electronics - but what?

[Birdseye]

I am more than a bit "out of touch" with what is available and which was to go. If you were equipping a sailing yacht with a suit of new electronics, which way would you go? At a sensible costs that is, neither poverty spec nor couldnt care spec.

Talking plotter, radar, aid, instruments, pilot.

Do they talk via blue tooth now? Do they talk to your tablet or phone?

 

[AngusMcDoon]

At the moment, it's go with what you can get. Some manufacturers are having difficulty supplying anything.

 

[Tranona]

Depends on your budget, but your list there has so far cost you over £8k from any of the three big suppliers. They all do basically the same thing and all wireless, some using their own system. With fitting and cabling doubt you will get much change out of £10k.

You will find advocates for all makes, although most people seem only to have experience of one and are happy with their choice (I have Garmin - recommended).

Just going through this same process and decided not to go the full fat route. I have just had 6 years with a full Garmin set (except radar) and found just like washing machines and PCs I only ever used a fraction of the capability so aiming to get what I found I did use at the lowest price.

 

[Birdseye]

Hasnt technology moved on at all? Is it all still cabled? And what about using say a lappy for the plotting down below.

I had visions of wirelss radar and ais linking up to a lappy or tablet for plotting and pilot control

 

[AngusMcDoon]

Hasnt technology moved on at all? Is it all still cabled?

Have you seen the cost of proprietary cables? It's a major money maker for the manufacturers. They're not going to give that up any time soon.

And what about using say a lappy for the plotting down below.

Nothing stopping you doing that. Cheap Android tablet, OpenCPN and O-Charts has to be the cheapest way of getting electronic charts on board, if you're happy with that. However, latops are fragile, unwaterproof, unwieldy, power hungry and have relatively dim displays.

I had visions of wirelss radar and ais linking up to a lappy or tablet for plotting and pilot control

Raymarine do a wireless radar. You can duplicate the display of an Axiom MFD on a tablet by WiFi for plotting and pilot control.

 

[LadyInBed]

What you need all depends on the type of sailing that you do.
What you would like depends on how much money you want to spend!
Based in SW Wales, if you just day / weekend sail then Chart Plotting software on a tablet will suffice.
If you cross to Ireland then you could justify spending quite a bit more - Autohelm, AIS transponder, possibly a fixed Chart Plotter if your AIS doesn't link to your Tablet and even a bigger maybe a Radar, which when you have AIS doesn't get used so much.
When you add all this kit, think about power.
You will probably need to up your battery capacity and add (if you don't have already) Solar. Also (again if you don't have it already) a couple of USB charging outlets (they are quite cheap) to keep your Phone and Tablet charged.

 

[dankilb]

Garmin all the way. Currently all in stock (at least everything we’ve needed from plotters, instruments, autopilot bits etc.). We’re on track to come in way under budget too (yes, really) thanks to a few eBay bargains and the fact our local boatyard can get the bits direct from Garmin and are happy to match Cactus (or equivalent) prices.

Everyone had their preferred choice - but I’m completely sold!

Great app to connect on your phone and everything talks to each other with no fuss at all via NMEA 2k kit (for which, guess what, Garmin bits are also cheap and good - e.g. ‘starter kits’).

Raymarine for the brand snobs. B&G for the YouTubers. Garmin for those spending their own precious hard earned! (Only kidding of course - but nobody can believe how comparatively little we’ve had to spend)

 

[mrming]

Apart from a plotter, the next major benefit in modern electronics for me is a better autopilot. I have the Raymarine stuff, the pilot has it’s own compass and gyro mounted inside the boat. It also draws info from the wind instrument so it can sail the boat. It’s great to have a reliable pilot even in reasonably stiff weather.

On my last, smaller, boat I relied on a tablet for a plotter, but for the reasons already stated above, a purpose built, wired in plotter is a better solution imo.

As for laptops and mobile devices etc - all nice to have. Personally I passage plan on Navionics on a tablet or my phone and then wirelessly sync the routes to the plotter. That means I can passage plan at home. Laptops have their place but for me it would be on a larger boat with plenty of power available to run an inverter.

 

[dankilb]

Hasnt technology moved on at all? Is it all still cabled? And what about using say a lappy for the plotting down below.

I had visions of wirelss radar and ais linking up to a lappy or tablet for plotting and pilot control

For most (all?) manufacturers it’s the plotter/MFD that sends things wirelessly to your other devices (PC, tablet, etc.). As PaulRainbow sensibly (as always!) suggested in another recent thread, this means you can economise by fitting one small-ish/lower spec MFD (e.g. Garmin 722/723) if you wish and running everything else off that.

The plotter is itself wired to the critical systems like radar, autopilot computer, AIS, etc.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

The plotter is itself wired to the critical systems like radar...

That can be wireless.

 

[laika]

Have you seen the cost of proprietary cables? It's a major money maker for the manufacturers. They're not going to give that up any time soon.

There's also the fact that there is no NMEA standard protocol over wireless but theories are of course allowed on that point

 

[Sandy]

I've just finishing upgrading the electronics on the boat, just the radar to be fitted. Like @dankilb I went Gamin all the way.

 

[Daydream believer]

If Raymarine dealers do the installation I understand that the warranty worldwide includes for on board repair . That would be a big plus if cruising any distance. I have had several makes of echo sounder, log , wind & compas & plotter breakdowns. Not to mention 7 lots of autopilot in 18 years. I am not aware of other manufacturers offering that level of service.
However, I do like my Garmin plotter. Would not bother with radar, but I find the Amec AIS transponder is very useful, as I sail in the Dover Straits a lot.
I do like my Raymarine wind,log echo sounder package. Nice displays. Not very struck on their autopilots though. ( rubbish actually)
Never managed to link the plotter successfully to wifi as the programme supplied does not work on my Ipad or on a laptop. No point using it on a phone as it is too small

 

[Tranona]

Hasnt technology moved on at all? Is it all still cabled? And what about using say a lappy for the plotting down below.

I had visions of wirelss radar and ais linking up to a lappy or tablet for plotting and pilot control

I would avoid anything wireless up the mast. The only thing that has caused problems in my Garmin is the wireless wind with short battery life meaning trip up the mast to change. The trend nowadays is to have an MFD/Plotter at the helm, particularly if wheel steered. This is what they are designed for - good visibility, easy controls and weather proof and a tablet at the chart table which can act as either a repeater for the main plotter or a free standing plotter using independent charting. With wheel steering integration of the pilot is a boon, particularly if you have wind as well, but less valuable with tiller steering as you have to engage the ram before using the pilot - one of the joys of a good pilot and wheel steering if you are short handed is just pressing the button to engage the pilot.

Like LadyinBed I would look very carefully at how you are going to use the boat and what features you need, then figure out how to achieve them. There is a danger of becoming a slave to the technology!

 

[Koeketiene]

Current boat's all B&G - wire networked NMEA 2K.
Doesn't do Bluetooth, but in the cockpit, I get the chartplotter on my tablet via Wi-Fi.

 

[Elessar]

I am more than a bit "out of touch" with what is available and which was to go. If you were equipping a sailing yacht with a suit of new electronics, which way would you go? At a sensible costs that is, neither poverty spec nor couldnt care spec.

Talking plotter, radar, aid, instruments, pilot.

Do they talk via blue tooth now? Do they talk to your tablet or phone?

I just replaced the plotters on my mobo.
I buy 3 or 4 year old stuff. I favour raymarine but that’s personal preference.
I bought the radar new because they seem like rocking horse poo second hand. And a new AIS.
The old autopilot, depth and speed were all fine so I kept all that. Just needed a £100 interface.
So the brand may be dictated if you have some legacy stuff.
Total cost about £4500. That included 3 plotters.
Would have been £10-12k if all new.

 

[Elessar]

Current boat's all B&G - wire networked NMEA 2K.
Doesn't do Bluetooth, but in the cockpit, I get the chartplotter on my tablet via Wi-Fi.

In my view thats completely the wrong way round. Fit the waterproof daylight viewable plotter in the cockpit and use the dimmer, fragile tablet inside the boat.

 

[dankilb]

In my view thats completely the wrong way round. Fit the waterproof daylight viewable plotter in the cockpit and use the dimmer, fragile tablet inside the boat.

Agreed. I managed to get a second 7” MFD so that will now live down below - otherwise plan was/would be to run the larger plotter in the cockpit where it’s most needed.

In contrast, I’m leaving the autopilot control unit at the chart table as it can be controlled by the plotter/Bluetooth app - but we minimise the risk of the main unit suffering from the elements long term.

That [radome] can be wireless.

It can - but, as others have said, can’t see why you would. I also went wired masthead wind. Personally running a wire isn’t an issue (if anything it’s an added security/simplicity), so long as any portable devices can be connected wirelessly to the system.

Garmin (and others) will still push the radar data out to their apps, AFAIK.

 

[Stemar]

I'm putting Nasa on my boat - duet log and depth, plus wind. All wired, but given the proportion of time the log worked on my old boat, I've gone for the electromagnetic transducer. I believe they have NMEA connectivity, but no idea which.

Navigation will be by tablet, probably from London Chartplotters. I'm expecting the lot to give significant change from £800, though there will doubtless be a fair bit of swearing involved in running the cables!

 

[Koeketiene]

In my view thats completely the wrong way round. Fit the waterproof daylight viewable plotter in the cockpit and use the dimmer, fragile tablet inside the boat.

FYI: there are robust, waterproof tablets on the market.
Also, my boat is tiller steered - so, no pedestal to mount the plotter.
Mounting it under the sprayhood or on the bulkhead would mean the plotter would be too far away from the tiller to be of any use to me.