Dear Colin

I'm interessted how you installed the second Raymarine Autopilot to the helm. As I understood, you installed not a linear drive AP direct to the rudder Quadrant.Correct ?

Can you send me some pics per email ? Also if you can send me infos/pics about the installation of your fwd/rear facing camera.

my email: Hanspeter.baettig at bluemail dot ch

 

Thank you very much.

Hanspeter

SM Tamango 2

----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----
Von : amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com
Datum : 15/01/2017 - 01:26 (UTC)
An : amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com
Betreff : Re: [Amel Yacht Owners] Electronics questions for 2003 sm#380

 

On Island Pearl II we like the old B&G instruments but we have linked these to two new Raymarine E70 chart plotters (Nav station & rear cabin) plus a new ES97 at the helm. We went with a Raymarine 650 AIS, a Raymarine Network system to network all displays off any one of the plotters chart cards and added a 2nd full new Raymarine Autopilot at the helm with quick change over switch between autopilot 1 and 2.

These are all great but you could do the same with any brand, we just happen to prefer Raymarine now as it is robust (like B&G used to be before being bought out).

By far the best new equipment we added was the latest Raymarine Quantum radar. This little unit is absolutely incredible in picking up even isolated unlit thin mooring poles when night sailing and best of all uses almost nil power!! We now have it on all the time whilst sailing, and for the first time ever we now have peace of mind sailing on pitch black nights with no moonlight! It was not all that expensive either, and we kept the old Amel supplied radar as well as backup and for seeing further but haven't even switched the old one on once since getting the Quantum. Just moved it's screen back in the nav station area so we can fit a monitor in front of it on a swing arm to access the old radar when/if required. Also on the 2nd radar mount (1 meter below the original) we have a fwd and rear facing camera linked to the TV's so can see what's coming and going whilst sailing solo and down making a cup of tea etc..

Lastly, if it is not yet done, have the old B&G instruments linked to your auto-pilots and network. This way everything talks to each other via NMEA. We also have 4 extra Raymarine i 70 displays on the boat so we can see wind, radar, AIS, Speed, Depth on these too, plus to get the benefit of using the new autopilot on "wind pilot" mode which we sometimes find handy. Possibly all the I70's was overkill though and not necessary as we generally only have 2 of these on most of the time. 

But of everything I would say absolutely the Quantum Radar was the very best buy.

Colin & Lauren Streeter, 

Island Pearl II, Amel 53 # 332

Brisbane

On Sun, Jan 15, 2017 at 8:20 AM, Alexandre Uster von Baar uster@... [amelyachtowners] <amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

Good afternoon Steve,

First, congratulations for becoming the owner of #380, you definitely acquire a beautiful sailing vessel and welcome to the Amel Family.

I can’t reply your question, but want to pick your mind on it…

Just like you, when I purchased my SM2K not so long ago in 2012, I was very excited, had lots of ideas… changing, upgrading, etc…
many people (Bill, Kent, etc.) gave the same advice: don’t change anything for at least one year.

If I may ask, what is wrong with your current Furuno radar? Just Old? Not the latest?
The technician that installed my ICOM AIS Transmitter in 2013, give me his opinion on the rest of my electronics, since he was highly recommended and I would have done (right or wrong) anything he said. He actually said my Furuno Radar (regardless of its age) is a great one, still used by many fishermen, so don’t replace it. And I follow his advice.

Regarding the Navigation equipments, my plan was to do like Francisco and Oddette on Peregrinus SM2K #250 having a B&G Zeus 12 with slave monitor, etc.).
Therefore, to be honest, the 20% spending budget on the purchasing price for the 1st year, was already spent, so I decided to keep using multiple (for back up reason) iPad with Navionics charts on and Bad Elf to send GPS location through Blue Tooth.
I am sure it is very deferent to what most people use, but has been working very well for me for the last 4 years in the Bahamas and the Caribbean.
I can walk anywhere I want with my iPad (with water proof protection), etc.
If not use as a primary, I would definitely recommend use it as back up, countless stories of sailing I met (non-Amel owners) who had their primary Chart plotter failing and end up using the iPad + GPS sending.

As one of my instructors said, don’t spend too much money upgrading what is already working (and has been working sufficiently for over a decade), think more about spending money on “expected/scheduled” maintenance (like Bow Thruster, C-Drive, engine, genset, etc.).

Just sharing, and congratulations again on purchasing SM#280!

Sincerely, Alexandre
SM2K #289 NIKIMAT
Harbor View Marina, Tortola, BVI

--------------------------------------------
On Sat, 1/14/17, steve_morrison@... [amelyachtowners] <amelyachtowners@...om> wrote:

Subject: [Amel Yacht Owners] Electronics questions for 2003 sm#380
To: amelyachtowners@...m
Date: Saturday, January 14, 2017, 3:36 PM

 









Hi all, I am headed down to Fort
Lauderdale next week to continue getting to know my newly
acquired SM and am planning on meeting with Jeff Grossman of
Associated Electronics to evaluate the current Furuno vx2
set up and discuss possible upgrades.  I have recently seen
a few comments on the forum warning against letting regular
'electronics types' poke around and work in the
electrically bonded world of Amel electronics.  Are there
specific things I need to be aware of before going ahead
with an upgrade?  Are there 24v/bonded protocols or
specialists in the south Florida
area?
I must say, the sense I get
from reading the various threads on the forum make me feel
as if I need to educate myself to a level higher than most
of those I ask to service my vessel so that I can personally
oversee all work done to her, and this seems daunting to a
new owner.  
Those that have altered or
replaced the original Nav electronics (Chartplotters, radar,
AIS, etc), what have you gone with, and where and who did
the work, or would you recommend to do the
work?
Thanks for your time,
consideration, and knowledge,Steve
MorrisonSM#380

TouraiFt Lauderdale

--

Colin Streeter

0411 016 445