marine electronics

[elle]

what is everyone using these days? i work on a j-130, all the instruments were zapped during katrina and we are getting ready to replace them. the crew has requested the usual, and obvious, ...boat speed, vmg, gps, compass, true wind, xm weather (?)...
is there something out there better than raytheon, which is what all my other boats were using...
the boat mostly sails in lake pontchartrain but also does a couple distance races a year.

suggestions?

[Solo]

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[elle]

yeah, yeah.....

[Solo]

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[doghouse]

ok, ok, you can buy tactic mini compass since that's pretty important. and if you want to splurge even more, a velocitek puck and handheld weather meter. there you go a complete instruments package for about $700K. leaves money to buy plb's and spinlock life vests for everyone.

s.

$700K? That's a pricey Tactick!

[doghouse]

what is everyone using these days? i work on a j-130, all the instruments were zapped during katrina and we are getting ready to replace them. the crew has requested the usual, and obvious, ...boat speed, vmg, gps, compass, true wind, xm weather (?)...
is there something out there better than raytheon, which is what all my other boats were using...
the boat mostly sails in lake pontchartrain but also does a couple distance races a year.

suggestions?

Anything is better than Raytheon. Seriously.

B&G Hercules is pretty much rock solid standard. You can't go wrong with it.

[elle]

what can i say....they want some fancy shit and i get paid to find, price and hire someone else to come install it all.....

[elle]

thanks...

[Solo]

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[doghouse]

are you a Farr boat sailor? i said complete package - micro, puck, and windmeter.

back to GP42 yachting for you.

oops, i said a bad word.

s.

Closer every day....

[doghouse]

thanks...

I would stay away from Ockam as well. Overpriced and underperforming. My experience with it has all been fairly terrible. I just sailed two straight regattas on Vela Veloce in which the instruments were out the entire time. Not part of the time, the ENTIRE time. This is a brand new 2 million dollar boat, so it's really so unacceptable for this to happen I don't think there is an English word for it yet. They ripped the Ockams out and put a brand new set of B&G 3000's in for the Caribbean season.

One thing to consider with B&G is that the very very top of the line systems are very maintenance intensive to keep running at optimum. The WPT is the top B&G, the 3000 is the next to the top.

NKE also has great review, although I am not very familiar with their newer stuff.

[pogen]

I just put in all new Nexus NX-2 stuff, after agonizing over NX2 vs nke. Still shaking it out. So far it's working though, although there is a lot of calibrating to be done. I took the caims for their new high-performance compass a bit on faith, it is not the same as a rate gyro. But nke was much more money in the end, and I did not care for the setup of their cockpit displays (I like the more traditional displays, and nexus was a better fit for all the holes already in my cabintop). Someone I trust with a 36.7 also had recently chosen Nexus and that helped me tip.

If I was going new with a bigger boat, I'd probably have gone nke with big-ass displays on the mast. One factor I am coming to appreciate is that displays only in the cockpit are OK for shorthanded, but as you add to the afterguard numbers the mast displays become more valuable.

Next: below decks nexus autopilot.

[elle]

thanks again...we do not use mast display. the existing holes are right forward of the companionway hatch and on the binnacle. i will try to take pics. all the old instruments were removed and junked. i sure do wish now that i had pre-k pics of what all was going on there...it's been 5 yrs and i have completely forgotten what all we used to have.

[pogen]

Sounds like a similar situation to mine. I have 2 NX-2 Multifunction heads, one can be used as a GPS repeater, etc., and their dedicated wind instrument. Compass is the new HPC model.

Good pricing and support from Achilles at Chicago Marine Instruments, tell him I sent you.

[Solo]

call rfinn, he'll direct you to NKE peepls. fuck, you could probably even hire him to install it.

s.