SeaTalk ST30 replacement suggestions please?

[Boreades]

Sad to report that our 1988-vintage SeaTalk ST30 is getting decrepit. It's worked well for nearly 30 years, but the wind speed instrument died completely a while ago, and now the displays are getting unreadable in daylight. The existing system has the wind speed, hull transducer, speed, depth and a chart-table repeater. The only good thing still working well is the Seatalk ST1000 Tiller.

The time has come to grasp the nettle and replace it with something. But what? Whatever we replace it with, it would be good if we can integrate our Standard Horizon GX2200E VHF with AIS receiver (NMEA), and some of Angus McDoon's USB-GPS adapters.

The thing that giving me the biggest worry is the wiring. Is the existing Seatalk wiring still any good? With new adapters perhaps? Or are we looking at replacing all the obsolete spaghetti wiring running through hard-to-reach lockers, behind panels and the bilges. Or go WiFi instead?

All suggestions gratefully received.

 

[Tranona]

You might as well replace everything with your chosen new system using NMEA 2000. As you know the ST30/40 was unique in its size of readouts, although I think the cabling and basic software was the same as the ST50 at the time. However, nothing is likely to be compatible with new equipment.

You have choice of 4 different manufacturers, so you have to choose what features you want. 3 of them (Garmin, B&G and Raymarine) use MFDs which can display a range of data on one screen, but if you are happy with stand alone instruments then NASA might be an alternative, and cheaper. You should have no problem exporting your AIS signal to a device that needs it. Not sure why you would want any USBs unless you are using a PC for navigation.

 

[gandy]

Hi,

We have ST30 speed/depth display which is sometimes a little flakey so I'm interested in how you get on. I'm not really budgeting for full replacement, nor do I need anything beyond those so my requirements are a bit different.

On a related note, I'd be interested if your log transducer becomes available .. ours has fallen to bits meaning our speed/depth instrument is currently just depth.

 

[Boreades]

You might as well replace everything with your chosen new system using NMEA 2000. As you know the ST30/40 was unique in its size of readouts, although I think the cabling and basic software was the same as the ST50 at the time. However, nothing is likely to be compatible with new equipment.

You have choice of 4 different manufacturers, so you have to choose what features you want. 3 of them (Garmin, B&G and Raymarine) use MFDs which can display a range of data on one screen, but if you are happy with stand alone instruments then NASA might be an alternative, and cheaper. You should have no problem exporting your AIS signal to a device that needs it. Not sure why you would want any USBs unless you are using a PC for navigation.

Sadly the GX2200E VHF outputs NMEA 0183 not NMEA 2000. Can that be bridged?

Re why you would want any USBs unless you are using a PC for navigation.
Yes, I have a VisitMyHarbour USB chart stick to go in a laptop, and wanted to feed the GPS and AIS NMEA data streams to the laptop.

Starting with some basics, are any of the new makes of depth transducers plug-compatible with the old SeaTalk through-hull transducer socket?

 

[Boreades]

Hi,

We have ST30 speed/depth display which is sometimes a little flakey so I'm interested in how you get on. I'm not really budgeting for full replacement, nor do I need anything beyond those so my requirements are a bit different.

On a related note, I'd be interested if your log transducer becomes available .. ours has fallen to bits meaning our speed/depth instrument is currently just depth.

PM sent.

 

[Boreades]

I found something useful on the Raymarine site. It sounds like I might be able to carry on using the old ST30 transducer. But I'm not sure what to do about the wind display. Can I use the old ST30 wind display's wiring?

http://www.raymarine.co.uk/knowledgebase/index.cfm?view=3769

Replacing/Upgrading ST30, ST50, ST50+ displays/ transducers with current systems

This references ST30, ST50 and ST50+ (plus) Speed, Depth, Bidata or Tridata instrument displays and transducer replacement.

If you are upgrading the displays to one of the more recent systems, the following still applies as the old style transducers are compatible with the new systems. Use the information below and in the manuals provided you will be able to connect the transducers to the new system.
The ST30 and ST50/ST50+ line of instrument transducers are now discontinued. In their place, any of the current series of instrument Speed, Depth or Triducer transducers designed for Raymarine may be utilized.
To achieve this with the ST50/ST50+ displays only, you need to cut the round transducer connector off the old transducer and expose the wires. You then can connect them colour for colour to the new transducer using a suitable connection box for the area you are installing in. Once this has been done you can then use the round connector to connect the new transducer to the display.
If you are upgrading the display, cut the connector off the transducers and use 1/8 inch spade connections to connect to the tranducer to the display.
For ST30 connections you use 1/8 inch spade connections crimped onto the transducer wires.

 

[MountainGoat]

Re wiring: there's often ST60 stuff that comes up on eBay. Much of it is still in good condition and should be able to use your existing network. Don't know about transducers though.

Re new stuff, you *can* use the i70s instruments on a Seatalk network, but the problem is going to be transducers. If ripping out the old network really is a problem (I recent did it on my boat and it was quite painless), you can have a small Seatalkng/NMEA2000 network just for the transducers and then dump everything onto your old seatalk via the converter gizmo that raymarine sell.

Having recently faced something similar to this situation, I can say that I'm glad I took the plunge and went all in on Seatalkng/NMEA2000. It was initially more work, but it's a much nicer system.