Too many toys

On Friday I ordered a:
Battery Monitor System. Specifically a BMV 602 from Compass Marine (Maine Sail on many sailing forums)
 http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/need_a_monitor
Freebie:  http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/butyl_tape

A depth finder/sonar transducer from a site I won't advertise.

I got it all on Monday. I love the modern world. More importantly, Maine Sail actually shipped the stuff (I also got byutl tabe (a sealant)) on Saturday morning. As I said, I got it Monday afternoon.

I installed the depth sounder / sonar on Monday since it takes 2-4 days for the sealant to cure around the base.
It's a P79 sonar transducer, installed on the inside of the hull it shoots sonar through the hull. That means the place you install it must be clean, solid fiberglass is okay, cored (fiberglass-anything-fiberglass) is not okay. I'm lucky, my heavy, thick, cruising boat is just solid fiberglass.
I'd already planned my location and the cable run.

I put the transducer on a boat hook (blue painters tape), plugged it into my Raymarine e7d chartplotter/fishfinder and was watching fish swim by in less than 10 minutes.
It took another hour to grind out a smooth place, install the base unit and glue/seal it to the floor.

That's where the fun started.

2 to 4 days for the sealant to cure.

Send a man to the moon and all that. You'd think the entire marine industry could come up with a adhesive sealant that was not brittle and could cure in, I don't know, the 45 minutes it took me to run the cable through the boat and up to the helm station/chartplotter.

No. I have to wait 2 to 4 days just to fill the 'bowl' I make with anti-freeze, then screw the transducer on and really see what I have.

I'm sure there is a reason 'patient' is a re-occurring theme in the name of our boats.

Next post, the battery monitor...After all I've got two to four days of lolly gagging around waiting for stuff to cure...