Poor Man's Chartplotter install
 

So, since I have been enjoying my 1972 Seafari on a budget due to having one son in college, and one son in grad school, the traditional chartplotter system will have to wait. In the meantime, I have been using a handheld Samsung Galaxy Tablet with Navionics app as my main navigation system. I do have a Garmin GPS too, but the screen is too darn small for me to use comfortably with my 50 plus year old eyes.

I realized I had a blank space on the dash perfectly sized for the tablet, but could not find a tablet holder bracket that fit close to the dash. So with some 3M 4200 and some wide velcro, voila'!

Looks great to me. Whatever works.

I'm okay with that, looks good.

Probably a real stupid question but how does the tablet get a GPS signal other than cell towers?

Ah, not a stupid question at all. Cell reception in my area of NJ is good offshore to about 15 miles + or -, and I do coastal boating primarily, so if I ventured out past cell reception, then I would use the Garmin GPS. You can't see it in the photos, but I have a mount for the Garmin above and to the left of the tablet on the dash. The GPS in the tablet does work without a cell phone contract, so I did not add the tablet to my cell phone subscription with my (Verizon) carrier. So it might work farther offshore, but I can't tell for sure, as I have not tested its range yet.

did that for a long time with an ipad with a lifeproof case and worked great. Ram Mount makes a cradle for most tablets and can be mounted with hardware or heavy duty suction cup.

The Samsung has a built in GPS receiver. It does not require cell connection as long as the maps have been downloaded. I use mine 25+ miles out. I prefer it to any plotter I've seen.

Perry’s app was great even without the updated subscription. I ran both Bahamas trips with my older Garmin with a g2 chip plus Navionics app ($20 subscription)with the GPS chip in my iPhone with no cell coverage, and downloaded map. I sure hope Garmin allows the Navionics routes and waypoints to transfer to their chart plotters. I’m going Simrad on the next upgrade if not.

Navionics added a GPX download capability. I transferred all my waypoints and routes to Garmins Active Captian app. From there I expect to be able to upload to my plotter.

Are the kids working for the summer? You need to ask for some gas money for the boat.

Part II