Raymarine Upgrade

S

Sailfree

Well-Known Member
Joined
18 Jan 2003
Messages
21,672
Location
Nazare Portugal
Visit site
2005 boat with E120 at chart table, E80 repeater at helm, ST60, wind, tridata and autohelm. Anologue radar.

Going to upgrade probably to Axiom Pro chartplotters and Digital radar.

Just not sure about ST 60 instruments. For appearance sake I should replace them.

Currently thinking of leaving main autohelm and course computer.

It will enhancevalue of boat and there is currently a PX value in existing.

Any advice - anyone done a similar upgrade on 12yr old boat.

Currently working through boat bringing it back to good quality after 10yr charter use.

New Cabin floor and white leather upholstery looks fantastic.

Much internal revarnishing to be done.

Keeps me off street corners!
 
I recently updated my electronics on an 11 year old boat. Initially started with the chartplotter - upgraded to a Raymarine ES95 in the cockpit (very happy) with Navionics. My E80 at the chart table is now defunct - these days common practice is to use an ipad at the chart table (which connects easily to the raymarine plotter).

That said, make sure you get a good plan from the installers - ask them specifically what the effect of any upgrade will be on your other instruments. I realized after my upgrade I'd lost GPS to my DSC VHF and the cheapest way to fix it (or so I was told at the time, I'm not now sure it was actually the case) was to buy a new radio with built-in GPS (also very happy with the radio, even though it was an unforeseen purchase). Further I lost GPS to my Navtex/Instrument Repeater. At this point I started looking at the electronics myself and went for the Actisense STNG to NMEA 0183 converter which was easily installed by myself to the plug-and-play STNG backbone. I left the ST60 instruments since they seem to work well. Also installed an AIS transceiver which interfaces nicely with the plotter.

End result is I'm very happy with the new installation - but it took a while (and expense) to get everything working again after the initial professional installation.
 
"ask them specifically what the effect of any upgrade will be on your other instruments."

...and make sure they confirm they'll be operational post installation on the actual quote
 
I replaced a C70 plotter with Axiom (not Pro as it wasn't yet announced) this spring. I would have liked to replace the ST60s at the same time, but couldn't really justify the cost. Using the latest instruments would have meant either replacing the transducers for N2k ones, or adding one or more converter boxes. The i50 series can interface directly with analogue transducers, but it's mostly just ST60 in an aesthetically-different case and the aesthetics are still from an older generation of plotter.

The plotter is nice; the software was a little bare-bones when it first came out but has already received a couple of substantial upgrades since this spring. The Quantum radar picture is significantly better than the old one, as expected. They push quite heavily the use of wifi to connect the plotter and radar, but I wouldn't trust this in conditions where radar was needed and opted for wired. Note that the connection is standard gigabit Ethernet with proprietary plugs; I cut mine at the mast foot and used a standard waterproof coupler. The Seatalk1 / SeatalkNG converter brings all the instrument data over without any fuss. I also fitted an Actisense NMEA0183 / N2k converter for the AIS feed to the plotter.

One thing I have lost is control of the autopilot from the plotter. The two are still talking - I can see the rudder position on the plotter, and select steer-to-track from the pilot's own controller - but I no longer have the ability to engage and disengage the pilot, and change its mode, from the plotter as I often did with the C70. As originally shipped, the plotter software didn't include control of any pilot, but one of the updates added it for control of the current Raymarine range. Mine is the older generation and not included; it's possible that this will come in a subsequent release but seems increasingly unlikely :(. I'm now considering whether to upgrade to a newer pilot (keeping the existing drive since it's the same) which I believe will also give better steering due to the additional sensors, faster processing, and better control algorithms.

All pretty easy to fit, the hardest part not surprisingly being mounting the radar on the mast. My tip there is to seriously consider plugging in the cables before lifting the unit into position - I assumed it would be easier to mount it first and then plug in, but it was a huge faff getting to the sockets underneath and at one point I bent the pins slightly and had to send it all down again to investigate why I couldn't get the plug into the socket. A snatch block hanging from a halyard slightly above you makes it easier to feed the cable down into the mast in a fair direction rather than scraping it over any cut edges, and think about some sort of sleeving to give additional protection to the cables at those points.

I got around £500 total for the old plotter and radar via eBay.

Pete
 
Thanks guys keep the advice coming ad giving me food for thought.

Do the i50 come with autohelm controller as will want all instruments matching if I go to replace ST 60s
 
We upgraded the plotters, while leaving the ST60s in place, some months ago and the result is not particularly satisfactory. Everything works in normal operation, but the presence of the old devices in the Seatalk network interferes with the system management and diagnostic functions. Things like software updates and network configuration don't work properly any more, throwing up messages about the presence of legacy equipment on the bus. I'm currently living with it, but planning to take out the 60s and replace with the current generation sometime soon.
 
We did a similar upgrade about 18 months ago to the new generation raymarine.

https://mariadz.com/2016/02/02/new-navigation/

I agree you need to have something in writing that states that the legacy equipment will still work. We had to change our AIS because my digital yachts legacy system was dropping out occasionally according to the raymarine. We're really happy with the result, not least of all the ability to wifi to the navigation for upgrading software and remote control via ipad
 
I am speaking as someone who recently upgraded TO ST60 bought 2nd hand from so.someone had refitted their boat.
I believe they are still sufficiently up to date to be considered as OK by a purchaser. In other words spending a lot on replacing them will not add that figure tk the value of the boat. Also in the words of one Raymarins engineer I know they are reliable ! The later generations just got too complicated for most users.

Ing
 
I replaced radar, RL70 plotter RL80 plotter and then course computer. Kept everything else.
Do throw your old bits away. With the help of eBay I sold all the old bits including the radar dome (a bit of a challenge bringing back to the UK). For the buyer, buying the analogue dome was cheaper than going to all digital. I also sold the many NT+ cards that I had accumulated.

I now have C125 plotter in the cockpit with tablet at the helm and big tablet at the chart table.

TudorSailor
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top