Complete new electronic suite.

Karearea

Karearea

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If one were equipping a 12 metre motorboat from scratch with auto pilot, chart plotter, radar, AIS etc what would be the best options (without duplication) for quality equipment suitable for coast hopping around the UK.
Are all the above necessary (i.e. AIS and radar)?
We're looking at best brand(!) with all units compatible and perhaps utilising Macbook or iPad if appropriate.
As all will be able to tell we are complete newbies in this field!
All help and opinions re brand etc valued!
 
Firstly, welcome to the forum, and secondly, this sounds like an interesting thread.
While there are several other alternatives, Raymarine and Garmin tend to lead the leisure boating field for nav etc electronics. Both have their supporters and detractors. MFS's look to be the way to go for display, and both supply these, however my personal preference is a hybrid screen with some switches and toggles, which for me are better for use underway. Either can "talk" to Apple devices, which helps with loading courses, and checking things underway. I have Raymarine everything except VHF on Rafiki. Very happy to date. Others will come back with their own views.
 
Perhaps no need to fit everything in one hit. I have a raymarine e7 fitted last year and just fitting raymarine ais650. The vhf is independent of the MFD. I also have a hand held vhf. A tablet links to the e7 using bluetooth. Maybe radar is next.
 
Radar and AIS both have their advantages and disadvantages, Radar will show 'most' vessels in line of sight if they are large enough or give a decent return, but can't see clearly behind headlands, islands etc.
AIS will show you vessels hidden behind land but only if they are AIS equipped, so a realistic answer is you need both. If you are only doing coast hopping and will be somewhat weather dependant, then perhaps I'd just go with the radar. But if you are going channel hopping I'd have an AIS as well.
 
Karearea said:
If one were equipping a 12 metre motorboat from scratch with auto pilot, chart plotter, radar, AIS etc what would be the best options (without duplication) for quality equipment suitable for coast hopping around the UK.
Are all the above necessary (i.e. AIS and radar)?
We're looking at best brand(!) with all units compatible and perhaps utilising Macbook or iPad if appropriate.
As all will be able to tell we are complete newbies in this field!
All help and opinions re brand etc valued!
Click to expand...

I choose Garmin and have been pleased with the quality of the kit and the back up service. AIS is very useful and for how little it costs I would strongly recommend it. Radar is useful when the fog rolls in but I would wait and see about the new solid state radars that are coming out - I have put an order for one with an ETA of Early April.
 
I'd definitely go for an AIS transponder with separate aerial. They are great for general ship spotting and for keeping an eye out for mates and so on.

Not sure that I'd use George often on a 40'er but people seem to spec it...

My opinion is that Raymarjne have the best iOS compatibility with both Rayview and Ray Control; and the iOS charts are very nice; you can easily plan a route on the device and then sync it to the head unit.
 
I think it is a very fine call nowadays between Garmin and Raymarine. Both are excellent for this purpose. FWIW, I chose Garmin and love it, but I'd probably mostly love Raymarine too.

I have all touch screen; I see no use for combined press-buttons as well.

I also like the fact Garmin use generic n2k cables, which helps a lot when integrating with Maretron (and for a high end install, you will want some Maretron because they do gear that others don't, mostly "behind the scenes" stuff). You can therefore plu and play hardware from different manufacturers. in contrast, Raymarine very annoyingly require you to use their own proprietary shape of n2k plugs/sockets, which is annoying and costs £££ loads

As admillington says, don't buy a radar now. Wait till the solid state items from the major players (Garmin Fantom4 and Raymarine Quantum coming soon, I think) come out. You might prefer that technology . Alternatively, some people on this forum will have "old" ie say 2-3 year sold, mint, radars for sale 2nd hand. Admillington and me, for starters!

I agree AIS Tx is nice to have and cheap these days. I'd also recommend fittin top quality VHF antenna and cabling. I had "Fairline factory install" gear, and sometimes had trouble talking to shore stations because it was very average in its quality. I ripped out all the cabling and re-did it properly, and now get crystal clear transmit and receive.

Both Raym and Garmin have excellent compatibility with iPads etc, by wifi not Bluetooth. I'm not sure what Nigel Pickin thinks Raym does that Garmin doesn't, because fundamentally the Garmin system that I use lets you do anything from the iPad that you can do from the actual MFD in your dashboard, with zero exceptions. Raym is the same afaik, not better
 
The rotary control on my e7 is very useful.
The sea was very lumpy on a trip last summer which made using the touch screen very tricky - almost impossible . The rotary control/buttons proved to be a wise choice.

The Humber and the Wash is occupied by ships and other commercial craft . So AIS for collison avoidance was my first choice over radar.

Radar may be my next - or perhaps a camera that can see through fog.
.
 
MartynG said:
The rotary control on my e7 is very useful.
The sea was very lumpy on a trip last summer which made using the touch screen very tricky - almost impossible . The rotary control/buttons proved to be a wise choice.

The Humber and the Wash is occupied by ships and other commercial craft . So AIS for collison avoidance was my first choice over radar.

Radar may be my next - or perhaps a camera that can see through fog.
.
Click to expand...

Agree and op should bear this in mind, there's a huge difference between a 40' boat and say a sq 78. You will be very glad of switch gear on your nav equipment when you hit the chop. Hybrid system at that size unless
You're staying on the inland waterways!
 
Thanks all for very informative posts.
Almost all our trips will be coastal so comments re ease of use in chop taken "on board".
Although we will be able to wait for "weather windows" weather forecasting is far from an exact science!
The info re solid state radar is very timely as June/July or maybe later is our time frame.
Some research ahead I think.
All information has been and will still be gratefully received.
Karearea.
 
admillington said:
I have put an order for one with an ETA of Early April.
Click to expand...
adm, what is uk pricing on these? Have you ordered 4 foot open scanner? - I guess you must have. Is it plug an play compatible (other than dispensing with the 48v voltage step-upper box that the current radar has, and installing new software of course)? IE does it just connect to a power cable and a cat 5 cable, meaning that there is no need to run new cables up the mast?
I want to order one but I need to get it painted black, which means I cannot take it back to the shop if it turns out not to be backwards-compatible! I'm also thinking of installing 2 radars now that Garmin firmware supports it
 
jfm said:
adm, what is uk pricing on these? Have you ordered 4 foot open scanner? - I guess you must have. Is it plug an play compatible (other than dispensing with the 48v voltage step-upper box that the current radar has, and installing new software of course)? IE does it just connect to a power cable and a cat 5 cable, meaning that there is no need to run new cables up the mast?
I want to order one but I need to get it painted black, which means I cannot take it back to the shop if it turns out not to be backwards-compatible! I'm also thinking of installing 2 radars now that Garmin firmware supports it
Click to expand...

John

Have ordered the 4ft version and the market price is about £6k. I have left it with Berthons to install it and happy to let you know the details as I will be there when they install it - no install manual is available yet.

-Andrew
 
admillington said:
John

Have ordered the 4ft version and the market price is about £6k. I have left it with Berthons to install it and happy to let you know the details as I will be there when they install it - no install manual is available yet.

-Andrew
Click to expand...
Many thanks Andrew. I've emailed a very helpful and knowledgeable guy at Garmin UK who helps me a lot and I'll report back anything interesting. For a second radar, I'm thinking of just a small radome btw. It would be easy to add a mounting point for it to my existing radar tower
 
Used my radar less than ten times in 28 years. AIS is a new gimmick that has little use for leisure boat owners other than being interesting to watch occasionally. My last installation was Raymarine but this time I'm going with Garmin as Raymarine is no longer great with support.
 
PCUK said:
AIS is a new gimmick that has little use for leisure boat owners other than being interesting to watch occasionally.
Click to expand...

I disagree with your comment.
AIS is not so new it has been around a few years now.
My area of interest is the The Humber / The Wash / North Sea where there are regular movements of large ships but also some fast commercial traffic involved with wind turbines . Pleasure craft thin out in number considerably once East of Hull.
In my cruising area I feel a need to see an identify commercial vessels and more importantly for them to see me for the purposes of collision avoidance.
.
 
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