Updating my electronics units

[man7sell]

The first boat that I had any electronic on was my sailboat Callipygian, a 43' Perry design. The only unit aboard was a wonderful radar that had the round CRT with a rubber hood to look into. It was wonderful and very sensitive when tuned correctly (Luckily my military training was in communications, radar and navigational instruments, of course that was in the early 70s.
I liked that radar a lot but it was at the NAV station below.


Now this boat has the following:


1. A nice Garmin plotter/radar but for me a small screen.
2. A basic small Garmin chart plotter - This I think will have to go.
3. An old Furuno depth sounder/fish finder that I think came off Noah's ark. That is gone, at least to my garage.
4. An Autohelm auto pilot.
5 A Richie compass.


Number 1 and 4 will stay. I intend to use 1. as my primary radar MFD.


I have collected:


1. A Garmin MFD fish finder/plotter with a 12" display.
2. A Garmin AIS transceiver
3. A garmin nmea 200 GPS antenna
4. An AIS antenna.


My next project is to figure out where I want everything to be at the steering station and how to hook it all up. Fun.


Photo is of the helm when I bought the boat.

 

[lwarden]

What vintage is the 12" Garmin MFD? As you may or may not know some data cannot be shared between the newer all black MFD's and the silver one you have.

 

[mvweebles]

How long have you owned the boat and how do you intend to use it? I can imagine a dozen use-cases where the original electronics would more than suffice; or at least put it to the lower quartile of the to-do list. In my opinion, in your situation, I would wait a few years and then do a wholesale upgrade.

Peter

 

[Portage_Bay]

Yes those old radars were amazing when properly tuned. But a one person bridge 'team' having to look in the hood, out the windows and plot on a paper chart. I don't miss those days.

The first boat that I had any electronic on was my sailboat Callipygian, a 43' Perry design. The only unit aboard was a wonderful radar that had the round CRT with a rubber hood to look into. It was wonderful and very sensitive when tuned correctly (Luckily my military training was in communications, radar and navigational instruments, of course that was in the early 70s.
I liked that radar a lot but it was at the NAV station

 

[man7sell]

What vintage is the 12" Garmin MFD? As you may or may not know some data cannot be shared between the newer all black MFD's and the silver one you have.

It was a discontinued last years model at West Marine Echomap Ultra. New for $800, was $2K. Could not resist.

 

[man7sell]

How long have you owned the boat and how do you intend to use it? I can imagine a dozen use-cases where the original electronics would more than suffice; or at least put it to the lower quartile of the to-do list. In my opinion, in your situation, I would wait a few years and then do a wholesale upgrade.

Peter

Owned her 2 months. As for the list, not much else to do except replace the refer, and that is on order

 

[man7sell]

Yes those old radars were amazing when properly tuned. But a one person bridge 'team' having to look in the hood, out the windows and plot on a paper chart. I don't miss those days.

True that. What amazes me though is even after a quarter of a century since that old radar, the new ones just don't seem to be as good. They do have multi functions of course which is fantastic.

 

[lwarden]

It was a discontinued last years model at West Marine Echomap Ultra. New for $800, was $2K. Could not resist.

Should be a nice upgrade, but you may only be able to transfer some data between your older Garmin system and the new unit via Nmea2K. The new unit will have higher resolution maps which won't be able to be displayed on the older system. Radar from the older system will likely not be able to be displayed on the newer one, etc. NMEA2K info such as location, heading, depth, autopilot or any sort of numerical data will transfer back and forth though so that is good. I'm not sure what your expectations are, perhaps you already know this.

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=brN6LNfDBi8obELChD8hJ9

 

[Jeff F]

True that. What amazes me though is even after a quarter of a century since that old radar, the new ones just don't seem to be as good. They do have multi functions of course which is fantastic.

Do you have a heading sensor? A lot of functionality gets much better with a good heading input, particularly in currents.

 

[man7sell]

First install VHF radio

The boat came with an old Standard VHF radio, located behind the helm. So to use it you would have to turn around and face aft. So that one is gone and a new one installed so you can keep your eye out as to where you are going.

 

[Bmarler]

True that. What amazes me though is even after a quarter of a century since that old radar, the new ones just don't seem to be as good. They do have multi functions of course which is fantastic.

I have an old konel/furuno if you want to press it back into service. Or use it as a display piece. Sadly I no longer have the scanner for it though. I took it out as it weighed a ton and took a half acre of dashboard space.

 

[man7sell]

New instrument pod build

Now that I have replace the old old old depth sounder with a nice Garmin ultra MFD, I didn't like it in the upper position. So I am making a teak pod that will sit behind the steering station. Here it is sort of mocked up, going to take it to the boat and see if I got all the angles right. MFD to the left, and the autopilot control is the hole on the right.

 

[man7sell]

With the new pod installed, I took down the old wood plate that held first the very old depth finder then the new cart platter bracket. Well behind it looked awful. After some contemplation, I re installed the plate with a nice binocular holder.

 

[rgano]

With the new pod installed, I took down the old wood plate that held first the very old depth finder then the new cart platter bracket. Well behind it looked awful. After some contemplation, I re installed the plate with a nice binocular holder.

Looks good. Dija smear a bit of silicone one the contact surface of the case to keep the binocs from sliding out in a seaway? Might help.

 

[man7sell]

Looks good. Dija smear a bit of silicone one the contact surface of the case to keep the binocs from sliding out in a seaway? Might help.

Thought about that, they are tight when you flex them out, and the rubber grips hold pretty tight. I may add a simple button down strap to make sure they are secure in a seaway.

 

[rgano]

Thought about that, they are tight when you flex them out, and the rubber grips hold pretty tight. I may add a simple button down strap to make sure they are secure in a seaway.

 

[man7sell]

New consul all put together. Like it.