Refitting the powerboat with many things approaching 30 years old, so very old technology.
Mostly it is a new for old approach.
So all opinions sought as to best products or solutions.
Happy to pay good money for reliability and less maintenance.
Going to start with VHF antennas.
First choice was Shakespeare but maybe the 7m not 2.5m.
GME seems a bit too cheap and cheerful
Second is mobile phone booster (tricky one that one as the Sat phone antenna was much simpler)
Third is the AIS transceiver.
Fourth is new radar
The small Furuno colour set is the choice there so far.
All help appreciated.
I prefer stand alone devices which can be networked rather than everyone on one screen.
Is this a trawler type power boat or a gin palace sports fisherman? Does it have a 240/415v generator plant? Power boats are easy really and I would suggest starting with a desk top PC with Windows 10 and a quality monitor at least 20 inches. OpenCPN with all the add ons.
Electric kettle, microwave, fridge and a decent sized TV. Then add the other bits.
I would just use a Furuno radar but you might consider the Chinese brand from Hong Kong that apparently makes Furuno as well. For the choices of AIS etc I would suggest reading the relevant sections on www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f13/
We've had all the name brand VHF radios, including several GME,
No worse or better than any of the others...one is sitting out in the weather ( flybridge cover flew away in a storm awhile ago )
Still works well despite that.
You pay a premium price for features on a Icom that you don't end up using...or can't use.
That one is also out in the weather as well.
Select to expand quoteRamona said..
Is this a trawler type power boat or a gin palace sports fisherman? Does it have a 240/415v generator plant? Power boats are easy really and I would suggest starting with a desk top PC with Windows 10 and a quality monitor at least 20 inches. OpenCPN with all the add ons.
Electric kettle, microwave, fridge and a decent sized TV. Then add the other bits.
I would just use a Furuno radar but you might consider the Chinese brand from Hong Kong that apparently makes Furuno as well. For the choices of AIS etc I would suggest reading the relevant sections on www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f13/
Taken out the old generator but have big house bank and 2000 watt inverter.
Had not thought of using desk top PC so will investigate.
Have a small furuno plotter and sounder but the JRC radar is original (green CRT)
Cheers
we have GME AIS which shares the masthead vhf antenna via a GME antenna splitter. interfaces perfectly with our raymarine plotter
good value compared to some of the others, and we've been extremely happy with it
cheers,
Select to expand quotePacificStar said..
we have GME AIS which shares the masthead vhf antenna via a GME antenna splitter. interfaces perfectly with our raymarine plotter
good value compared to some of the others, and we've been extremely happy with it
cheers,
Seems hard to beat GME on price so good to hear
Cheers
Select to expand quotelydia said..Ramona said..
Is this a trawler type power boat or a gin palace sports fisherman? Does it have a 240/415v generator plant? Power boats are easy really and I would suggest starting with a desk top PC with Windows 10 and a quality monitor at least 20 inches. OpenCPN with all the add ons.
Electric kettle, microwave, fridge and a decent sized TV. Then add the other bits.
I would just use a Furuno radar but you might consider the Chinese brand from Hong Kong that apparently makes Furuno as well. For the choices of AIS etc I would suggest reading the relevant sections on www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f13/
Taken out the old generator but have big house bank and 2000 watt inverter.
Had not thought of using desk top PC so will investigate.
Have a small furuno plotter and sounder but the JRC radar is original (green CRT)
Cheers
I have a 4000 watt inverter and it's a bit disappointing. It will not run a wet and dry vacuum cleaner and on a boat like yours means you will have to run a suitcase generator for the domestic stuff.
Having a 240v generator means you can run all the household stuff easily. If you stick with 12v then you will need a 12v PC set up run from the inverter.
I should imagine you are intending constructing a short mast and boom arrangement to launch a dinghy. The mast would then be used for the nav lights and VHF aerial and a closed Furuno radar dome {above head height}. I would suggest a new VHF like the Standard 2200 or one of the other brand equivalents. This will give you non transmitting AIS and a GPS and a good basic nav set up. The major consideration is going to be the choice of auto pilot. I would suggest just the basics at this stage and get the boat going and add stuff as you see fit.
Motor boats have the advantage of ample electrical power while steaming. I would be chatting to your local professional fishermen and finding out their recommendations for an autopilot. Having an autopilot that is driven by a GPS is one of the basics.
Select to expand quoteRamona said..
I have a 4000 watt inverter and it's a bit disappointing. It will not run a wet and dry vacuum cleaner and on a boat like yours means you will have to run a suitcase generator for the domestic stuff.
Having a 240v generator means you can run all the household stuff easily. If you stick with 12v then you will need a 12v PC set up run from the inverter.
I should imagine you are intending constructing a short mast and boom arrangement to launch a dinghy. The mast would then be used for the nav lights and VHF aerial and a closed Furuno radar dome {above head height}. I would suggest a new VHF like the Standard 2200 or one of the other brand equivalents. This will give you non transmitting AIS and a GPS and a good basic nav set up. The major consideration is going to be the choice of auto pilot. I would suggest just the basics at this stage and get the boat going and add stuff as you see fit.
Motor boats have the advantage of ample electrical power while steaming. I would be chatting to your local professional fishermen and finding out their recommendations for an autopilot. Having an autopilot that is driven by a GPS is one of the basics.
I have an Edecoa 3500W Pure Sine Wave Inverter (Chinese) & am very happy with it - have been for the last 3 or 4 years!!
It runs my induction cooktops & elec oven/microwave, toaster, jug & 240v vac etc no problem. I have run my 240v HWS element but I think that was pushing the envelope a bit!!
For the "house" PC I use a 12v Mini PC Beelink i3 5005U Dual Core 8GB DDR3L / 128GB SSD (eBay) - Win 10 with 1 TB Ext HDD + Sirf 4 GPS - this is a few years old so I'd say there is newer/better stuff out there now. This is only about 120mm square so fits anywhere. This goes to an 18" 12v monitor & is nearly as good as my desktop PC at home. I'm also running a Pi4, through separate monitor, but you wouldn't need that.
For what it's worth I have a Standard Horizon VHF Radio with AIS but didn't like the AIS so went with a dAISy AIS receiver, which is a great receiver at the right price but I have since gone to a Maiana AIS tranceiver. I think, though, the GME AIS per Pacific Star would be the go.
I'm going to add here as well one of the best investments I made was my Redarc Dual Input Multi-Stage 12V Battery Charger BCDC1250D - there are many different options that may suit you better than this model but since installing this my batteries love it!!
The inverter I have is a Gantz Pure sine wave but just does not have enough grunt for the start up amps required for the vacuum cleaner motor.
Select to expand quoteLazzz said..Ramona said..
I have a 4000 watt inverter and it's a bit disappointing. It will not run a wet and dry vacuum cleaner and on a boat like yours means you will have to run a suitcase generator for the domestic stuff.
Having a 240v generator means you can run all the household stuff easily. If you stick with 12v then you will need a 12v PC set up run from the inverter.
I should imagine you are intending constructing a short mast and boom arrangement to launch a dinghy. The mast would then be used for the nav lights and VHF aerial and a closed Furuno radar dome {above head height}. I would suggest a new VHF like the Standard 2200 or one of the other brand equivalents. This will give you non transmitting AIS and a GPS and a good basic nav set up. The major consideration is going to be the choice of auto pilot. I would suggest just the basics at this stage and get the boat going and add stuff as you see fit.
Motor boats have the advantage of ample electrical power while steaming. I would be chatting to your local professional fishermen and finding out their recommendations for an autopilot. Having an autopilot that is driven by a GPS is one of the basics.
I have an Edecoa 3500W Pure Sine Wave Inverter (Chinese) & am very happy with it - have been for the last 3 or 4 years!!
It runs my induction cooktops & elec oven/microwave, toaster, jug & 240v vac etc no problem. I have run my 240v HWS element but I think that was pushing the envelope a bit!!
For the "house" PC I use a 12v Mini PC Beelink i3 5005U Dual Core 8GB DDR3L / 128GB SSD (eBay) - Win 10 with 1 TB Ext HDD + Sirf 4 GPS - this is a few years old so I'd say there is newer/better stuff out there now. This is only about 120mm square so fits anywhere. This goes to an 18" 12v monitor & is nearly as good as my desktop PC at home. I'm also running a Pi4, through separate monitor, but you wouldn't need that.
For what it's worth I have a Standard Horizon VHF Radio with AIS but didn't like the AIS so went with a dAISy AIS receiver, which is a great receiver at the right price but I have since gone to a Maiana AIS tranceiver. I think, though, the GME AIS per Pacific Star would be the go.
I'm going to add here as well one of the best investments I made was my Redarc Dual Input Multi-Stage 12V Battery Charger BCDC1250D - there are many different options that may suit you better than this model but since installing this my batteries love it!!
Good to hear the Edecoa work well, I bought the same model but have not used it much. I was worried it pack it in if I pushed it! I was going to use it for electric buffers and for the commodores hair dryer etc.
well priced good looking thing and the remote switching is a nice feature.
Richard
