A backup camera is a nice feature to have on a boat, particularly when the boat 1) is larger than 40′ and 2) doesn’t have a clean line of sight between the pilothouse and the rear of the boat. Our Bayliner came with one, but with one odd quirk: the camera image came across the screen… in reverse! I didn’t know this when we bought the boat, but it became very evident the first time we took the boat out. Every time a boat was coming up the port-side, it looked like it was coming up the starboard-side on the camera!
The screen at the helm has a “REV” button, which I assumed meant “reverse.” I wasn’t wrong… but in this case, “reverse” meant flipping the image top to bottom. Obviously, that wasn’t helpful. So digging around behind the screen housing became an afternoon project.
![](https://www.dropanchorpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/20191104_162422-1024x498.jpg)
Access to the control board was much easier than I assumed it would be. The screen housing could simply be pulled forward from the dash, giving me access to all the wiring behind it. And if you take a closer look…
![](https://www.dropanchorpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/20191104_162520.jpg)
Under the words is a switch, and flipping the switch properly mirrored the image on the screen, making it much more functional! That was probably the easiest fix I’ll have for a while!
Now, it looks like the system can accept inputs from two additional cameras. I think I’ll install a camera down in the engine room, and another one… hm. I have no idea where I’d put another one. Maybe on the flybridge?