Gps, Speed Depth Add On

[Bogart]

Being Mr Newbie hope this is correct section to post this. In the market for a boat, new or used as yet undecided. One question I have as regards new boats is the pricing of add ons. Not naming the manufacturer but I have prices for add ons that look to me way more  than the sum of the constituents. For example of a 30ft boat to add GPS, speed and depth is approx £700. Now looking up what parts are needed to arrive at this with identical units they total around half. Am I just being tight fisted in my views?

[CambridgeCabby]

As with buying a new car the add-ons are always seemingly overpriced , I know that when we were looking and considered buying a new boat the add-ons increased the price from a list price of circa £150k to almost £190k and my rough estimate of these add-ons would have totalled circa £20k as post purchase additions .

I presume these seemingly inflated prices are due to the craft being bespoke as opposed to stock? Which to be honest does confuse me as the particular boat builder I was looking at prided themselves and advertised the fact that each craft was built to the owners specifications .

in a similar vein , when the BMW built Mini was first released we looked at getting one , the advertised price on the road was £9,999 however to get one of the specification as advertised we would have to part with almost £20k .

Such is the quandary of new vehicle purchase whether a boat or a car 

[grendel]

then again there is always the BAT- Boat added Tax, for some reason if you want a new fridge at home, you can generally pick one up for a few hundred, yet a similar 'marine' fridge will have a price tag over £600, unfortunately the old adage "BOAT = Bung on another thousand" seems to still hold true.

 

[marshman]

And of course, if you are going to stay on the Broads and rivers all those three things are absolutely vital - not!!

And more importantly, will add little to the resale value!!!

Its a bit different if you intend going to sea when they would actually be used - and of course other things you have not mentioned!!

On the Broads - of passing interest only!!!

[Wussername]

I agree with Marshman. Toys for the Boys spring to mind.

Been on the Broads and rivers for a few years. I have always known where I am. Where I have been. Where I am going. Never been nicked for speeding. Not even an an advisory, or  a wave of the round baton jobby. As for running aground, I would be ashamed. I would not know where to hang my head. Oh, and by the way, I have never fallen in! Capsized yes, but that's not counted. An act of God.

Go forth with courage and conviction. Keep away from chandler's and doom mongers.

Old Wussername 

[Bogart]

1 hour ago, marshman said:

And of course, if you are going to stay on the Broads and rivers all those three things are absolutely vital - not!!

And more importantly, will add little to the resale value!!!

Its a bit different if you intend going to sea when they would actually be used - and of course other things you have not mentioned!!

On the Broads - of passing interest only!!!

I would have thought an indication of speed would be handy so as not to break the speed limits.

[Bogart]

15 minutes ago, Wussername said:

I agree with Marshman. Toys for the Boys spring to mind.

Been on the Broads and rivers for a few years. I have always known where I am. Where I have been. Where I am going. Never been nicked for speeding. Not even an an advisory, or  a wave of the round baton jobby. As for running aground, I would be ashamed. I would not know where to hang my head. Oh, and by the way, I have never fallen in! Capsized yes, but that's not counted. An act of God.

Go forth with courage and conviction. Keep away from chandler's and doom mongers.

Old Wussername 

Save myself some brass then if I went the new boat route then and kept it basic.

[marshman]

Download the Aweigh app - shows speed and a pretty diagram of where you are!!!!

[Wussername]

12 minutes ago, Bogart said:

Save myself some brass then if I went the new boat route then and kept it basic.

I don't know to be honest. It could well be that a good second hand boat with a sound pedigree might be the way to go. Keep an open mind.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

2 hours ago, Bogart said:

Being Mr Newbie hope this is correct section to post this. In the market for a boat, new or used as yet undecided. One question I have as regards new boats is the pricing of add ons. Not naming the manufacturer but I have prices for add ons that look to me way more  than the sum of the constituents. For example of a 30ft boat to add GPS, speed and depth is approx £700. Now looking up what parts are needed to arrive at this with identical units they total around half. Am I just being tight fisted in my views?

Sorry to be blunt however I feel that is unfair. 

 

[Bogart]

Might just be me.

[Wussername]

39 minutes ago, OldBerkshireBoy said:

Sorry to be blunt however I feel that is unfair. 

 

Why?

[YnysMon]

I agree with Marshman, there are lots of Apps that will show your speed. Aweigh is my favourite too.

Why would you want to know your depth?

[grendel]

there are only 2 depths on the broads shallow, and shallower, most places you moor there will be between 6" and a foot of so water beneath the boat, usually with depth gauges there is an audible alarm if it gets too shallow, this would be annoying  going off constantly, 2 m is usually considered deep.

[Ray]

It's not unusual for skilled workers to be fond of payment for their labour lol

 It goes without saying that on taking delivery of a brand new boat (or car) the extras requested must be of the same high standard of manufacture and the installation must be seamless. No small task when the finished article must be modified.

As mentioned above I use Apps but if fortune smiled upon and I was in the market for a new boat then I think I'd like to have everything available without having to prop my phone up on the dashboard.

Just an alternative perspective, there is no right or wrong 👍 

 

 

[OldBerkshireBoy]

11 minutes ago, Wussername said:

Why?

Customers rarely if ever understand the time spent by the tradesperson when pricing the job for starters.

[Wussername]

15 minutes ago, OldBerkshireBoy said:

Customers rarely if ever understand the time spent by the tradesperson when pricing the job for starters.

Then the tradesperson is under a professional obligation to explain the difference between an estimate and a quotation (fixed) to his potential customer.

[BroadAmbition]

I sometimes get asked to provide quotes.  I rarely ever do so as imho they are far too weighted in my favour.

If a client insists on a 'Quote' then I find myself having to 'Load In' unforeseen extras to protect mysen in case owt comes to light that means me spending more time on the job than would otherwise be normal.  You can bet then if that didn't happen the client would want a price reduction.  I provide estimates with any unknown extras listed in case they pop up.  That way it is considered fair to both parties and over the last twenty two years has worked admirably 

Griff

[TheQ]

Always used a depth sounder on every boat I had except the boat I have now..

 

What is the depth sounder?

 

 

It says "we've run aground again"  

 

 

what is the depth sounder?

 

 

The Crew...

 

Why not on the current sailing boat??

 

 

 

It's a single hander...

[floydraser]

Out of those extras mentioned I would only get the depth sounder installed from new, and only on then because I assume it involves poking a hole through the hull.

The others are technology which could become outdated before you know it. I would never have built in satnav included in a new car for instance, as updating them can cost more than replacing a normal one.

The aweigh app on a tablet or phone is the common way to go, and a hand held GPS?

My boat was fitted with auto steering gear for the Broads, not be me though.

You could feed your ego with a twirly radar thingy and a couple of massive aerials? 

[marshman]

Can you actually get a new car without a Sat Nav?? Bit like a car with a CD player I suspect!!! Covid restrictions!!!!!

[Smoggy]

Depth sounder is good to have, paddlewheel type speed logs are notoriously unreliable and prone to sticking if not used lots and broads limits are speed over ground anyway so may as well use gps and have one less hole in the hull. (but don't forget to look behind at your wash as well)

Depth sounders do not need a hole on a grp hull just a tube bonded inside so the transducer can sit in an oil bath, it will see through grp assuming no big air bubbles in the layup.

By GPS are you meaning just GPS or a full chartplotter?  For broads use a chartplotter is of limited use as the charts tend to stop once beyond breydon water, my now defunct garmin has two card slots and will work with the garmin topo maps (it's not supposed to) so gives me the best of both worlds but I wouldn't have bought it for rivers use only.

There's plenty of phone/tablet apps that have offline mapping if you want to see where you are on the rivers, if my garmin dies I'll go down the tablet line next time as I have marine navigator loaded as backup already and visitmyharbour.com does a full updated UK/Eire chart set for £9 a year for 2 devices, I also have MMtracker installed that uses old memory-map V5 maps and the broads 1:25k OS map file, it's out of date but the rivers/broads have not moved anywhere.

[ChrisB]

27 minutes ago, floydraser said:

Out of those extras mentioned I would only get the depth sounder installed from new, and only on then because I assume it involves poking a hole through the hull.

The others are technology which could become outdated before you know it. I would never have built in satnav included in a new car for instance, as updating them can cost more than replacing a normal one.

The aweigh app on a tablet or phone is the common way to go, and a hand held GPS?

My boat was fitted with auto steering gear for the Broads, not be me though.

You could feed your ego with a twirly radar thingy and a couple of massive aerials? 

Not these days in GRP. Depth Gauge Transducers are normally immersed in a bath of oil which is bonded to the hull. 

[floydraser]

11 minutes ago, ChrisB said:

Not these days in GRP. Depth Gauge Transducers are normally immersed in a bath of oil which is bonded to the hull. 

Ah yes of course. The only thing to be gained then would be a smart job of the wiring in a new build.

[ChrisB]

Crossing Lake Amadeus using ipad for navigation.

Think a phone or tablet might get you across Barton!!!