Raymarine plotter upgrade

[wmcunninghamii]

I currently have an old Ray A51D plotter at the helm (wheel steering) and a older Garmin GPSmap at my nav table (backup). Both are functioning but the Ray brightness is terrible in daylight (considerably worse than the Garmin which is an older device) and dimming at night is not so good either. It is hard to describe but the screen seems to loose clarity as I drop the brightness to a tolerable level in the dark and I spend quite a bit of time in the dark... ha ha, literally as well as figuratively.

In addition I have broken the Ray power/data cable connector locking tabs so I have a few strategically placed mini zip ties holding the damn connector together at the plotter input port. Good luck finding replacement parts. This has resulted in some rather spirited dashes below to have a peak at the backup plotter when the conector glitches.

What can I say, I am cheap. Fortunately sailboats don't go that fast...well not THAT fast.

Anyway, I really need a new primary plotter. I would like to stick with Ray because everything else on the boat is Ray (except my B/U which is not networked).

I built a rotating panel which is mounted on a small platform on the helm guard. I single hand almost exclusively and it is really handy to be able to rotate the panel such that I can observe and interact with instruments (plotter, wind, Autopilot) from all angles in the cockpit. I have had this set up for years and thousands of miles and am really happy with it. The i70 instruments also allow me to see depth, speed, etc.etc. So everything is at my fingertips and observable from anywhere in the cockpit. The problem is the rotating panel is based upon the very cool A51D tilting and rotating cradle which came with the plotter.

All the modern Ray plotters have a single vertical axis cradle and do not rotate in the horizontal plane. I can fix the rotation problem but I won't be able to replicate the panel with the two additional i70 instruments.

So a question for modern Ray plotter users. Assuming you have enough screen real estate, is it possible to display full AP and Wind data in "windows" on the plotter? If so, I could remove the i70s and use the plotter exclusively ( I think). The other "must have" would be a hybrid control capability i.e. buttons, knobs or whatever which would allow management of the plotter without depending on the touch screen. Assuming yes to this, what size screen is necessary to make this practical? I sail a little Freedom 30 so 12 inches of screen would probably be the largest I could accommodate. I could probably go bigger but I don't want the boat to look like a jumbotron.

I reached out to the GPS store where I purchase all my Ray stuff but they were pretty clueless on this topic (surprisingly) so I thought I would try asking you all for some feedback.

[Pizzazz]

You can make the new plotter rotate horizontally by drilling a hole in the cradle center and securing it that way. Newer plotters have 16:9 aspect ratio which lends well to having two windows side by side, one for charting and one for data. I would get an Axiom 9 in your situation.

Alternatively, the Garmin 4x series that you mention, for example the 44dv or similar, are very nice units with great bright and energy efficient display and can do everything you need on a sailboat without a radar. They are very easy to mount, so that they can be rotated horizontally and would still integrate with your systems via nmea 0183.

[GreenWave]

I believe with new Axiom MFDs you can overlay the wind etc on the chart. I’m doing that in my Axiom12. Plus it has a side by side mode that could work too. Look at the Raymarine YouTube channel.

[OldGreyB]

The Axiom range displays are fully configurable from all of the available data on your network.

The data can be displayed three ways:
Floating Data Boxes (4 per page) on pages
Population of Data SideBar on main screen. This can stay displayed on the main screen, or slid out of view when not need.
Dashboard App, where you can configure up to 4 windows per page with your prefered data.

So your choices , but yes can configure your display to suit the needs you describe. You would probably try various page layouts until you settled on the ones that suit your method of sailing.

See this informative video by Jim of Raymarine from his excellent "Raymarine Live " series.

https://youtu.be/B7tsMycYCLo

If you do buy a new Axiom, if your budget allows, the 12" PRO is an amazing tool,with touch screen, buttons and knob control. However one does need to extensively read the two manuals , PLUS watch the " RayMarine Live " series to understand the strength of the available software. Even then sometimes a google search to forums is required to find the answer.

The lastest Lighthouse 4 software this year has added more user requested features. See a couple of examples of configured pages attached that may display what you are asking about. Note, I generated these while we are currently at anchor.

(No commercial interest, just a happy three year end user after a steep learning curve reading the manuals and watching lots of " "Raymarine Live" videos. )

[wmcunninghamii]

Thanks so much folks. I will check out the videos. The pictures look very encouraging. Looks like the Axiom would be almost ideal. Also seems like I can pretty easily make the thing rotatable by doing a small mod to the cradle.

Sweet!!

[George_SD]

Also using Axiom and run split screen quite often. These are very flexible configuration wise.

[jdtcanuck]

I use the RayControl app on my tablet to view the Axiom plotter screen and control the autopilot when away from the helm. This allows me to have the plotter pointing back towards the helm and the tablet in my lap wherever I am seated. I particularly like that I can keep an eye on AIS and radar targets easily when offshore at night.

John
S/V True North

[wmcunninghamii]

Originally Posted by jdtcanuck

I use the RayControl app on my tablet to view the Axiom plotter screen and control the autopilot when away from the helm. This allows me to have the plotter pointing back towards the helm and the tablet in my lap wherever I am seated. I particularly like that I can keep an eye on AIS and radar targets easily when offshore at night.

John
S/V True North

Nice. That feature is very interesting.

BTW, I found the 12 inch Axiom pro a bit pricy. But Ray offers a keypad/joystick remote which interfaces with the Axiom non pro, whatever they call it. so that would be viable in weather. Noted on Ray forum that Ray acknowledges rain, spray, etc can mess with the touch screen. No surprise. But, when you interface the remote you get the poor man's (that's me) version of the hybrid plotter. Nice.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by wmcunninghamii

Nice. That feature is very interesting.

BTW, I found the 12 inch Axiom pro a bit pricy. But Ray offers a keypad/joystick remote which interfaces with the Axiom non pro, whatever they call it. so that would be viable in weather. Noted on Ray forum that Ray acknowledges rain, spray, etc can mess with the touch screen. No surprise. But, when you interface the remote you get the poor man's (that's me) version of the hybrid plotter. Nice.

Yes it annoys me that the loser end axiom has no buttons. The Rmk10 keyboard is pricey

I decided recently to buy a 9” eS hybrid touch second hand rather then a new axiom

Ray are supposedly releasing a new android remote app at METSTRADE , I’ve been promised a demo.

[jdtcanuck]

Originally Posted by wmcunninghamii

Nice. That feature is very interesting.

BTW, I found the 12 inch Axiom pro a bit pricy. But Ray offers a keypad/joystick remote which interfaces with the Axiom non pro, whatever they call it. so that would be viable in weather. Noted on Ray forum that Ray acknowledges rain, spray, etc can mess with the touch screen. No surprise. But, when you interface the remote you get the poor man's (that's me) version of the hybrid plotter. Nice.

I installed the axiom 12+ with two RMK10 keypads, 1 at the helm and the other in a Navpod which came with the cutouts for both the plotter and RMK10. The Navpod is mounted near my companionway. This combination gave me key control at both locations and was still less expensive than the axiom 12 pro.

The Raymarine remote app allows both viewing and control of the plotter. It has a virtual RMK10 and also touch controls similar to the plotter. The touch controls from the tablet are slower than control directly on the plotter screen.

John
S/V True North

[wmcunninghamii]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Yes it annoys me that the loser end axiom has no buttons. The Rmk10 keyboard is pricey

I decided recently to buy a 9” eS hybrid touch second hand rather then a new axiom

Ray are supposedly releasing a new android remote app at METSTRADE , I’ve been promised a demo.

That would require a device upon which to run the app, correct? Excellent for operating the plotter remotely but would have the same touch screen foul weather or spray limitation as the plotter itself, do i have that right?

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by wmcunninghamii

That would require a device upon which to run the app, correct? Excellent for operating the plotter remotely but would have the same touch screen foul weather or spray limitation as the plotter itself, do i have that right?

Yes the Ray units are just really ruggedised Android units.

So it’s the tablet is for below use etc. handy to have on my iPhone has I walk around or while lying in the bunk etc.

[Peregrine1983]

Just my 2c on Raymarine. I have an es78 MFD and I've been incredibly unhappy with it.

I was never able to get it to recognize a Raymarine wireless wind instrument or microtalk wireless unit. The es78 would simply not see either. I worked at this for months and since Raymarine customer support is somewhere between nonexistent and zilch, I was never able to get it to work.

My es78 remains a highly overpriced chart plotter - and my iPad running Navionics is significantly better in every way -brightness, side visibility, accuracy, and touch response.

The touch screen functions on an es78 are like a deli ATM machine.

Since I can't get the es78 to communicate with instruments aboard, I have started upgrading to Furuno (now have two Furuno FI70s for depth and wind) and I plan to upgrade my MFD to Furuno when the time comes.

I have been very happy with the Furuno equipment. The displays are bright as all heck during the day (and can easily be turned down at night), they're clear, easy to configure, and feel truly professional grade.

[wmcunninghamii]

Originally Posted by Peregrine1983

Just my 2c on Raymarine. I have an es78 MFD and I've been incredibly unhappy with it.

I was never able to get it to recognize a Raymarine wireless wind instrument or microtalk wireless unit. The es78 would simply not see either. I worked at this for months and since Raymarine customer support is somewhere between nonexistent and zilch, I was never able to get it to work.

My es78 remains a highly overpriced chart plotter - and my iPad running Navionics is significantly better in every way -brightness, side visibility, accuracy, and touch response.

The touch screen functions on an es78 are like a deli ATM machine.

Since I can't get the es78 to communicate with instruments aboard, I have started upgrading to Furuno (now have two Furuno FI70s for depth and wind) and I plan to upgrade my MFD to Furuno when the time comes.

I have been very happy with the Furuno equipment. The displays are bright as all heck during the day (and can easily be turned down at night), they're clear, easy to configure, and feel truly professional grade.

I'll take a look at them...starting with You Tube this time.

My hang up on Ray, ironically, is that it took me forever to get all my stuff operating harmoniously and I am loath to add anything that will cost me a bunch of time and effort to integrate into Rays SeatalkNG.

I do not have any wireless instruments although they are pretty cool. Having said that, keeping wired transponders operating properly has also been fraught. I have had the mast down twice to deal with the wind. Water intrusion both times.

Speaking of weird Ray problems, my A57D can't tell the right time??@@**
It is incredible how annoying this is. I got a little waterproof shower clock on Amazon and locate that on the companionway so I can see what time it is. I don't want to fuss with a watch.

[Peregrine1983]

Originally Posted by wmcunninghamii

I'll take a look at them...starting with You Tube this time.

My hang up on Ray, ironically, is that it took me forever to get all my stuff operating harmoniously and I am loath to add anything that will cost me a bunch of time and effort to integrate into Rays SeatalkNG.

I do not have any wireless instruments although they are pretty cool. Having said that, keeping wired transponders operating properly has also been fraught. I have had the mast down twice to deal with the wind. Water intrusion both times.

Speaking of weird Ray problems, my A57D can't tell the right time??@@**
It is incredible how annoying this is. I got a little waterproof shower clock on Amazon and locate that on the companionway so I can see what time it is. I don't want to fuss with a watch.

That sounds about right to me Yeah, I would not recommend trying to do wireless with Ray gear. I should clarify that I didn't have any sort of network backbone before buying the Furuno gear (hence why I was trying to use wireless Ray equipment).

This is the specific Furuno package I bought - https://www.defender.com/product.jsp...rpoWRYI0GAwfGc - $1895 for wind anemometer, depth transducer, and two FI70 displays (which can be set to display a number of things at the same time like speed thru water, top speed, average speeds, apparent vs true etc etc). Seemed like a good deal for two nice displays and two transducers. All are hard wired.

I've got them in the front of my cockpit, so they're visible from anywhere. I've really come to like the iPad (in a proper weatherproof case) on an Amazon rail swivel mount right below my "backup" es78 for my charts.

Edited because I hit send a little early on that.