Instruments - starting afresh...

[Tranona]

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.

That may be valid if you spend all your time on the oceans, but what happens when you stop on the way or get to the other end? as ever how you equip your boat is a compromise - hence my observation about the contrary advice you will receive when you ask such a question. Borne out already in this thread.

In the end you have to listen, draw on your own prior experience, decide what is important for you and then buy. To me the biggest issue is not knowing enough about the capability of the latest gear and how to use it - just like my dishwasher, washing machine, tablet etc so look for how well a bit of kit does what I know how to use and then try to explore what else I can do.

 

[GHA]

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.

Humble apologies, bad reading on my part, saw Chartplotter and missed the standalone unit you described.

Ideal then, imho it's very important to have enough low power bits which can work standalone to sail the boat safely so should things go wrong like the batteries die you can still get to the next country where they might actually have some decent batteries.

 

[MountainGoat]

Ideal then, imho it's very important to have enough low power bits which can work standalone to sail the boat safely so should things go wrong like the batteries die you can still get to the next country where they might actually have some decent batteries.

Yeah, which is why the modern stuff is really nice, because it gives you the flexibility to mix and match in a way that suits.

But I'd stay away from wireless myself. I'm a cables kinda girl.

 

[sailorgirl]

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!.

A mite difficult as we are currently based in Singapore but I agree a visit to a showroom might be useful if I can find one locally.

 

[GHA]

Yeah, which is why the modern stuff is really nice, because it gives you the flexibility to mix and match in a way that suits.

But I'd stay away from wireless myself. I'm a cables kinda girl.

I've had (very few) problems with nmea cables but wifi has never failed..... yet..

And if it does it's no big deal, still have gps/log/ais displays & won't have to take to boat apart to find the break

What was the question again.... (sorry sailor girl, fred rift..)

 

[sailorgirl]

Our VHF is a 25year old Sailor and I'll be sad to see it replaced. I'm hoping it can be repaired.

 

[sailorgirl]

We inspect our rig every few months and before each and every passage longer than a couple of days so trips up the mast are routine. My bigger concern is whether the little solar panels on the instrument heads in the cockpit will charge well under a bimini!

 

[Martin_J]

A mite difficult as we are currently based in Singapore but I agree a visit to a showroom might be useful if I can find one locally.

I was going to ask whereabouts you were.. I'm probably going to be working in Singapore mid September so if you need anything bringing out from Southsea then let me know. PM being sent.

I work daily with networks and WiFi and quite happy with WiFi connections at work and home.. but personally never liked the idea of WiFi for masthead transducers.. However - having recently been testing Raymarine Quantum radomes, they do seem to work well on their WiFi (thus only needing a power connection).. But I'd still not be convinced to use WiFi only.. I'd probably put power and data cables in if I went the Raymarine Quantum radar route.

Personally I've got B&G plotters, Simrad 508 Wind MHU, Raymarine i60 analogue wind displays, a Raymarine i70 data display, a B&G t41 display, Garmin GMI10 and both Raymarine and Simrad DST800 transducers on board.. They all work well together (although it's not all powered on at the same time - but is used for diagnostics/testing.. ) and use a mix of SeatalkNG and NMEA2000 components.

As to what to go for.. Some just like the feel of some displays... and some don't. I actually like the B&G plotters but much prefer the Raymarine Wind displays..

As to autopilots.. If you've an existing Raymarine linear drive (with clutch) then any of the newer autopilot computers should work with it. (Don't ask what autopilot computers/controllers I have on board!)

 

[Tranona]

Just looking a bit more at your original post and it seems that you are not planning a dedicated plotter which hugely simplifies things. For speed/wind/depth you only need one MFD (although two is nice if you want to display wind separately or have one as a repeater) plus the relevant transducers. This will interface with your autopilot control head. Presumably your radar and radio will be standalone and your PC will continue to get its AIS and GPS from existing sources. Still worth putting in the backbone so that you have the flexibility of more networking at a later date.

It is getting, displaying and manipulating the data at a plotter that creates the complexity that is reduced by the network.

 

[Lon nan Gruagach]

Avoid bespoke/proprietary connectors and signal standards like the plague. There is no way to test such equipment.
I installed a suite of electronics that has been nothing but trouble, and without a known working part of the system, the whole lot ha to be returned at every hiccup.
Standard plugs, standard cables every time!
Wireless is s no no too, kit needs power = kit needs wires.

 

[Boathook]

I've fitted Raymarine speed, depth and wind last winter. Transducers go to he iTC-5 which then feeds to the i50's and i60 wind through the latest seatalk ng. The iTC-5 also supplies data to the eS MFD. System can work with all together or alone. If the iTC-5 packs up I then have problems but I could always route the transducers straight to the relevant instrument. The only different thing I would do is to have used the i70 displays for speed and depth as I do prefer analogue for wind direction.

 

[ex-Gladys]

We inspect our rig every few months and before each and every passage longer than a couple of days so trips up the mast are routine. My bigger concern is whether the little solar panels on the instrument heads in the cockpit will charge well under a bimini!

Firstly, I'm not using my Tacktick stuff in the same way as you will be. However, my displays are wheelhouse mounted and I don't put covers on. The batteries are always charged, but in replacing the Nasa stuff, I used the lighting supply on them and it was very simple to piggy back the Tacktick displays off that to deliver a charge. As it is I follow Raymarine's advice and ensure that the batteries are fully charged at the start of lay up (just by turning the old instrument lighting switch on). Charging takes no more than an hour or so.

 

[reeac]

Our TackTick set up dates back to 2006 and we have had no solar panel or battery problems yet. I take the displays home after laying up and in the Spring I put them on a sunny window sill ...take them about 30 minutes to get fully charged up.

 

[sailorgirl]

As we currently have 4 displays on a cockpit bulkhead I think we'll end up with 4 separate displays again unless someone can do a very good filler job... ?

 

[sailorgirl]

That's our thinking too. On ocean passages we usually only have the gps, AIS and instruments on. We enter our destination waypoint (& others to avoid obstructions if needed) and steer to that. It saves power and the rest is unnecessary. Log entries are made in the book very few hours and on a paper passage chart at noon so we can see our progress.

 

[Tranona]

As we currently have 4 displays on a cockpit bulkhead I think we'll end up with 4 separate displays again unless someone can do a very good filler job... ��

You don't need 4 displays, only one is actually needed, although many people have two. I have two, one for autopilot and one for all other functions (speed, depth, wind), plus a chart plotter which can also display key data. If I did not have the chart plotter I would have 2 MFDs and the autopilot, so 3 in total.

 

[Martin_J]

If you do get multiple small displays for the bulkhead then it's nice to be able to power them off individually when not in use. Then they are there when you want them but not when you don't.
The Raymarine i60 analogue wind and the i70 multi function display can each be powered off individually. The Triton T41 can't

 

[pvb]

You don't need 4 displays, only one is actually needed, although many people have two.

True, but they have 4 big holes in the boat!

 

[Tranona]

True, but they have 4 big holes in the boat!

Not difficult to fill holes at less cost than an unnecessary MFD! The important thing is to decide on display/controls that do the job you want, not to be determined by existing holes.

 

[flyingscampi]

I bought a Vulcan 7 last year which is great, and over the winter I'm going to replace my ST50 wind system with a B&G wind transducer (wired) and 2 x B&G Triton2 displays.

That means I'll have 3 MFD's in the cockpit with primary roles as Wind, Depth/Water Speed & GPS - all NMEA2000.

I really like the B&G SailSteer display and the Triton2 will show that in the cockpit.

I also managed to get an Airmar H2183 dirt cheap which will add useful heading data to the network. This will provide a rough estimate of tide & leeway on the SailSteer display (depending on the accuracy of the other transducers.)