Plugging The Flasher Hole

[JoeFriday]

I saw another post where a guy was running an Android tablet for maps. That inspired me to finally remove the old non-working flasher in the center hole and fabricate a solution to plug it and create a mount for the tablet. I never use the speedo (always look at the graph for GPS speed anyway), so I canted the tablet mount over that way. I could raise it up if I needed to see the speedo. Water test tomorrow to see how it rides. I have a waterproof cover that allows the touch screen to still work if needed.

Hopefully it rides well.

[Kyle08]

That's a cool idea

[JoeFriday]

Thanks. I know several have put a radio in the hole, but i didn't think I would use that. With the map on the tablet, I can sit in the recliner and mark waypoints to take to the lake for investigation.

[JoeFriday]

Water test today. It was pretty windy, so I could see if a 1" Ram was enough. Here are the thoughts. 1) Hard to see in bright sunlight. I can live with that for what it cost. 2) Ram 1" ball was enough to hold the tablet in place. 3) The ram tablet mount is a universal one that can accommodate wider tablets. I need to fabricate something that will help the tablet stay higher in the mount.

All in all, happy to have something of use where the broken flasher was. I can also wirelessly tether the tablet to my phone and use Google Earth. Didn't need a wireless connection for the map because you can download them for offline use.

[Kyle08]

Nice! Yeah I put a radio in that spot on my old skeeter

[SkeeterStew]

Water test today. It was pretty windy, so I could see if a 1" Ram was enough. Here are the thoughts. 1) Hard to see in bright sunlight. I can live with that for what it cost. 2) Ram 1" ball was enough to hold the tablet in place. 3) The ram tablet mount is a universal one that can accommodate wider tablets. I need to fabricate something that will help the tablet stay higher in the mount.

All in all, happy to have something of use where the broken flasher was. I can also wirelessly tether the tablet to my phone and use Google Earth. Didn't need a wireless connection for the map because you can download them for offline use.

I really like this idea! One more thing about the ipad, if you wear polarized sunglasses you'll mash that power button to turn your tablet on all day long and swear Steve Jobs must be the devil himself - until you take your glasses off. With polarized sunglasses you can't see that it's been on the whole time.
It's just a black screen!

[k3fishing]

What maps program are you using?

[SkeeterStew]

What maps program are you using?

that's Navionics. I use it too, it's got a learning curve but it's the best there is out there right now.

[crwood]

I know all about that lake and don't even live there. You can have my waypoints.