Gallery: Installing a Fish Pro Garmin GPS to Any ST3 Sea-Doo

Some would come to understand that the reveal of Sea-Doo’s Fish Pro for 2019 sent ripples through the personal watercraft industry. The modular design of Sea-Doo’s new LinQ system integrated into a removable engine access panel, as well as the universality of the wiring harness allowed a standard then-155 horsepower GTX to be wholly outfitted with a trove of accessories creating the angling-inspired machine.

This of course, sent several current Sea-Doo owners into a tizzy; “could these accessories and add-ons be retrofitted to fit my machine?” Thankfully, yes was the answer. Earlier this year, The Watercraft Journal revealed how to (somewhat) easily install the larger 18.5-gallon fuel cell from the Fish Pro in a 2018 RXT-X 300 with very little in the way of cutting or even turning wrenches. Equally, another major accessory is just as transferable: the GPS.

The Fish Pro made waves with the addition of its Garmin ECHOMAP Plus 62cv Fish Finder, and as soon as people saw it they wanted it for their other ST3-based Sea-Doos. We turned to Adam Buckler from the Carolina Ski Riders in South Carolina, who recently made the upgrade to his RXT-X (as well as a RXT 230) to provide The Watercraft Journal a quick tutorial on how to install the factory mount, wiring and install the GPS on any ST3 hulled Sea-Doo (including the RXT, RXT-X, GTX and the Wake Pro).

Adam explains, “The kit I purchased was from Ryan’s Mobile Marine in Little River South Carolina. He has assembled these kits ready to ship for purchase. They run about $160 each. The kit consists of the mount, bolts, and harness. You will have to purchase a separate pig tail for the power supply if you have factory audio to not have to splice into factory wiring. The pigtail is approximately $25. This is a simple installation that takes about 1 hour.”

Above: The first step is to open the front storage compartment and remove the two 8mm bolts on the left and right side inside the storage bin.

Above left: You then slide the front cover forward and remove. Above right: You will then see the factory wiring that you will run the supplied harness to.

Above: The second step is to remove the mirror glass from the throttle side of the ski. It is held on with adhesive and you have to pry it off with a small screwdriver or a flat scraper, it will most likely break but will not need it.

Above left: Once the mirror glass is removed. You need to remove the black gloss cover that sits on top of the mirror mount. Above center: This is done by removing a 8mm bolt on the bottom side of the mirror. Above right: The plastic cover is also held in by retaining clips so you will need to slide the cover toward the front of the ski to remove.

Above: The third step is to install the mount that will hold the GPS unit by installing the supplied two 10mm bolts supplied in the kit on the top of the mount.

Above: Now that you have the mount in place you need to install the harness through the mount and into the factory wiring of the ski under the front panel you removed earlier.

Above: You can use the supplied end with the harness if you chose to go with the 6″ screen Garmin offered with the Fish Pro. If you want to switch to the 7″ touchscreen model as Adam did you have to splice the new 2-wire connector to the end of the Garmin harness; be sure to run the wire as shown then splice it together or the plug will not fit through where you have to feed it.

Above left: If you have the BRP audio system installed you will need the pigtail power supply. Above center: If you have the BRP audio system you will need to unplug the harness that comes from the speaker on the left side of the ski or the iBR handle side and plug the splitter in. Above right: You will then plug the Garmin harness into one end and the factory speaker harness into the other end of the splitter and tuck back away with the rest of the factory wiring.

Above: If you DO NOT have the factory BRP audio system you will not need the splitter. You will have that same plug in the same location but it will be empty. You simply plug the Garmin harness into that.

Above left: The last step is to install the gloss black cover that goes over the mount. You start by sliding the retaining clips into the installed mounts. The cover then clips into place on the top over the mount you installed. Above right: You then install the one 8mm bolt on the bottom of the mount that you removed earlier to secure the gloss black cover.

Above: You are now ready to install the Garmin you purchased. You use the supplied mount with the Garmin unit and secure via mounts from both sides and screwing the harness you installed into the Garmin holder.

Above left: You now snap the Garmin unit into place and begin mapping your next adventure. Above right: You can now reinstall your front panel by sliding back into place and reinstalling the two 8mm bolts to secure front panel.