OpenCPN, Route & Waypoint Transfer and Raymarine MFD

[RaymondR]

I have been a very keen (and appreciative) OpenCPN user for many years and my old boat had a dedicated nav computer connected to a Raymarine auto pilot via a USB to RS422/485 converter.

I tended to do my route planning for the next day during the evening and crank up the computer and activate the route as part of my getting underway routine the next morning. Other than the odd software crash it worked well.

I purchased a Raymarine a series MFD to install at the helm for the delivery voyage of a replacement vessel as I intended to use crew and wanted the person to have a moving chart display whilst on the wheel.

I also purchased the Fugawi route planning software then discovered it would not work with the charts packaged with the MFD and purchased the upgraded charts.

Having spent a considerable quantum of nervous energy and two of the five allowed installs of the Fugawi route planning software and later having to replace the computer onto which it was installed (the replacement was not software related) I find myself reluctant to re-enter the fray for another bout of proprietary software battles.

Question.

Has anyone out there managed to overcome the proprietary Raymarine MFD software and download OpenCPN generated routes and waypoints to the MFD via wifi?

[SFors]

Answer to an old posting.
Its impossible to transfer OpenCPN Waypoints to any Raymarine MFD via Wifi. The only way is to use a SD card and the .GPX file. I transfer my OpenCPN generated Waypoints with a SD card and in principle it works, but for my text explanations it does not work as OpenCPN uses a description field and Raymarine a comment field instead.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by SFors

Answer to an old posting.
Its impossible to transfer OpenCPN Waypoints to any Raymarine MFD via Wifi. The only way is to use a SD card and the .GPX file. I transfer my OpenCPN generated Waypoints with a SD card and in principle it works, but for my text explanations it does not work as OpenCPN uses a description field and Raymarine a comment field instead.

Thanks,

That's pretty well what I have found and it's a damned nuisance. I do most of my route planning on OpenCPN on a computer or tablet because it's so easy to use, particularly with a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard.

I tried Raymarine's, or perhaps it was Navionics, program which allows this but gave it up as being too counter intuitive and cumbersome.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by SFors

Answer to an old posting.
Its impossible to transfer OpenCPN Waypoints to any Raymarine MFD via Wifi. The only way is to use a SD card and the .GPX file. I transfer my OpenCPN generated Waypoints with a SD card and in principle it works, but for my text explanations it does not work as OpenCPN uses a description field and Raymarine a comment field instead.

As discussed in another thread in the last day or so.


GPX files are plain text XML files.


You should be able to open them in any decent text editor and do a global replace of the <desc> and </desc> tags with <cmt> and </cmt>

[RaymondR]

Thanks StuM,

I've given up on trying to make even the Simrad autopilot talk to the Raymarine MFD and whilst I still do my route planning with OpenCPN I now just commit it to memory and use the "GoTo" function on the MFD for each leg of the voyage.

Having OpenCPN on a 10" navigation-dedicated computer connected to a Raymarine ST4000 autopilot via a usb to RS422/485 converter with OpenCPN multiplexing AIS data and displaying it provided an excellent navigation and control system on the old boat. Unfortunately the change over to a MFD and NMEA2000 on the new boat is not providing the same degree of utility and is proving way more costly.

I have a backup Raymarine head and computer which I will be connecting to the Simrad helm drive unit and will be moving one of the MFDs from the helm position down to the nav station and hopefully will be able to course plan on it. What would be really nice would be to get the nav station MFD to display on my large screen TV and respond to a wireless mouse.

The up side of the change over is that the dopler radar at the helm position is a fantastic improvement on the Furuno greyscale at the nav station.