Raymarine - up grading Seatalk to NG but retaining Course Computer 400

[Alita49DS]

My boat was supplied with Raymarine Seatalk 1 instruments. Two of them failed and therefore with them the bus. Result several hundred miles of hand steering.

I am going to change the whole lot to SeatalkNG instruments. However, I want to retain the Course Computer 400 which came with the original ST6001+.

Also, to retain the RL80c plotter as it works with the old radar. The main plotter will be the Garmin one by the helm,


Have any of you tried anything similar? In particular, integrating the CC400 and RL80c with the new SeatalkNG instruments.

[smac999]

raymarine makes a seatalk to seatalkng converter.

you will have to keep the auto pilot display to make the pilot work.

if you tie the garmin nmea2000 network into the seatalkng nework (adapter cable) it can send waypoints to pilot.

[Tillsbury]

Yes, just get the Seatalk to seatalkng converter kit. I have exactly the same setup. It gives you a seatalkng backbone with two ports on it - I connected one to the chartplotter and the other to the vesper xb8000, which then means ais over seatalkng and all data over wifi.

[Alita49DS]

The Raymarine chap in Genoa tells me that I can ditch the ST6001+ and use the new P70s with the existing Course Computer 400.

Do you agree?

[Tillsbury]

You can if you want to. Why do you need to replace the 6001? If you want an upgrade you’d be better spending the money on a gyro for the 400, which the 6001+ will be able to use.

[Alita49DS]

You are possibly right about retaining the ST6001+ head. That was also my starting point.


However, this kit seems to have a life expectancy. A long distance without an autopilot is what might call educational. So rather than retain, let alone add to, old stuff I would prefer to gradually replace. As the budget allows.


Another factor is this. The boat has twin wheels. There is a defunct wind and Tridata ST repeaters on the port side. A working wind, a probably intermittently duff primary Tridata and the ST6001+ pilot head on the starboard side which is the business side with the chart plotter above and the engine control below. Oh, and the bow thruster control.


If I replace the lot with SeatalkNG on the port side I can have a P70s which not only allows control of the pilot but displays everything the Tridata does and a i70s which shows the rest. On the starboard side an i70 analogue wind, because I am old fashioned, an i70s and a P70s.


The issues, as I wrote, relate to the cabling. The above are all SeatalkNG but I then need to integrate the Garmin 751xs, the Simrad AI50 AIS and then the Course computer 400 which also then still need to serve the old RL80c plotter and old RD218 radar.

[AndyEss]

You can re-establish your SeaTalk bus by disconnecting the bad instruments and reconnecting the ones that still work. On my boat this is a simple process as all my old SeaTalk instruments are mounted on a single panel right next to each other.
If your instruments are far apart, you may need to splice the old SeaTalk cable. I prefer solder and heat shrink for splices in small gage wiring.
The SeaTalk to STng converter works well to add new devices.

[Alita49DS]

Splicing. That is exactly what the wonderful Pedro did in Altea!

However, as I have been writing, with 2 of the 5 ST instruments u/s and another probably u/s in part I have had enough of ST1 and its reliability. I wan to move on. Hence my questions.

[Tillsbury]

The 400 course computer has two Seatalk buses. You can plug one into a Seatalk-seatalkng converter and use it for your “new” instruments. You can leave the 6001+ in the other and have it as a completely independent autopilot head, for redundancy.

In fact, why didn’t you just do this when the other instruments failed?

[Alita49DS]

Why did I not do it when the other instruments failed?

Good point. In theory. In practice two problems. First, the power came via the broken bus. Second, in the absence of a wiring diagram did the instruments and intelligible instructing for the components there was no way to work it out.

Which raises another point which I discussed with an installer on Chichester the other day. The boat has excellent wiring diagrams. The instrument installers provide absolutely nothing. He said that there was no commercial incentive to do so and no regulatory requirement. So nobody did. Great! People buy a brand new boat. The instruments are fitted separately as part of the deal. When they go wrong you have no idea of the wire runs or the bus. Every other wire on the boat is coded.

[Tillsbury]

Very common. That’s why I like to do most of the work on my own boat. There’s nothing like the knowledge you get from having taken it apart and put it back together. I now know exactly where the Seatalk bus runs, and so can bypass or cut out any section as I please. Ditto the other networks and power. I have not the faintest idea where my engine controls get their ground from, which is presumably why they’re a bit dicky. That’s the next job.