Instruments - starting afresh...

[sailorgirl]

Thanks to Mother Nature we've got the opportunity of renewing wind, speed, depth, radar, vhf and autopilot (just the tip of a long list sadly):

We thought to go wireless for the instruments/transducers i.e. Tacktick but apart from that and the fact that the AIS and wifi boxes still seem to be functioning we have a blank canvas as it were.

We are assuming the Raymarine AP Ram will still work . We use a laptop and or an iPad for navigation

The boat is a 40-odd foot bluewater cruiser halfway through a circumnavigation.

So thoughts, recommendations?

 

[Monique]

I refitted Eleuthera with 100% Raymarine. Other than the shoddy installation, I am very pleased with Raymarine UK customer support. Cannot say the same about the US parent though.

They have more dealers worldwide than any other manu. One of the reasons for the selection.

GL with your project

 

[Tranona]

The common integrated packages (Raymarine, Garmin, B&G, Simrad) are mostly hard wired with some wireless capability. They all essentially do the same thing, or rather their ranges offer similar choices, but they each have their own interfaces, that is ways of manipulating and displaying the data. If you ask 10 people for recommendations you are likely to get 12 different answers (just like economists). In one sense you can't go wrong with any of them, so it is a matter of personal choice. Maybe half a day at Southampton boat show will help you decide as you can play with them all - or it might just confuse you even more!

In my case the decision was made for me as Bavaria fit Garmin, but if I had bought my second choice, a Jeanneau I would have got the standard B&G. Inevitably the Garmin is fine and one soon gets used to it. No doubt the same would apply to any of the others. Like most things electronic doubt you will ever use all of the functions, so concentrate on how well it deals with what you consider the basics.

 

[lpdsn]

I've fitted modern Raymarine electronics to an old Autohelm ram, so doing it to your old Raymarine one should be easy.

Not that relevant if you go 100% WiFi, but just because you have some SeaTalk ng you don't have to make your entire network SeaTalk ng - it's just NMEA2000 with different plugs.

Can really recommend Standard Horizon VHFs. Probably one of the most 'quality' bits of kit I've fitted. Icom are good too - ironic that, two good suppliers in the same field - maybe they keep each other on their toes.

 

[GHA]

No suggestions for the question sorry, but if you are going to be up to your eyes in wiring then it might be worth considering sticking raspberry pi in there t the same time, really useful on a cruising boat IMHO. Add a few cheap sensors and you can monitor engine/exhaust temperatures & battery voltages - handy to spot trends early on to get a heads up for problems heading your way..

Sounds like lightning strike - ouch!

 

[pvb]

We thought to go wireless for the instruments/transducers i.e. Tacktick

I'd seriously suggest you stick with hard-wired transducers. Much less to go wrong!

 

[ex-Gladys]

I'd seriously suggest you stick with hard-wired transducers. Much less to go wrong!

You are wrong. The only truly wireless transducer in the Tacktick (Raymarine Wireless) range or Garmin is the wind. A basic Tacktick system has a hull transmitter which is cable connected to depth/log/compass and the data to the instrument heads is transmitted wirelessly. Garmin has wireless connection to the wind transducer from a box on the NMEA2000 backbone, and all the transducers connect to the same backbone, as do the instrument heads.

There was a problem when Suunto owned Tacktick with manufacturing of a few Hull Transmitters and that was sorted...

 

[pvb]

You are wrong. The only truly wireless transducer in the Tacktick (Raymarine Wireless) range or Garmin is the wind. A basic Tacktick system has a hull transmitter which is cable connected to depth/log/compass and the data to the instrument heads is transmitted wirelessly. Garmin has wireless connection to the wind transducer from a box on the NMEA2000 backbone, and all the transducers connect to the same backbone, as do the instrument heads.

There was a problem when Suunto owned Tacktick with manufacturing of a few Hull Transmitters and that was sorted...

Oh, I don't think I am wrong in saying that hard-wired transducers have less to go wrong! It's a fact. Both the Tacktick wind and the Garmin GNX wind transducers have little solar panels and rechargeable batteries built in to the transducers. These won't last forever, and will need replacing - necessitating a trip up the mast. Garmin suggest the GNX battery lasts 3 years, which isn't long.

 

[RichardS]

Oh, I don't think I am wrong in saying that hard-wired transducers have less to go wrong! It's a fact.

It certainly is! My home server network is extensively wired with a mixture of ethernet, powerline and wifi. Not difficult to guess which is the least resilient. The issues are very similar.

Richard

 

[MountainGoat]

Just replaced nearly all the old ST60+ era electronics on our boat with new stuff. ITC-5 transducer pod, seatalkng networking, 3 i70s multi function instrument heads (they do AIS, which is really nice) and one p70s. The only thing that's left that's original is the SPX5 autopilot and drive, and the speed and temperature transducer.

Old duff radio was replaced with an ICOM M506 which has an integrated AIS receiver. I guess you don't need that since you have working AIS. The only issue with the ICOM was that for some reason, it won't take GPS location over NMEA2000 from a Raymarine plotter, but does accept it over NMEA0183.

Apart from that everything was amazingly straightforward. I can thoroughly recommend the i70s instrument. It looks great, has superb functionality and the display is very clear.

 

[ex-Gladys]

Oh, I don't think I am wrong in saying that hard-wired transducers have less to go wrong! It's a fact. Both the Tacktick wind and the Garmin GNX wind transducers have little solar panels and rechargeable batteries built in to the transducers. These won't last forever, and will need replacing - necessitating a trip up the mast. Garmin suggest the GNX battery lasts 3 years, which isn't long.

... but by inference using the term "hard wired transducers" there is no differentiation between wind/log/sounder/compass. My Tacktick wind has been up for 8 years unlike the Nasa predecessor, and it's a simple process to replace the batteries, as opposed to relying on plugs and sockets for wired wind transducers

 

[pvb]

... but by inference using the term "hard wired transducers" there is no differentiation between wind/log/sounder/compass. My Tacktick wind has been up for 8 years unlike the Nasa predecessor, and it's a simple process to replace the batteries, as opposed to relying on plugs and sockets for wired wind transducers

I don't view going up the mast as "a simple process"! Most people don't have a problem with the reliability of wind transducers' plugs and sockets.

 

[GHA]

I don't view going up the mast as "a simple process"!

Ignoring the wired/wireless for a moment it might be worth pointing out that we're taking about a long distance cruising boat here, going up the mast shouldn't be in any way out of the ordinary.

Same with the LX, instrumentation for long distance cruising is a different kettle of fish than for most boats on these forums.

 

[mariadz]

Hi

We underwent this process, but not for the same reason, a few years ago in preparation for our circumnavigation. We decided to go Raymarine as much as we could. we also added a forward facing sonar and some extra displays.

All described here:
https://mariadz.com/2016/02/02/new-navigation/

 

[ctva]

Last year I replaced the entire Raymarine system with a new B&G NMEA2k network. Removed a ton of wiring to replace it all with a single 2k backbone which was easy and has the benefit of being able to add gadgets as required anywhere in the boat. I looked at the wireless but it added unnecessary complications to a very simple one wire totally integrated, plug and play system. The Vulcan chart plotter is WiFi which means that I can control everything from my phone or iPad as a standalone display.

 

[MountainGoat]

Last year I replaced the entire Raymarine system with a new B&G NMEA2k network. Removed a ton of wiring to replace it all with a single 2k backbone which was easy and has the benefit of being able to add gadgets as required anywhere in the boat. I looked at the wireless but it added unnecessary complications to a very simple one wire totally integrated, plug and play system.

Yeah. NMEA2000 (or SeatalkNG if you're staying Raymarine: same thing, different plugs) is definitely the way to go. I replaced my old Seatalk1 system with sng/NMEA2k and it's working really well.

 

[GHA]

Yeah. NMEA2000 (or SeatalkNG if you're staying Raymarine: same thing, different plugs) is definitely the way to go. I replaced my old Seatalk1 system with sng/NMEA2k and it's working really well.

Maybe not such a good idea to have all the chickens in one basket, having the important bits like depth, gps & ais receiver display standalone has a lot of merit when you're on your own crossing oceans..

 

[MountainGoat]

Maybe not such a good idea to have all the chickens in one basket, having the important bits like depth, gps & ais receiver display standalone has a lot of merit when you're on your own crossing oceans..

The comparison is with another networking technology (wireless). Whether instruments have direct connections to transducers is somewhat of a different point.

Consider, for example, the Raymarine i50 and i60 tridata and wind instruments. They're first class citizens of the NMEA2K world but also feature spade connectors on the back to directly interpret the relevant transducers. This way they can either read the relevant data from the NMEA2K bus, or populate it. You can even do the same with the humble old ST60 instruments, which work beautifully in an NMEA2000 system with Raymarine's converter block.

My chart plotter has an integrated sonar, so it decodes the depth transducer (and then populates the NMEA2K bus with it). I can power down the entire NMEA2K bus and the plotter will still carry on reading and displaying the depth just fine.

 

[GHA]

My chart plotter has an integrated sonar, so it decodes the depth transducer (and then populates the NMEA2K bus with it). I can power down the entire NMEA2K bus and the plotter will still carry on reading and displaying the depth just fine.

Perfect example, your plotter uses far too much power to leave on all the time plus unless you have a big budget won't have any charts on it most of the time anyway, a stand alone depth/log will draw next to nothing so you can leave it on 24/7 for weeks to check distance over the ground against distance through water on crossings. Long distance is a different ball game in many ways which might not be immediately obvious.

 

[MountainGoat]

Perfect example, your plotter uses far too much power to leave on all the time plus unless you have a big budget won't have any charts on it most of the time anyway, a stand alone depth/log will draw next to nothing so you can leave it on 24/7 for weeks to check distance over the ground against distance through water on crossings. Long distance is a different ball game in many ways which might not be immediately obvious.

Which is exactly my point. An i50 will do just that, but it's still NMEA2000. It gives both the robustness and low power consumption you desire, combined with the simplicity and ruggedness of NMEA2000. Ideal.