Chartplotter recommendations?

[DesertAlbin736]

I would not bother with a chartplotter either if not for these exotic extended cruising plans. But AIS would be handy in the case of ship traffic and blind corners or limited visibility situations on the St. Lawrence. We'll see what kind of shape the cruising kitty is in next year, but might even consider a Class B AIS transceiver to link to the chartplotter to see and be seen.

[RobS]

..with the VHF and chartplotter mounted side by side on the dash, I see no reason to link the two..

So the AIS targets are displayed on your chart, like the screenshots I posted above..

[Rabiss]

I was look at the Simrad go9 radar combo or the nss9 evo3. Has anyone used them?

[DesertAlbin736]

So the AIS targets are displayed on your chart, like the screenshots I posted above..[/quote]

I would like that too, but I may have jumped the gun a little bit by mixing Standard Horizon VHF with Garmin chartplotter. Both have NMEA 0183 connectivity, the Garmin also has NMEA2000 network connections but the SH VHF does not. I'm trying to find out if the VHF can feed AIS to the chartplotter and generate overlays via NMEA0183 but it's likely it won't since while NMEA protocols are mostly standard across manufacturers except that level of data transfer is usually proprietary. Would probably have to get a separate Garmin compatible AIS black box receiver to input AIS data to the chartplotter to get overlays. Next step up would be to get a transceiver that broadcast position info to other boats as well as receiving, but then I'd have to disable the AIS function on the radio, since it would see my own boat as a collision threat. If I wanted that it would have been better not to get a VHF with AIS built in. Or, buy one of Garmin's upscale VHF radios that can send AIS overlay info to the chart plotter. For now I'll just stick with the AIS display on the VHF & see how the cruising kitty shapes up later this spring.

OH well. It's of to the lake we go for an overnight raft up with the sailboat guys. 82* high today, 55* low tonight.

[Norseman]

Yes, the SH radio will display AIS targets on the Garmin plotter.
Got the same combo on my boat. Forgot which input I used, 183 or 2000.
I will probably disconnect it soon and get a clas B AIS instead, but it is halfway down the list of things to do.

[DesertAlbin736]

That's good to know. I have an email inquiry to the GPS Store on just that question, but submitted on Friday too late for business hours, so hope to hear back from them in thw next couple days.

Sent while at anchor on Lake Pleasant.

[Nepidae]

I understand a budget, I only mentioned long term thoughts as a consideration.

We have a SH 2200 with a RAM & PA. My initial thought was to use the AIS linked to my Garmin 740 (before the 7612 & 5" does make a difference, almost twice the screen size), especially if you are going to overlay radar, AIS, etc.

Get in touch with SH they have a wiring diagram available.

Understand that phone AIS (Marine Traffic is a good one) is NOT real time. They get their info from stations and then overlay it on their maps. Not sure what the delay is but any in heavy traffic is detrimental.

We aren't Home Ported in Cayuga, just wintering. We are on the Loop and got that far this past year.

I'd like to go to Seneca but there are some bridges I might not get under (we are at 16' & change). the last Lock we went thru was CS 1. We'll check this coming season to see what the water levels are and see if we can get into Seneca, but if not, it's off to Oswego & Lake Ontario some castle hopping and Canada.

Good luck with your project.

[DesertAlbin736]

SH GX2200 shipment arrived last night, 741xs chartplotter arrived this morning, so both are here. Won't start doing installation work until after the holidays, so stay tuned.

Yes, there are some bridges on the western portions of the Erie canal that might pose a challenge for a boat with 16 foot air draft. Like this one for instance.

[RobS]

SH GX2200 shipment arrived last night, 741xs chartplotter arrived this morning, so both are here. Won't start doing installation work until after the holidays, so stay tuned....

Sounds like it's time for a 12V power supply so you can play in the interim. Comes in handy that these newer units have built-in GPS receiver

[DesertAlbin736]

Well, I do have extra 12V batteries from our RV in my shop here at the house. Won't be able to do much in the way of checking out AIS, since we're a long way from any boats in the water. Except we are 15 miles from the lake, and there's a large commercial dinner cruise tour boat there that should have an AIS transceiver. But I"m not sure even that will be in range, since there's hills and a dam in between. But right now we're in holidays mode, lots of family stuff going on, honey-do's, etc. Don't want the the wrath of the Admiral coming down on my head for not being attentive. She thinks I spend too much time on the PC as it is.

[DesertAlbin736]

Update: Now that the holidays are over, I've finished installing the new 741xs chartplotter & GX2200 VHF. At least the mounting & wiring portion, including NMEA 0183 link between the chartplotter & VHF so the chartplotter will have AIS & DSC target overlay. Actually not quite 100% finished with the install, since I'm still waiting on the 6 pin to 8 pin wire block adapter for the transducer cable that I have on order which is expected to arrive in the mail, possibly today or tomorrow. That's because while the existing Airmar P19 transducer that was used with the old early 2000's era Garmin Fishfinder 240 will work with the 741xs, it has the older 6 pin plug whereas the 741xs uses an 8 pin plug. Since I'm not a fisherman I don't really need the extra resolution of CHIRP technology, rather than go through the hassle & expense of replacing the transducer I can just wire in the 6 pin to 8 pin Garmin adapter. That and a 90 degree antenna connector for the VHF on order from West Marine, since clearance behind the radio is tight. Meanwhile the house & start batteries are still removed, since the transducer & excess cable is underneath where the batteries go and I may still need to pull some more cable through.

By the way, I did hook up the chartplotter to a 12V battery on the bench to check out the features. The pre-loaded g2 chart does cover Canadian coastal waters of the Inside Passage, which was a relief to find out. Debating whether or not to splurge for the upgraded Vision card, have to check with Garmin to see if they have satellite overlay and aerial photo coverage of marinas in Canada like they do for U.S., since Desolation Sound is our ultimate destination this summer. Otherwise would not be worth the extra expense.

The compass had to be placed that far to the left to avoid interference from the VHF speaker magnet. It has a back light wired to the running lights circuit. Note the digital voltmeter at lower right, part of my solar panel charge controller. So I've pretty much gone to "glass cockpit" instrumentation.

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Helm station as it existed when we first bought the boat in March, 2014. No compass, Raymarine SeaTalk GPS which only gave digital lat/long, COG, & SOG readouts, located where the digital voltmeter now resides, a GPS antenna sitting loosely on the dashboard, the old Garmin Fishfinder 240, and the El Cheapo Uniden VHF that not only did not have DSC but didn't even get weather radio channels. The GPS was a PITA, since even with the mushroom antenna it would keep losing signals. I kept the Uniden VHF up until now, but had moved over to the side wall next to the steering wheel. Which reminds me, if anyone has an interest in the Fishfinder 240 sounder I can make you a smokin' deal on it. It takes a 6 pin transducer, but adapter cables to go from an 8 pin transducer to a 6 pin sounder are plug & play.

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A recent iteration of helm station layout, with Garmin GPSmap 76cx hand held, loaded with BlueChart card, wired to 12V house circuit, mounted with a RAM mount, and the old VHF moved over to the side. This was taken before the holding tank project when I removed the old Raymarine GPS & the excess antenna cable. That RX8 coax cable came in handy to extend the antenna wire back up to the dashboard. This is what we had for the past four seasons of cruising. Big improvement going from charts displayed on a screen the size of a business card to a 7 inch diagonal display integrated with depth sounder. Of course the 76cx will be retained as a backup & ditch bag item, and of course we'll always have paper charts handy.

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Transducer is underneath where the batteries go.

Batteries removed, gaining access to transducer...

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New AGM batteries in place...

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Locating the batteries in the starboard bench seat locker instead of the stock location was done in a previous project to make room for a 20 gallon waste holding tank.
Old batteries & 9 gallon holding tank in stock location

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New 20 gallon holding tank where old FLA batteries used to be.

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[Sunsetrider]

DA - nifty setup! I rely on my electronics for compass. I have put off installing a proper magnetic compass out of fear that I will not be able to compensate it for deviation properly. Have you taken steps to check the deviation when you relocated yours?

[DesertAlbin736]

Have you taken steps to check the deviation when you relocated yours?

Not yet. Next time we're out on the lake & have the chartplotter up & running I'll check it against the GPS heading in magnetic mode. Speaking of which, wish you were here. While the rest the northern tier is freezing with that so-called "bomb-cyclone", we've been having a gloriously warm & dry winter, not a single night below 0* C and days in the range of +/- 23* C. Not a drop of rain since August, although we're expecting some rain tomorrow. We'll pay for it with interest come summer, when it's 116* F (46* C) out. Hopefully we'll be in Desolation Sound by then. Besides, I owe you a boat ride. BTW, we saw Andrea's posting on FB, looks pretty but chilly.

[Sunsetrider]

You just reminded me why I am off to Colombia in a few weeks!

[DesertAlbin736]

You just reminded me why I am off to Colombia in a few weeks!

You mean like this?

romancing stone.jpg