New member with a question

[Winged Pig]

Hello everyone, I just purchased my first Grady White, a 1998 272 Sailfish w/twin Yamaha 225's and I could not be happier with it. The engines have 389 hours and they run great. The boat was equipped with every option that Grady offered, including a fresh water head, and it appears to have been extremely well cared for.

My question:

The boat has a Furuno radar, GP-1650D chartplotter, FCV-620 fish finder and a Simrad autopilot. All the electronics seem to work like new, but since I moved the boat to the Chesapeake Bay the chip in the chartplotter is not what I need. Does anyone know where I can get an upper Chesapeake Bay chip for it? I believe I need a Navionics classic chip/card for it, and I would be happy with a used one if I could find it.

Thanks.

 

[Vic H]

First of all, congrats on your boat purchase. We are on our second Grady and really enjoy her.

Since you are on the Chesapeake, I would try BOE Marine near Annapolis, MD. www.boemarine.com I have bought several items from them over the years (mostly Garmin) and their prices are among the best I have found. They mostly deal in marine electronics, but also carry boating accessories from trim tabs to Edson sailboat items and will ship to you as needed.

 

[Jaeger Grady]

Second BOE. I just purchased that chip a week ago.

 

[Winged Pig]

Thank you very much! I'll try to call them tomorrow.

 

[Bob's Cay]

A lot of good recommendations for BOE.

But if they do not have what you need try Bluewater Books and Charts in Fort Lauderdale. They carry a very deep product line for cruiser's all over the world.

http://www.bluewaterweb.com/

 

[Legend]

:welcome They have them at Bass Pro and Dibellas if there is one near you

 

[Winged Pig]

I checked with the local Bass Pro shop and they said they did not have it, so I called BOE and ordered it today. They said it should be at my house Monday. Looks like I'm in business.

Thanks again.

 

[Winged Pig]

I got the chip and while it does work all the depths are in meters and I cannot seem to change them to feet.

Not sure I like this too much so I may end up sending it back.

 

[Tucker]

Jump over to THT. There's sure to be somone with the same gear and using this chip. Sounds like a setting change somewhere.

 

[Jaeger Grady]

Let me know what you find as I have the same issue and I will do the same

 

[Winged Pig]

Will do.

 

[LeapFrog]

It is a setting change on the plotter...
Menu
Display Options
Depth Unit --> change to feet from meters

Check the other settings while you are there... mph or knots or kilometers, farenheit or celcius, etc...

Here's the link to Furuno's site and your plotter... http://www.furunousa.com/products/p...+:+GPS+&+Chart+Plotters+:+GPS+Chart+Plotterss

Go to the Manuals & Docs tab and you can download the Operator's Manual... Section 10-2 has the specific info, but the rest of it is a good reference from time to time.

Give the guys at Furuno tech support a call... they are AMAZING!!! they will take the time to go through all of your settings with you and explain using your plotter... Grady and Furuno are tied for the "Excellent Tech Support" award!

 

[Winged Pig]

Thanks for the tip, but I did try that and it only changed the depth in the header bar, not on the chart portion of the plot display.

Latest update:

I contacted Navionics and they told me that on the latest versions of the classic chip all the depths were programed in meters. They are stored on the chip as a text file and some older chart plotters cannot convert the file from meters to feet. As I have attempted to change every setting possible in the GPS-1650D I can only assume that this is one of the plotters that can't convert the text file. I got the same answer from the guys at BOE marine, where I bought the chip.

As I'm not ready to spend the money to upgrade to what I want (Garmin 740) just yet, I guess I'll have to live with it and just do the math as I go along. Had I known this before I purchased the chip I might have done something else, and while I get the feeling that BOE would have no problem taking care of me should I want to go that route, I think I will just live with it for the time being.

Unless anyone wants to buy a Furuno GPS-1650D with two chips...

 

[Tucker]

Maybe see what your gear will bring on the used market. That 740S is sweet. Gotta go the extra money for the chip. Really ticks me off that you have to buy the chips. They should be included no charge. That 740 is about $1300.

 

[Winged Pig]

Yeah, it is pricey. That's why it's not on my boat right now! I do plan on getting the vision chip when I do get the 740, but that's not going to be anytime soon. I agree that the chips should be included.

I will likely put my unit on the market sometime in the future, but for right now I'll probably just hold off and use what I've got.

 

[LeapFrog]

Wow! That's messed up that it's only in meters!
You can probably find a used Chesapeake chip for under $50 (THT has them for sale regularly) Unfortunately, I sold my Chesapeake one last season after switching to CMAP... hmmmm... can the 1650 be converted to use CMAP??? Furuno did the switch on my Navnet for free...

 

[Winged Pig]

Since I'm planning on replacing it anyway I'm not sure if that would be worth it for me to go through all that. Or at least I don't think I'm willing to spend any more on this unit.

The bad news is that the chip was rather expensive to have these issues, but I know it's not Navionics fault that the plotter can't convert some files.

Live and learn I guess...