> Has anyone come up with a good way to mount their GPS unit that they'd
> care to share?

> my unit, sold as
> 'waterproof', gets knocked off the deck every now and then. I think that
> the sudden immersion into the cold water after being heated up on the deck
> causes such a drop in interior pressure that it effectively sucks water
> in. And I'm not talking deep submerging either, as my lanyard keeps it
> from going much past the sheer.

> Simple would be nice. I'd rather not cut anymore holes in the deck, but if
> it comes to it... . But then I'd have a drainage problem.

I have a Magellan GPS315 which has a neat little optional mounting base. I think there is one for your model, too. Check with your dealer or call magellan. You seem to have their address handy from all your warrantee work.

This was about a $15 option, and I think that is a reasonable price for it. I was planning to mount it in my car, but I decided not to drill holes in my dashboard. I would gladly mount this on a kayak deck, though. The base rotates 360 degrees, and the mounting rack tilts well over 180 degrees, os you cna go from more than face down, to more than full face up. Somewhere in that range will be the angle you desire.

As for your water proofing. A couple of routes you can take (not intended as a GPS pun)

The early Nikonos cameras were prone to leak if you did not use a silicone based 'o' ring lube on the seals practically every time you changed film. Perhaps a smear of vaseline around the sealing area each time you change batteries will help. since these things eat batteries that is going to get pretty messy , pretty fast, though.

Remove the batteries and seal the battery compartment with a silicone caulk. If you need to get in it will be a struggle, but possible. In the meantime, use the car lighter attachment and run the GPS off of a 12 volt source. This atachment makes contact with sealed metal tabs on the back of my unit, and I think the same is on yours. A 12 volt gell cell can be mounted under the deck and the wire run out to your GPS. Or, get a couple of nylon battrey trays ar Radio Shack. The ones that hold 4 "D" size batteries are about $2 each and give you 6 volts. Get two, wire them in series to give you 12 volts, and load them with 8 batteries. The larger batteries have more amp hours ( or milliamp hours) and should last much longer than the built in "AA" batteries.

If you use the accesory mount you can screw the end of the auto cord to the mount, so it doesn't get lost. Snapping the GPS into the rack allows it to make contact with the power source.

If you stay with the internal "AA" batteries, put the GPS receiver in a simple ziplock bag. The mounting rack will allow you to snap in the GPS receiver, bag and all. Should you submerge the bag may take on a bit of water, but hopefully this wont be so much that any gets into your GPS unit.

Hope this helps.

Paul G. Jacobson