Lowrance GPS Mobile Mount
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Since it's not uncommon for us to travel 40,000 miles and through as many as 30 different states in one year, we decided to build a mount for our Lowrance GPS into our Chevy Suburban. The unit was designed for use in a boat, but we wanted to enjoy the benefits of owning this great satellite mapping and positioning system while on the road, as well as on the water.

Having had it installed now for over 10,000 miles, let me tell you how much we like it. The system pinpoints your location anywhere in the world, displays it to you on a real-time, on-screen map, tracks all your movements for the past hundred miles or more, helps plan your driving routes, calculates distances between points, and lets you mark spots on your map as waypoints for future reference. With a system like this installed, you can never get lost again. It's that simple. You always know where you are, and you always have a map to get you where you want to go. We love it!

Installation was simple, and the unit remains easy to transfer between boat and car. What we did was use an old piece of lumber, dimensions 12" by 16", for a base, and mount onto that a RAM ball & socket mount. This is the same mount that we use in the boat, which is one of the reasons the unit transfers back and forth so easily.

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The satellite receiver is simply Velcro'ed on top of the dashboard, as far forward as possible so that it has the best possible view of the sky through the slanted windshield.

In the 10,000 miles we have traveled with the receiver mounted like this, we have never experienced an instance where it has "lost" the satellites (unless of course we were going through a tunnel of some sort.)

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The wiring is set up like this:
The unit comes equipped with two power cords, one which you permanently install in the boat, and a cigarette-lighter cord for temporary use. Since the cigarette lighter is just inches away from the unit in my installation, I have gathered up the excess cord and held it with a wire tie, leaving me just a 12" cord which is easily stored in the glove box when the unit is removed from the car.
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The other cord runs from the satellite receiver on top of the dash. It is wedged down between the front of the dash and the bottom of the windshield, and run over to the right-hand (passenger) side. From there it is brought down around the end of the dash, underneath the glove box, and back to the center. At this end I found that if I removed the ashtray, I could pull the end of the cord through a hole back there and then replace the ashtray. This works out great, for when I am not using the unit in the car, I just stuff the cord end back into the ashtray and close it up. No wires left hanging around.
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The nice thing about this installation is that it cost very little to set up, and you end up with a GPS that will work double-duty for you. The only "extras" you really need to buy are an extra ball for the ball and socket mount, and an extra extension cable for the satellite receiver. Since the receiver itself is Velcro'ed to the dash, it is easily removeable and can be Velcro-attached to the boat as well. And since the receiver has just a two foot cable attached, if you purchase an extra extension (one comes with it), then the cable that is run behind the dash and out the ash tray can be permanently installed.
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