Has anyone replaced a Raymarine RL70 and overcome cut out shape problems?

[maby]

If I may throw in another consideration for questioning the electronics upgrades which are very popular among pleasure boaters, I could name you at least a dozen of commercial vessels which I've seen - fishing boats, patrol boats, and even ferries - whose equipment is MUCH older than 15 years.
And needless to say, those guys deal with poor conditions (night cruising, rain, fog, you name it) more regularly than most pleasure boaters...

That may be true for mobos (and this is the mobo forum) but it is less so for sailing boats. Mobos have plenty of power to drive thirsty electronics, but we raggies are always looking for gear that will run on the equivalent of a couple of AA cells! Each new generation of electronics cuts the power requirements - particularly radars which used to flatten a decent size battery bank in minutes....

 

[jrudge]

On my targa I upgraded as I simply could not read the screen !

 

[petem]

By "needs", do you mean that it doesn't work anymore, or that you would like to change it for something newer?
If the first, I can help. My boat originally had a main 80 unit and a secondary 70, but there was enough space around the 70 to replace it with another 80, so I did that, and now I have a spare 70 laying around.
I considered a more extensive upgrade, but the twin 80 units fit very nicely with the dashboard design, and they are still good enough anyway.
Electronics upgrades on boats are way overrated, imho.
If given the choice, I would have kept the Furuno instruments which I had on my previous boat, even if about 10 years older than the Raymarine 70/80...

I'm not one for spending loads of money on gadgets but the difference between an RL70C and a newer unit is a bit like night and day to me. Here are the two back to back on my boat (same harbour albeit the RL70C has an out of date chart in it)...

 

[jrudge]

Thanks so much for your offer although my "need" is for something newer although I do loose GPS from time to time even after replacing the GPS dome so I'm driven by a reliability problem. (which may be simply dirty terminals somewhere)
You do make me question my sanity in upgrading.
I might just spend time cleaning up connections and saving £2000 plus plus (because my radar is also 15 year vintage and not digital.( but works fine)

You will need a new radome gteed

Which then means a new cable to run ... deep joy !

 

[CCJ]

I'm not one for spending loads of money on gadgets but the difference between an RL70C and a newer unit is a bit like night and day to me. Here are the two back to back on my boat (same harbour albeit the RL70C has an out of date chart in it)...

Certainly better in the marina

 

[petem]

Certainly better in the marina

AIS too .

 

[maby]

You will need a new radome gteed

Which then means a new cable to run ... deep joy !

Not if you go Raymarine - their radar is all WiFi these days.

 

[jrudge]

Wow. That saves hours and hours and money on a cable !

 

[prv]

You will need a new radome gteed

Which then means a new cable to run ... deep joy !

Indeed - though the current Quantum radar and its software on the Axiom are a big improvement on the C-series era.

Raymarine advocate connecting the radome to the plotter via the built-in wifi, to the extent that they don’t even include a cable in the box. You’d still need power of course, but it could be taken from the old cable if running a new one is impossible. If you do want to run a data cable, it’s just outdoor-rated ethernet rather than the old multi-core python, so relatively easy to run, joint, etc.

Pete

 

[DavidJ]

Is the GPS receiver integral with the plotter. Mine is a sports boat so open to the air so it would make installation rather easy.
I’m also wondering if my depth sender will need replacing

 

[jrudge]

I was just trying to find the Price of radomes ( failed!) but did see cactus sell pre made adaptor plates

https://www.cactusnav.com/advanced_...iom&osCsid=tt85qbfm9otmkoeq62f70jpbj2&x=0&y=0

 

[oceanfroggie]

Thanks for interest, pics coming up....I hope!

Yes about 10 years ago on an almost identical GRP panel I replaced the old RL70CRC with a larger landscape Garmin. I researched the largest model that would fit flush before the dash edges curved away ensuring the new cut out hole would be larger than the old one. Beware check what is behind before cutting anything to ensure enough clearance for the back of the unit, cooling, and enough space for protruding plug in cables. Looks like you have plenty of space available.

 

[Zing]

I replaced my old Raymarine plotter with a new Furuno. As you say new units like this are mostly landscape in shape, whereas the Ray is portrait. I bought a pre cut white 6mm Perspex panel with radiused corners to cover the height of the Ray hole with 8mm overlap top and bottom and width wise to match the new Furuno. Then screwed it down with lots of M4 countersunk screws and sealed it in place. Next the hole for the Furuno was cut. It looks and works fine, though it is not clearly it is not a Rolls Royce solution, you need a new or a re-glassed console if you want that. There is a 40mm band of Perspex visible on the bottom edge. The rest of the Perspex and most of the screws are covered by the new unit. A step up in quality if you have access would be to screw into blind tapped holes from the underside. A lot more work though. Sorry no pics, I won’t be on the boat for a month.

 

[Bubblegtt]

I replaced my old RL70 last year here:

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...onic-upgrade&p=5983147&highlight=#post5983147

 

[DavidJ]

Smart job bubblegtt
Thanks to all for your contributions. I feel now I have all the information I need to decide
A) leave alone and solve gps intermittent problem
B) make a Perspex surround and fit a Axiom 9”
C) fill the space magnificently with an Axiom 12”
Cheers
David

 

[[2068]]

You need to create the appropriate Man Maths equation that results in "option C" being the correct answer.

Mrs V spent a few minutes on an Axiom 12 at the boat show, and was asking why our current system was so clunky by comparison.

 

[prv]

Is the GPS receiver integral with the plotter.

On the Axioms, yes.

I’m also wondering if my depth sender will need replacing

Depends what you already have. If it’s NMEA2000 or SeatalkNG then no, if it’s original Seatalk then you need a converter box, otherwise it depends. Of course this assumes you want to display depth on the plotter, if it already has a separate display then there’s no need to change that.

Pete

 

[DavidJ]

On the Axioms, yes.



Depends what you already have. If it’s NMEA2000 or SeatalkNG then no, if it’s original Seatalk then you need a converter box, otherwise it depends. Of course this assumes you want to display depth on the plotter, if it already has a separate display then there’s no need to change that.

Pete

Thanks prv
I thought my question had got lost in the general discussion.
I know I have the second version of Seatalk, I’ll check if this is NG. Good point about the display. I was assuming that my refurb would include new separate displays but of course it doesn’t have to, or I could upgrade later.
You have answered my next question which was to be. Will my separate speed display work from the plotter GPS. It will, I guess, depend if I have SeatalkNG. As I’ve mentioned before I do have an intermittent problem with my existing GPS feed.
Cheers
David

 

[iapetus]

Given your photos (the two Raymarine "instruments" above, probably ST-something) I would assume you have the original Seatalk.

As explained by @prv, if you wish to keep those and integrate them with your soon-to-be Axiom, you'll have to add the Seatalk (1) to SeatalkNG converter kit, and create a simple STNG "backbone", complete with terminators. This what I have on board: two old ST60 + tridata instruments, VHF and autopilot, all linked via Seatalk 1, and connected to a STNG network comprising MFD and AIS, by means of the ST1-STNG converter. After a bit of configuration, it runs fine.

 

[petem]

Given your photos (the two Raymarine "instruments" above, probably ST-something) I would assume you have the original Seatalk.

As explained by @prv, if you wish to keep those and integrate them with your soon-to-be Axiom, you'll have to add the Seatalk (1) to SeatalkNG converter kit, and create a simple STNG "backbone", complete with terminators. This what I have on board: two old ST60 + tridata instruments, VHF and autopilot, all linked via Seatalk 1, and connected to a STNG network comprising MFD and AIS, by means of the ST1-STNG converter. After a bit of configuration, it runs fine.

I have something very similar. The SeatalkNG backbone isn't very expensive (c. £100) and seems to work well.