Sailing instrumentaion

Javelin

Javelin

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www.southwoldboatyard.co.uk
I've been thinking about reorganising the instruments on board and thinking about which ones I use and which ones I don't.

Whilst in the cockpit I've decided I want to see,

Wind Speed (but not direction as I look at my sails and the hawk for that)
Boat speed through water.
Speed over ground
Course over ground (not seem a analog version - would be nice)
Depth (simple number not graphic display, the raymarine fishfinder we have is so hard to read sometimes)
Volts (possibly)

I want to be able to see the above constantly without having click buttons or change pages.

We currently have a right old mix of electronics from B&G, Raymarine, Simrad with some analog and some digital.
Quite like the analog speed readouts but thinking it might be good to standardise them.

Any suggestions.
 
Before summer I replaced my ancient B&G analogue instruments with a Nexus Start-Pack 3. It gives me all the information that you mention (plus some more) except for SOG and COG. The chart plotter gives me that information but, since it is a Standard Horizon kit, it is not linked to the Nexus things. However, since Nexus has been bought by Garmin it should be possible to link them with a Garmin plotter.
 
Javelin said:
Wind Speed (but not direction as I look at my sails and the hawk for that)
Boat speed through water.
Speed over ground
Course over ground (not seem a analog version - would be nice)
Depth (simple number not graphic display, the raymarine fishfinder we have is so hard to read sometimes)
Volts (possibly)
Click to expand...

The B&G Triton will do all that, including COG shown as analog (it draws a pseudo compass).
 
I've configured my plotter to show cog, song, volts and time. My log and anemometer don't work, but would have shown on one digital display. I have a NASA depth. All viewable from helm
 
AngusMcDoon said:
The B&G Triton will do all that, including COG shown as analog (it draws a pseudo compass).
Click to expand...

Also look at the B&G Zeus instruments, which are very sailing oriented with the Sailsteer display and are also plotters. I think they can display everything on the above list. The Tritons can be set to display different screens one after the other if you want, though I don't bother and just press the buttons to change screen as required.
 
What is frustrating is I have all the information alrready its just that its not displayed where I want it.
So I'll find it a hard justification with swmbo to spend upwards of 1000 to cure a display issue.

A large repeater screen, (7" tablet size) where I can collect the nmea data and configure the screen to show the six bits all at the same time.
 
Javelin said:
What is frustrating is I have all the information alrready its just that its not displayed where I want it.
So I'll find it a hard justification with swmbo to spend upwards of 1000 to cure a display issue.

A large repeater screen, (7" tablet size) where I can collect the nmea data and configure the screen to show the six bits all at the same time.
Click to expand...

Yes i have the same dilemma. I now have a full set of working transducers and a set of knackered displays. Need this info clearly visible for racing.

Seems like if you buy 2 new fancy displays to display the essentials that will be 800-1000.

I think the 7 inch mfds can be configured to display this sort of information and then obviously used as a chart plotter too. However I think the manufacturers really want you to buy say 2 4 inch displays and a chart plotter. I also think that some of the instrument displays cant have their software updated unless you have the matching chart plotter/mfd.

I think in the end i will go with 2 displays and go pc/android/ipad for navigation.
 
Javelin said:
I've been thinking about reorganising the instruments on board and thinking about which ones I use and which ones I don't.

Whilst in the cockpit I've decided I want to see,

Wind Speed (but not direction as I look at my sails and the hawk for that)
Boat speed through water.
Speed over ground
Course over ground (not seem a analog version - would be nice)
Depth (simple number not graphic display, the raymarine fishfinder we have is so hard to read sometimes)
Volts (possibly)

I want to be able to see the above constantly without having click buttons or change pages.

We currently have a right old mix of electronics from B&G, Raymarine, Simrad with some analog and some digital.
Quite like the analog speed readouts but thinking it might be good to standardise them.

Any suggestions.
Click to expand...

Yes. Have sailed for two years now with no log / speed through the water. Got fed up of having to clean the impellor. And I havent missed it one bit. I get SOC, BRG, TRK and DTW all from a nasa repeater and whilst its not the classiest piece of kit, its the one most used. Comparison of TRK and BRG give me the corrections I need to put into the pilot. SOG and DTW tell me how long its going to take. I have wind speed and direction but they are also not absolutely necessary - as you say direction can come from the masthead and wind speed is over detailed in the sense that what you need is to know the beaufort force and whether to reef or no. You get that info from the boat heel and sea state.

If I were to go minimalist, I would just have the nasa repeater working off a below decks chart plotter.

P.S. I've missed one havent I? I would of course want a depth sounder though it would be a forward looking one. My keel is a fairly reliable way of detecting too shallow water under the boat but much less good at telling me I am approaching a rock.
 
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If you want to omit one item in the interests of low cost, reliability and simplicity, omit wind speed and direction. At least so far as a cruising yacht is concerned, you don't need a display to tell you whether the sails are drawing, or if it's time to reef.
 
Javelin said:
What is frustrating is I have all the information alrready its just that its not displayed where I want it.
So I'll find it a hard justification with swmbo to spend upwards of 1000 to cure a display issue.

A large repeater screen, (7" tablet size) where I can collect the nmea data and configure the screen to show the six bits all at the same time.
Click to expand...

One possible solution might be to get an ICS Nav6 Repeater display (about £300). This can be configured to show lots of NMEA data, with various custom screen options. Screen size is about 5.5" and it's splashproof.

nav6views.png
 
Personally I would like to know where i am going so a compass would be useful as would a GPS repeater. although my main compass sits under my tiller
The wind indicator was the last thing I fitted but found it really useful at night & save keep looking up at the windex. So no crick in the kneck
After compass , being an east coaster, an echo sounder is imperative
 
The only essential ones are compass and sounder, but the pleasure of sailing can be greater with speed and wind info. The navigational stuff can also be a benefit, so it becomes a matter of how much you can afford and how much space you need.

If space is a problem, combining speed and sounder will help, and the navigational stuff is better displayed on a dedicated instrument rather than continually switching, say SOG, from the speed display. I have the Raymarine Graphic repeater which does all I want, at a price, and normally show SOG, COG, plus distance and bearing to waypoint. Those with a plotter viewable in the cockpit won't necessarily want this. It also shows volts, though it overreads consistently 0.3v.
 
The thread made me research what was out there more thoroughly and frankly I was quite surprised how quickly you can get lost with all the options, systems, networks etc.
I was also surprised to find how competitive the BandG prices are these days when set against Raymarine/Tacktick, Garmin, Nexus etc
They were always way higher than everyone else's prices so I tended to discount them out of hand.

I spent a fair time after sailing today sitting in the cockpit planning and scheming and I think it's time I had a fresh start as sitting at the helm I can see four different manufacturers readouts, non of which match aesthetically and all over 5 years old and the old BandG analogs are over 10 years old.
 
B&G Zeuss will show all of your required information on one screen. You can configure the scree as you choose. Mind you, the remainder of the Zeuss's extremely powerful capability would be wasted.
 
Javelin said:
I've been thinking about reorganising the instruments on board and thinking about which ones I use and which ones I don't.

Whilst in the cockpit I've decided I want to see,

Wind Speed (but not direction as I look at my sails and the hawk for that)
Boat speed through water.
Speed over ground
Course over ground (not seem a analog version - would be nice)
Depth (simple number not graphic display, the raymarine fishfinder we have is so hard to read sometimes)
Volts (possibly)

I want to be able to see the above constantly without having click buttons or change pages.

We currently have a right old mix of electronics from B&G, Raymarine, Simrad with some analog and some digital.
Quite like the analog speed readouts but thinking it might be good to standardise them.

Any suggestions.
Click to expand...

You could do all that with three tactic instruments and an NMEA bus.

We run with 5 - including an oversized one for speed (most important!)

Like this.

983769_10152640919592834_3161405216443455360_n.jpg
 
bjl said:
B&G Zeuss will show all of your required information on one screen. You can configure the scree as you choose. Mind you, the remainder of the Zeuss's extremely powerful capability would be wasted.
Click to expand...

True the mfds are hardly any more expensive than the colour instrument displays. But can one mfd really replace multiple instrument displays in terms of visibility?? I still think I need 2 displays permanently showing sog, log speed, depth, wind speed at a minimum and then think about navigation.

The problem with the mfd would be as soon as i switched to nav/ais i wouldn't have the other information visible?

Has anyone got one i70/triton and one small mfd? Maybe that is the way to go.
 
G12 said:
I have B&G Tritons and they do all that.... Excellent displays.
I can't confirm they do Volts but they might do in the setup menu.
Click to expand...

How many do you have? I am trying to work out the minimum for a decent setup.
 
I have two. I use one for the wind and one for all the other data. They're incredibly flexible in how you can set them up so you can pretty much have whatever you like on screen.
 
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