How Old Are Your Electronics

[sailorboy1]

The age of electronics seem to be a big issue to some people. Since mine are 18 years old and still working I wondered what the real life experience of people are. So a new poll is born.

BTW I radar doesn't work. But then it only sometimes worked 9 years ago.

[Pete7]

Whilst the electronic charts are all less than 2 years old, the chart plotters and AIS are over a decade. However, since they still work I see no useful reason to change.

The ST60s and VHF again all work so very much a case of leave them alone. They are all in stand alone mode so failure of any one item isn't a problem.

ST2000 tiller pilot sold after 16 years still working and replaced with Evo 100 wheel drive as a better solution with the gyro compass.

RADAR would be nice but since I don't want to add outdated equipment (Raymarine C80) I will wait a while longer and do the whole lot in one go at some point in the future.

Pete

[Mike OReilly]

I’ve had our boat for about 10 years now, so all of the electronics are in that age range … oh wait, there is a Tacktick system that is older. Damn, I should have added a tick in the 15-20 category.

I won’t be replacing stuff until I need to, so they will keep aging, as will I — I hope .

[Rjt]

My Raymarine C80 plotter is over 10 years, and my ST6002 auto pilot. But my wind and speed/depth died. And so did their replacements 2.5 years later. Radar is still good, but don’t use it much.

[sailorboy1]

It occurs to me that the poll isn’t going to provide real useful answers because it doesn't have a way to tell if they are only X years old because the boat is that age.

[sailorchic34]

vhf Radio chartplotter and "new" depth sounder, 12 years old.
old heathkit depth sounder, 47 years old. Still my primary.
old autohelm 3000 autopilot, 24 years old, repaired several times.
new diy autopilot, 8 months old.
new engine gauges, 25 years old.
new icom m25 handheld vhf, 1 month.

[thomm225]

My Vintage Garmin 120 GPS just failed this Spring. It looks like it could be 1990's technology. It had the little antenna also. Problem my have just been the antenna but I decided to get rid of it anyway

I had a Vintage Standard Horizon Chart plotter with one of those fiberglass pole style antennas that failed 2 years ago. I'm thinking it was from the same era

Both of these came with the boat. Boat picture is 4-5 years old before repainting and new dodger/ mainsail cover etc. Notice blue miller lite can

I replaced them with a handheld VHF w/GPS

Vintage Humminbird Depth Finder still working

[Sailmonkey]

Our little midget GPSmap176 is at least 20 years old. It’s still going strong, is low power consumption, and does what I ask of it.

I’ve since added a new raymarine plotter and radar, but kept the little unit. It’s not in the way and at this point I’m going for longevity.

[Dave22q]

Raymarine ST6001 autopilot, plotter, wind,depth set all 2008 still going strong. Had to send in computer for what was a minor repair. Also replace wheel drive motor few years ago (easy job). Until convinced otherwise I will stay with Raymarine.

[jen1722terry]

Our Raymarine 70RC Plus (with radar) is 12 years old. Works fine. A larger display would be nice but we're used to the small one. We can zoom into details if we need to. Radar works well and we use it fairly often in foggy Maine.

We plan to use it until it dies, or we die.

When we purchased the boat in '13, we assumed we'd be replacing the electronics with the newest model. We called a local marine electronics store in Middle River, MD and asked for a boat visit and quote. The guy (wish I could remember his name) asked us what system we had. We told him we had the 70RC plus. He recommended we not replace it for it is one of the most reliable units made and if we really wanted to replace it he'd buy it and sell it to someone else. We thanked him copiously for his honesty and talking himself out of $4,000+ of business.

6 years later and he's right, the thing still works fine.

Cheers

[Donald Bryden]

After 14 years of cruising almost full time, I have replaced my radar, chart plotter, and depth and speed instruments with newer technology. I am impressed with the new stuff. The problems I had with the old stuff was the screens turned black and were hard or impossible to read. My VHF and autopilot are now that way but have not been replaced. My old chart plotter was from 2006 and would only show AIS A. My new chart plotter which is mounted in the companionway will allow me to use a tablet at the helm with the same information at the plotter. My radar monitor kept failing or turning black, and I kept buying used ones on ebay. Finally, when the antenna quit working, I gave the mess away and bought new. The transducer on my depth and speed instruments quit in New Zealand and I replaced them overnight while hanging in the slings. Some of my old instruments predate 2004, but have only been used since 2004. Some of the old stuff I would have had repaired or refurbished, but of course, the manufactures had quit servicing them years ago.

[Emouchet]

If it aren't broken, don't fix it !


All my St60 series wind, speed depth and St6001 Auto-pilot came new with the boat. Now 23 years old. Still going strong.


HF and VHF from Icom, 2007.


Added a 2016 Garmin 8" chart plotter and 3G radar in place of an old one that could not load charts memory stick anymore.


Added also a 2016 Em-track AIS transceiver.


Replaced old PWM solar controller with a 2018 Victron MPPT.
That's about it !

[Hoodsail]

boat & engine instruments = 41 yrs old - time for new tach, hour meter stopped turning over last season.
hand held garmin gps 76 = 13 yrs old
vesper class B AIS = 1 yr old
inreach explorer plus = 1 yr old
ocean signal safesea e100 EPIRB = 1 yr old
garmin 7" chartplotter = 1 .5 yrs old
garmin 5" chartplotter = 3 yrs old
garmin gnx sail pack = 2 yrs old
JL amp = 3.5 yrs old
Fusion stereo = 3.5 yrs old
Fusion wake tower speakers = 3.5 yrs old.
all for now..but seasons just beginning....

[Exile]

Good idea for a thread SailorBoy. I'm encouraged about the reports of longevity.

(Pre-Navico) B&G instruments & (excellent) AP are 19 years old (I think). Minor repairs to instruments over the past 11 years, and I recently refurbished the AP ram (leaking).

Ditto (19 yrs) on the analog Furuno radar with LCD repeater at the helm. Both have required pretty extensive refurbishing/magnetron replacement, but I was dissuaded from replacement by the techs.

12 years on Garmin chartplotters & Icom radios. Like the poster above, I also have a Garmin 376 (similar to the 176 & 276) that long predates the boat and has proven to be remarkably durable. I have to use ancient Garmin software and an old computer to load charts (and land-based mapping as needed), but it still works fine as a compact backup.

I've grown weary of all the obsolescence, expensive updating, and exorbitant chart pricing from Garmin (and maybe other mfgs), and am opting to go with PC and device-based e-navigation from here on out. But I'll probably keep the plotters in place until/unless they die.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by Hoodsail

boat & engine instruments = 41 yrs old - time for new tach, hour meter stopped turning over last season.
hand held garmin gps 76 = 13 yrs old
vesper class B AIS = 1 yr old
inreach explorer plus = 1 yr old
ocean signal safesea e100 EPIRB = 1 yr old
garmin 7" chartplotter = 1 .5 yrs old
garmin 5" chartplotter = 3 yrs old
garmin gnx sail pack = 2 yrs old
JL amp = 3.5 yrs old
Fusion stereo = 3.5 yrs old
Fusion wake tower speakers = 3.5 yrs old.
all for now..but seasons just beginning....

How do you like your Fusion stereo?