirMar DST800 with the plastic housing so, all that was needed was a 1-3/8″ hole.Here you see the backer plate epoxied in and the hole cut.
newDepthTHullLoc In this image you can see the base for the shelf in place and a second hole for storing the transponder when not in use.
NewDoorOpen Here you can see the cabinet put back together with the new shelf and the blind hinges used to attach the new door.
newDSTcloseup Notice the transponder in its storage hole.  You can also see the new bilge hose for the new forward bilge.
newDoorClosed Finished.  All in all a VERY nice solution to a problem!