New Instruments

[dehlerdave]

Hi, when I bought my boat, Dehler 34, some 12 years ago it had recently had fitted a set of ST60(pre 60+) instruments networked together. These are now starting to fail. The multi, depth and st6002 have all failed this year and while second hand replacements are available on E bay I wonder if its now time to move on a generation or two technology wise. Has anyone done this recently, or specced a new boat? Also have a C series chart plotter/radar and S1 autopilot which are newer and will be staying for a while. Can't afford the renew the whole system in one go.
Currently have speed, depth, wind plus close hauled and compass(that I never use). I have just bought a P70 to replace the ST 6002.
Grateful if anyone would share their recent thoughts/experiences of this upgrade.

Thanks

Dave

 

[Norman_E]

On my boat I have the autopilot completely separate from the instruments, and see no reason to connect it, as I don't want to be able to set the autopilot to go to a waypoint. Unless you want to do so you have a free hand to choose whatever replacements you want. The limiting factor is whether you want to replace the sensors. If you want to keep them you may be tied to replace Raymarine with Raymarine. My own situation was similar to yours, with failing instruments, though the sensors still worked but in my case the old system was VDO Logic, for which new replacements were not available. I grasped the expensive nettle and went for a new NMEA 2000 network. My own conclusion was that the clearest instruments are the B&G Tritons, but its a matter of personal choice. The cheapest way to start an NMEA 2000 network is to buy a starter kit with both wind and tri-ducer sensors plus cables included, but its still the thick end of £1,000. The Garmin GMi10 starter set is about £200 less, and there may be some bargains to be had as the new GMi20 has been announced.

 

[mjcoon]

On my boat I have the autopilot completely separate from the instruments, and see no reason to connect it, as I don't want to be able to set the autopilot to go to a waypoint.

Or, presumably, to be able to use the autopilot to steer to a wind angle. Note that if you do so, you need the feature by which you get a warning if the compass course deviates too far, since trimming the angle might be called for!

Mike.

 

[chubby]

The tacktick range make replacement very easy, I am generally very happy, just occasionally looses contact with the mast head but regains contact quite quickly, anyone else tried them?

 

[knuterikt]

Hi, when I bought my boat, Dehler 34, some 12 years ago it had recently had fitted a set of ST60(pre 60+) instruments networked together. These are now starting to fail. The multi, depth and st6002 have all failed this year and while second hand replacements are available on E bay I wonder if its now time to move on a generation or two technology wise. Has anyone done this recently, or specced a new boat? Also have a C series chart plotter/radar and S1 autopilot which are newer and will be staying for a while. Can't afford the renew the whole system in one go.
Currently have speed, depth, wind plus close hauled and compass(that I never use). I have just bought a P70 to replace the ST 6002.
Grateful if anyone would share their recent thoughts/experiences of this upgrade.

Thanks

Dave

If your sensors are still working you could install.
1 Raymarine "iTC-5 Instrument Transducer Converter" http://www.raymarine.com/view/?id=3338 it converts the input to SealtakNG (= NMEA 2000)
I did this and installed two i70 displays - works great (second season now)
The i70's can also display AIS data from the AIS transceiver.
The NMEA 2000 network is connected to my Furuno NN3D plotter and the autopilot (using an Actisense NMEA 2000 to NMEA 0183 converter)

Note:
We had to replace the speed/temp sensor also the temp had been way of the charts for at least 5 years before we upgraded (but speed always OK). after connecting to the iTC-5 we didn't get speed either...

 

[Norman_E]

Or, presumably, to be able to use the autopilot to steer to a wind angle. Note that if you do so, you need the feature by which you get a warning if the compass course deviates too far, since trimming the angle might be called for!

Mike.

On my old instrument system that was actually an option, but round the Turkish coast the winds can shift so quickly I never used it!

 

[Talulah]

Hi, when I bought my boat, Dehler 34, some 12 years ago it had recently had fitted a set of ST60(pre 60+) instruments networked together. These are now starting to fail. The multi, depth and st6002 have all failed this year and while second hand replacements are available on E bay I wonder if its now time to move on a generation or two technology wise. Has anyone done this recently, or specced a new boat? Also have a C series chart plotter/radar and S1 autopilot which are newer and will be staying for a while. Can't afford the renew the whole system in one go.
Currently have speed, depth, wind plus close hauled and compass(that I never use). I have just bought a P70 to replace the ST 6002.
Grateful if anyone would share their recent thoughts/experiences of this upgrade.

Thanks

Dave

My first question would be how did you connect the P70 to the Autopilot?
It's not possible to directly connect the two. You need a Seatalk to SeatalkNG converter. This converter is your bridge between the old and new gizmos.
The good news is that the converter is the start of your SeatalkNG backbone.
The next thing I would do is buy an i70 to replace the ST60. The speed/depth/wind transducers will need Speed/Depth/Wind pods or an ITC5 to convert the signals to SeatalkNG.
(I have a spare wind pod going cheap!)

 

[malcp]

The new Raymarine I50/60 range of instruments (including the P70 pilot head) will happily work on either Seatalk1 (as does the old ST60/+ series) or on SeatalkNG, depending on which cabling you use. In fact each instrument comes with an ST1 and an STNG cable tail so you can choose. You could then phase in the purchase of instruments as you wish. Some new devices are STNG only, like the New E and C series plotters and new EVO autopilot, but you can then buy an STNG/ST1 converter like Talulah says to connect them. Ultimately you could replace the Seatalk1 bus with SeatalkNG throughout if you want.

 

[Koeketiene]

The tacktick range make replacement very easy, I am generally very happy, just occasionally looses contact with the mast head but regains contact quite quickly, anyone else tried them?

Got the same - though mine only very rarely regains contact.
Getting the unit to work properly in the dark or when it rains seems to be impossible.
Given up now - replacing it this winter with a normal (wired) unit. (Furuno)

 

[colvic987]

seatalkng starter kit, £84

or the backbone kit for £179 ish, (longer backbone cables) and more t pieces.

easy and quick way to get up and running, fitted a stng starter kit to talk to autopilot and a few more instruments a few weeks ago, took a few hours to fit it in to the system.

you need to start a wish list

http://www.raymarine.co.uk/

http://www.garmin.com/en-US/explore/onthewater