My boat was struck by lightning, which cooked all the (very old) Electrics.
I made an insurance claim, and I planned to put in minimal electronics with a Wifi router and use the ipad as the principal MFD. However, the insurance company won't pay me out, they will only pay the Marine Electrician for work done. This means use it or lose it, so I HAVE to spend 10k (including Labour) on New gear.
Starting with the autopliot, I was looking to upgrade the Autohelm 4000 wheel drive system to a a Linear drive on the quadrant. I like B&G/SIMRAD gear, so I looked into their A/pilots. The guy advised me to buy a Zeus 7 MFD, which will act as a controller for the Autopliot, as well as all the other things it does, but even so this AP set uo is dear @ nearly 5K. As i mentioned I had not been considering an MFD, having planned to use the Ipad, but since he was reccomending the Zeus7, I started looking at Raymarine plotte/MFD's and was surprised to learn that some have bulit in wifi. Does this wifi teh NMEA 0183 sentances to other Apps I.E. mid wifi etc, or only to RAYMARINE apps?
So at this stage, I'm looking at the Zeus7 with B&G Autopilot, and Triton t41 Wind and Tridata DST and B&G sonic hub and wifi module.
V's
RAYMARINE Linear drive Autopliot with P70 head, and i70 Wind and Tridata with a Fusion 650 Stereo and maybe a MFD/Plotter..... maybe an A7 MFD or similar if there's an money for it......
i Know I know first world problems...... but would appreciate any advice on this......
What size boat are we talking? Do you really need a linear drive? I would probably go with the B&G gear if it were me. Maybe if you save a little on the autopilot you could throw in a radar as well.
She's a 33' Motorsailer, bit over 5 tonnes. I figure the Linear drive is also an emergency steering system, if a steering cable broke, a wheel drive autopilot would also be redundant.. a linear drive on the quadrant would still work....
Anchor Express has some discounts going on, I picked up the the EV-200 Evolution Autopilot $1700 with linear drive, which is using a drive unit that has a reliable linear drive that came with my 7 ton 2006 Beneteau, coupled with all new sensor technology and autopilot brain.
Instead of the Zeus, look at the new Simrad and B&G products that have Wifi. Ben just wrote about their new 7 inch MFD's for $799, that look really sweet. Link below.
https://www.panbo.com/archives/2015/03/2_new_standalone_7-inch_mfds_simrad_go7_and_bg_vulcan_v7.html
Thanks Dan, that looks awesome...... The guy was telling me that the Zeus 7 would cut out the need for an autopliot controller I think he said because the Zeus has a GPS built in.....
He was suggesting U would need the following;
SIMRAD AC 12 corepak
B&G T1 Linear Drive ram
A Zeus7.
I'm wondering if the Vulcan 7 would do the job of teh Zeus in this set up, any idea??
You would have to look at the manual. I prefer having the dedicated display, to push +/- 1 and 10 to dodge obstacles plus room for 3 more instrument readings.
In the case of the Raymarine e127, it has a dedicated standby/autopilot button, and other integration features with the autopilot. However when you go to price the autopilot sans controller, the price is pretty close to getting the full autopilot kit. The same may be true for B&G/Simrad.
Thanks again Dan, I have decided to go with the B&G Vulcan.... the only downside, that it does not have an ethernet port, so not RADAR ready yet.... but I'm not in the Market for a RADAR just yet. I'm hoping by the time that I am, there will be RADAR that directly wifi's to the Vulcan...
I am also going for the wireless remote control, which will allow for for push button control...
Thanks again Dan, I have decided to go with the B&G Vulcan.... the only downside, that it does not have an ethernet port, so not RADAR ready yet.... but I'm not in the Market for a RADAR just yet. I'm hoping by the time that I am, there will be RADAR that directly wifi's to the Vulcan...
I am also going for the wireless remote control, which will allow for for push button control...
Your welcome Grotty.
It would be really great, if after 4 weeks with the product, you could write a comment about your experience using the Vulcan, using the link I provided to Ben's entry on the product, so we could all learn from your experience of what your liked or what could be better.
Cheers
I will certainly do that Dan, however the boat is undergoing a Major refit at the moment, and won't be back on the water until the end of August.
Hey Dan, it's been a while..... finally got the boat back on the water in December, and having used the vulcan for a month, I have indeed written an appraisal and posted it on the Vulcan thread here; as you suggested;
https://www.panbo.com/archives/2015/03/2_new_standalone_7-inch_mfds_simrad_go7_and_bg_vulcan_v7.html
Outstanding! Thank you for taking the time to follow up. I enjoyed reading your critical review of the B&G Wifi functionality. I am forwarding your contribution to a friend I advised to look into B&G to read it right now.