Benefits of NMEA 2000 over 0183 - views please

[Alita49DS]

I would like some advice as to the benefit, if it be so, of ripping out my 14 year old Raymarine SeaTalk ST60 kit and replacing it with NMEA 2K. Not necessarily from Raymarine.

The background is that I have just sailed from Gibraltar to Genoa. As we left Gib the Raymarine instruments, including the autopilot, went dead. I can tell you that doing a large chunk of 1knm hand steering is not fun. However, at least the Garmin chart plotter with its built in GPS and the Simrad AIS carried on working. A technician in due course identified the problem as two of the Raymarine repeaters not working and took them out of the bus.

Raymarine, bless them, no longer sell or service ST60 kit. Some on eBay but whilst that would be the make do and mend option I am not sure that I trust the stuff any more. Not least as though the log worked on the Tridata the depth did not. Anchoring in the Balearics without a depth readout is also not my idea of amusement. Thank you iSailor for the clear and detailed Transas charts.


So, should I bite the bullet and rip out all the Raymarine SeaTalk wiring and go over to NMEA2000? Retaining the Garmin and Simrad which have 2k outputs. Would the benefit justify the cost?

I would be really grateful for your views and experience.

[Reefmagnet]

Fundamentally, the two big advantages of NMEA 2000 over NMEA 0183 are that multiple talkers are allowed on the one network and speed is faster.


I also think once the network is in place, it's easier to extend and most new gear is now likely to be NMEA 2000 compatible with limited, or none, NMEA 0183 capabilities.

[travellerw]

I'm sure there will be contrary views.. BUT.. Yes, 14 years is a good run for electronics. Its probably time to upgrade. The fact is, the stuff on EBAY is priced so ridiculous that I wouldn't even consider it (for used gear).

We were in the same boat 3 years ago and ripped and replaced (all ST60 stuff). In our case, we opted for the B&G wind kit (2 displays, wind, depth, water speed, temp and GPS sensors). We waited for a sale and only paid $1200 for the whole set. It was rock solid until the lightening strike, however we replaced it with identicle equipment. Its been rock solid again for the last 18 months.

Originally, that equipment (with a Zeus2) was interfaced to an old Raymarine autopilot through the Zeus2 NMEA0183 ports. It worked absolutely fine that way. However, after the lightening strike we needed to replace the autopilot and opted for a new Raymarine (with NMEA2000). The point is, if you replace some of the gear, you can still interface to older NMEA0183 stuff.

[Sailorboy FIN]

I would replace the old SeaTalk and in fact I did exactly that to my boat. All old Raymarine ST60 components are gone and new NMEA2000 network is in place with components from Simrad, B&G, Garmin, ICOM and VesperMarine. The NMEA2000 network is easy to extend and once the backbone is in place, adding new components to the network is easy. The one major benefit for me has been the interoperability of several vendors. Didn’t get that with the old Raymarine network and did not want to build bridges between the old and the new network.

[smac999]

well you can't buy new seatalk stuff. so if you buy new gear, it will be nmea2000. can't avoid that.

if some of the stuff still works, you can the raymarine seatalk to seatalkng converter. and the old seatalk stuff will talk to the nmea 2000 stuff.

[boat driver]

Originally Posted by smac999

well you can't buy new seatalk stuff. so if you buy new gear, it will be nmea2000. can't avoid that.

if some of the stuff still works, you can the raymarine seatalk to seatalkng converter. and the old seatalk stuff will talk to the nmea 2000 stuff.

unfortunately the technology has advanced and the end result is non-commercial (regulated) equipment is going to nema 2000, therefore- the future is going to be less 0183.
Understanding the cost pain- I would suggest pricing out all the equipment as new- then seeing what the 2000-0183 cost for each " saved" piece, including the time and labor to install.
Include your gps input into the vhf radio- that unanticipated conversion may cost more than replacing a ten year old vhf.

[OS2Dude]

If you have items you need/want to keep, you can get 0183<->2000 converters. Each device will need it's own. I like the simplicity of NMEA2K, adding sensors and sharing data among multiple displays is fairly easy. Just be sure to keep in mind the load units and power injector location on the backbone.