The 356 came with two lead acid Group 27 batteries. We took a credit for those and put in two grouip 4D AGMs for the house. You will notice the Link 200 shunt in the picutre also. Going to make a cover for that to keep it protected. You can also see the step that is mounted in the locker to make it easier to get in and out of it (and it is big enough to get a few people in). I wanted the Blue Seas boxes because they are sturdy and you can step from the step right onto them without worrying about damage.

See Helm

We did a little work here too. ST60 speed, depth and wind. 4000 whell autopilot and L760 Fishfinder / Chartplotter. The L760 also repeats the radar and does radar chart overlay. We also installed the RAM mic for the Standard Horizon Spectrum. The autopilot remote control plug is installed in the side of the primary pedastal (for when I want to be real lazy). This installation was complicated by the way that the delivered pedastal is built. The one you are looking at is custom built.

See Pedastal guard

The factory guard comes up and then bends off about 30 degrees. With the nav pod installation this caused the nav pod to cover the top two instruments in the lower pod. We fixed that by building a custom pedastal guard as shown. This was a little complicated because removing the old gaurd required removing all the wires. Unfortunately, Hunter filled the bottom 3 inches of the pedastal guard with silicon. Not sure why, as it just keeps any water inside from exiting. Took the better part of three hours to remove the old guard and clean up all the wires. The new guard allows the water to drain out the bottom and out the back of the boat. Makes for a very clean installation. The only modification we are considering is to make a brace to run from the top of the table rail up to the guard just under the nav pod. This would make the system really rigid and also provide another place to hook on the tether.

See Nav Station

We did a lot of work right here. First, even though we ordered the larger panel shown, it did not come installed. So we had it installed and spent some time matching up all the circuits. At the nav station you will see two VHF radios, the color radar, pathmaker switch, and the Link 2000. The stereo and tank indicator were already there. We also added an EPIRB that sits just above the cabinet. The VHF radios are independent from the breaker through the antenna. The radar repeats to the helm (more on that later), and it is hooked to a high speed compass to allow the radar chart overlay to work accurately.

See 356 at dock

We finished most of the work on the new 356 this past weekend. Thought it about time I documented some of the things that we have done.

See Engine Battery Switch

Since we have a dedicated engine battery, we needed a good place for the switch. So we mounted it just above the engine as shown. Also shown are the engine fire extinguisher light and a Hobbs hour meter for engine time (the 356 does not come with a timer on the tach, go figure).

See Balmar

We added a 100 amp Balmar alternator and a 612 multi-stage regulator. The regulator is below the aft berth and shares space with the dedicated starter battery (Group 27 AGM) and a Pathmaker combiner. We also set it up so that there is a back-up switch to combine the batteries if that became necessary (failure of the Pathmaker). That switch is also in the space below the aft berth.