Ideal Electronics / Navigation Package Wish List if You Were Renewing

[downunder]

Originally Posted by Lagoon4us

OK thanks i just looked and kept the link. A bit like plumbing!!!! So essentially you 'T' off to each instrument and make up the cables to length in between?

That seems to describe what colemj indicated he did in his refit.

[Lagoon4us]

Originally Posted by colemj

We just finished a complete refit after a devastating lighting strike (don't think I was supposed to mention the L word). Here is what we went with:
1. N2K network backbone running from the top of the mast to the back of the arch and through both hulls - all Maretron parts and cabling. All instruments, receivers, transducers, sensors and outputs drop onto this backbone.
2. Backbone terminated at a Maretron ultrasonic wind/weather station at the top of the mast and a Maretron GPS receiver at the back of the arch.
3. Airmar depth and speed transducers
4. Simrad rate compass, autopilot computer, rudder feedback and control head. If I was to do it over, I think I might get the Maretron rate compass instead.
5. Raymarine type 2 linear drive
6. Furuno MFD8 multifunction display with DRS4D radome
7. three B&G Triton T41 multifunction displays (still to be released)
8. B&G Triton autopilot control pad (still to be released)
9. Maretron N2K-USB gateway
10. Standard Horizon GX2150 VHF with AIS receiver
11. Icom 710 SSB with Pactor 3 opened to Ham bands with dedicated coupler and antenna (not damaged)
12. Kenwood Ham radio opened to marine bands with dedicated coupler and antenna (radio damaged and being repaired/replaced)

For redundancy:
1.the autopilot can be controlled by the Simrad display, the three B&G displays and the B&G control head (if the B&G gear was available at the time, I would not have bought the Simrad control display).
2. All depth, speed, wind and gps is redundant through all 5 displays (Simrad, B&G, Furuno).
3. Of course, all data is available to the computer running charting software and the computer can also control the autopilot.
4. AIS data is available on the Furuno MFD, the VHF display and the computer. I suspect that it may be available on the B&G displays in the future.
5. There are 3 computers on board that can control everything independently of the rest of the system
6. We have a handheld VHF and numerous handheld and hockey puck GPS's
7. Handheld depth sounder
8. Hand held wind meter
9. two electronic and two mechanical hand held compasses
10. Paper charts for everywhere we travel along with hand navigation tools and the knowledge to use them.
11. The HF radios are redundant to themselves.
12. There is no backup radome. We could have a backup radar display by purchasing Maxsea software for the computer.

I haven't totaled the cost for just these items (as opposed to all the stuff damaged), but let's say ~$15-20,000 - not including the HF gear, PC's and handheld stuff that made it out OK.

It was all self installed. Outside installation costs will be at least as much as the equipment itself.

Mark

Sorry if i appear thick, the Maretron cabling has 5 wires and you connect to these five wires which then allows all components to share using the same cabling?
If thats correct is there a language or something that allows the sharing screen/unit to translate and display? Cheers Frank

[xymotic]

My dream system would be similar, except a B&G Zeus MFD w/4g radar, a Em-track Class B AIS with separate antenna and a standard Horizon 2100 VHF with a loudhailer on it. One antenna on the mast and one on the mizzen and the AIS and VHF would be close together so I could swap antenna's to test or if the VHF died on me.

I'd probably add simrad's sonic hub and side scanning sonar too, cuz I'm a nerd and I like gadgets.

and if I was REALLY flush for $$ A second display and a ram mike at the helm.

[boatman61]

Order of importance to me...
Autopilot
GPS (HH)
Depth
VHF
Cannot decide if I'd like an SSB or not.....

[Dockhead]

OK, you asked for what other people are doing, and you probably weren't interested in all of the polemics. I will tell you what I have chosen for my own boat, without any un
unecessary additional information.

I want broadband radar, so that limits me to Simrad. I have used Raymarine for years and generally like it, but all my research indicates that Simrad is perhaps even better.

I have always used and will always want to have a totally integrated system; there's another thread where you can read the pros and cons of this, so I won't go into it.

I chose the 12" NSE plotter for the nav table, to replace a Ray RL80CRC+. An 8" NSE plotter at the helm, to replace a Ray RL70. The improved broadband radar. The Simrad autopilot control head (which works with my existing autopilot hydraulic pump). Airmar (or Maretron) ultrasonic wind instrument. Simrad AIS transceiver and GPS sensor. Simrad gyro-stabilized fluxgate compass.

That will cost me something like $13k without installation. I will leave my Ray wind, depth, and speed displays for now -- to replace those would be another hefty chunk of change.

Now, for backup:

1. An IPad with INavX and complete set of Navionics charts.
2. An old Garmin hand-held GPS without chart functions, kept in a tin cookie box for lightning protection. With spare lithium batteries.
3. Paper charts and pilot books for every place I plan to visit, plus protractors, etc.
4. Hand-bearing compass for taking bearings the old-fashioned way.
5. I have a separate free-standing, non-networked, forward-looking sonar unit which gives a redundant source of depth data.

So if the main navigation system goes down, I have the IPad, which is an entirely usable chart plotter.

If everything electronic on board is burned up by a lightning strike, I still have the hand-held Garmin plus paper charts, plus hand-bearing compass. Since I sailed for decades with a simple GPS plus paper charts, no additional skills need to be acquired, in my case.

That's my wish list -- what you asked for.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Lagoon4us

Sorry if i appear thick, the Maretron cabling has 5 wires and you connect to these five wires which then allows all components to share using the same cabling?
If thats correct is there a language or something that allows the sharing screen/unit to translate and display? Cheers Frank

Yes, the cables are a single cable package with 5 wires inside it carrying power, signal and shield. You can buy it in many standard lengths with end connectors already installed. You can also buy it in bulk along with separate user-installable end connectors and install them yourself. I recommend buying pre-sized cables with the end connectors attached whenever you can. It is a much cleaner and easier system that way and not any more expensive.

A single cable acts as the network backbone. To make connections, you simply plug the end of one cable into the end of another. To drop other gear onto the network backbone, you install a "Tee" connector and plug into that. You can also drop on a connector strip that gives you four open ports to connect things to.

It is more difficult to describe in words - a single picture tells all. A six year old can install it and it will be one of easiest boat projects you will do - providing you don't have difficult runs requiring hole saws or arch-fishing.

So you never connect things wire to wire - you just plug together cable connectors. At some point in the network, you plug in a power connection to the ships batteries. This supplies all the power for all the equipment on the network, so you don't need to run power wires to each component.

Communication is standard NMEA2000. This isn't a language per se, but rather a standardized communication protocol that all components share understand and share.

Mark

[Cotemar]

These may help you understand NMEA 2000 systems and setup.

[PelicanCarl]

Originally Posted by colemj

We just finished a complete refit after a devastating lighting strike (don't think I was supposed to mention the L word). Here is what we went with:
1. N2K network backbone running from the top of the mast to the back of the arch and through both hulls - all Maretron parts and cabling. All instruments, receivers, transducers, sensors and outputs drop onto this backbone.
2. Backbone terminated at a Maretron ultrasonic wind/weather station at the top of the mast and a Maretron GPS receiver at the back of the arch.
3. Airmar depth and speed transducers
4. Simrad rate compass, autopilot computer, rudder feedback and control head. If I was to do it over, I think I might get the Maretron rate compass instead.
5. Raymarine type 2 linear drive
6. Furuno MFD8 multifunction display with DRS4D radome
7. three B&G Triton T41 multifunction displays (still to be released)
8. B&G Triton autopilot control pad (still to be released)
9. Maretron N2K-USB gateway
10. Standard Horizon GX2150 VHF with AIS receiver
11. Icom 710 SSB with Pactor 3 opened to Ham bands with dedicated coupler and antenna (not damaged)
12. Kenwood Ham radio opened to marine bands with dedicated coupler and antenna (radio damaged and being repaired/replaced)

For redundancy:
1.the autopilot can be controlled by the Simrad display, the three B&G displays and the B&G control head (if the B&G gear was available at the time, I would not have bought the Simrad control display).
2. All depth, speed, wind and gps is redundant through all 5 displays (Simrad, B&G, Furuno).
3. Of course, all data is available to the computer running charting software and the computer can also control the autopilot.
4. AIS data is available on the Furuno MFD, the VHF display and the computer. I suspect that it may be available on the B&G displays in the future.
5. There are 3 computers on board that can control everything independently of the rest of the system
6. We have a handheld VHF and numerous handheld and hockey puck GPS's
7. Handheld depth sounder
8. Hand held wind meter
9. two electronic and two mechanical hand held compasses
10. Paper charts for everywhere we travel along with hand navigation tools and the knowledge to use them.
11. The HF radios are redundant to themselves.
12. There is no backup radome. We could have a backup radar display by purchasing Maxsea software for the computer.

I haven't totaled the cost for just these items (as opposed to all the stuff damaged), but let's say ~$15-20,000 - not including the HF gear, PC's and handheld stuff that made it out OK.

It was all self installed. Outside installation costs will be at least as much as the equipment itself.

Mark

Hi Mark,

I would be very interested in the PC navigation software you are using.

Carl

[colemj]

We use Rosepoint Navigation's Coastal Explorer mainly because we like it the best, but also have Nobeltec VNS, Maxsea and OpenCPN.

Mark

[Morrissey]

I wont go into a full list, pretty similar to comprehensive ones above.

My suggestion is to use Nobletec Odyssey Time Zero on a PC inside. You can get a large screen quite cheap compared to the weatherproof MFD's. Then use Furuno MFD for outside helm & Furuno radar tx/rx head connected to it, and the radar display also shows up on the PC chartplotter inside. That's real nice integration. Plug and play AIS, GPS etc on your backbone with whatever brands you like.

Actisense can get legacy NMEA 0183 devices to input into this computer/MFD setup also. So if you have an old bulletproof device, keep it! You don't have to upgrade everything.