New (to me) Sailboat upgrades

[bigtex]

Hey All,
I am looking at an early 2000s sailboat that I will be looking to do some electronic upgrades on. It has Raymarine ST60s and a Garmin GPS 192 C.

I would like to stick with a Raymarine GPS/multi-function as I would also like to add the autopilot in the near future.

Comparing features etc seems to be rough on the Raymarine site compared to Garmin where you can select features etc.

Are there any recommended models you would look at if you were me?
I am not looking for anything super fancy, just something that will (hopefully) work with the future autopilot and my preexisting hardware (ST60)

To add I will mostly be doing coastal cruising nothing offshore.


Thanks for your advice!

[tkeithlu]

Well, if you want to hold onto the ST60 system for the future, that pretty well says you'll use Raymarine for sensors you want that are available. But then, what about the rest? If you have enough space, there are advantages to keeping your electronics separated as opposed to a "glass cockpit." You don't lose the whole thing when your monitor goes "ping," you can pick and choose from different manufacturers, and you can upgrade each without paying for an entire new "system." But then, some people really want to lay Nav, radar, AIS, and the like on top of each other. Some may have trouble integrating different images in their heads.

I like Garmin for most items. But, having the space and finding it easy to integrate images cognitively, I've ended up with a hodge-podge - Chinese AIS, cheap MMSI VHF, Garmin spare GPS, OpenCPN on a laptop, Furuno wireless radar on a cheap iPad, and engine gauges from an auto parts store. I'm very happy with it.

Have fun with your project. I hope you'll get some other points of view here, and then go looking for what will suit you.

[bigtex]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Well, if you want to hold onto the ST60 system for the future, that pretty well says you'll use Raymarine for sensors you want that are available. But then, what about the rest? If you have enough space, there are advantages to keeping your electronics separated as opposed to a "glass cockpit." You don't lose the whole thing when your monitor goes "ping," you can pick and choose from different manufacturers, and you can upgrade each without paying for an entire new "system." But then, some people really want to lay Nav, radar, AIS, and the like on top of each other. Some may have trouble integrating different images in their heads.

I like Garmin for most items. But, having the space and finding it easy to integrate images cognitively, I've ended up with a hodge-podge - Chinese AIS, cheap MMSI VHF, Garmin spare GPS, OpenCPN on a laptop, Furuno wireless radar on a cheap iPad, and engine gauges from an auto parts store. I'm very happy with it.

Have fun with your project. I hope you'll get some other points of view here, and then go looking for what will suit you.

THanks, in the end I guess the ultimate goal was having Raymarine items to integrate into the auto pilot although I'm not sure if that's even needed. After further reading, it seems the autopilot comes with everything it needs and you can integrate it into a chart plotter for more ease of use.

[dougweibel]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

If you have enough space, there are advantages to keeping your electronics separated as opposed to a "glass cockpit." You don't lose the whole thing when your monitor goes "ping,"

We had a very similar situation with our last boat and put in a Raymarine Axiom chart plotter and a pair of Raymarine i70s multifunction instrument displays. You can program the i70s to display just about any info the chart plotter can display (e.g. instrument data, nav data, AIS), except for maps and radar data. The i70s and a tablet provided pretty good redundancy for the chart plotter.

[Bill O]

Before you purchase a bunch of expensive name brand electronics, take a look at opencpn. It can do everything (and possibly more) w/o breaking the bank.
We have set up our "cutting edge" nav. station w/a small computer (raspberry pi) and integrated, GPS, AIS, wind, speed, autopilot, etc. and have more bells and whistles than you could ever want.
Here are some quick reads while you are in lock down:
Phoenix's Flight: Building a Marine Navigational Computer with OpenCPN and Raspberry Pi3
Phoenix's Flight: Pypilot Open-Source Marine Autopilot for Hydraulic Steering

We did keep some of our old instruments as a stand alone, but are not really needed w/the new system.

[bigtex]

Originally Posted by Bill O

Before you purchase a bunch of expensive name brand electronics, take a look at opencpn. It can do everything (and possibly more) w/o breaking the bank.
We have set up our "cutting edge" nav. station w/a small computer (raspberry pi) and integrated, GPS, AIS, wind, speed, autopilot, etc. and have more bells and whistles than you could ever want.
Here are some quick reads while you are in lock down:
Phoenix's Flight: Building a Marine Navigational Computer with OpenCPN and Raspberry Pi3
Phoenix's Flight: Pypilot Open-Source Marine Autopilot for Hydraulic Steering

We did keep some of our old instruments as a stand alone, but are not really needed w/the new system.

I am defiantly not against this and have looked into it. Is there a guide on connecting the existing instruments into OpenCPN? For example serial to nmea?

[barnakiel]

Toys do not sail the boat. Just buy what you find matches you taste and budget level.


Today all the gadgets have the same functions, just the housing bears a different logo.


Cheers,
b.

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by bigtex

I am defiantly not against this and have looked into it. Is there a guide on connecting the existing instruments into OpenCPN? For example serial to nmea?

There is a multiplexer in opencpn (also openplotter for RPi), so mostly you get the proper usb adapter (RS232, etc.) and plug it into the usb side ports (or hub).

[Matt Johnson]

https://www.raymarine.com/view/index-id=1597.html

The ST1 to STNG converts the data from your existing ST60s to a language spoken by all modern marine electronic equipment (NMEA2000). You'll no longer be limited by a proprietary system, so can pick whatever fits your needs.

Depending on how connected you want the system, the autopilot can be stand alone and not the same brand as other equipment.

Matt

[bigtex]

Originally Posted by Bill O

There is a multiplexer in opencpn (also openplotter for RPi), so mostly you get the proper usb adapter (RS232, etc.) and plug it into the usb side ports (or hub).

I guess this is the part I cant seem to find documented. I need a USB to serial adapter and then out from the serial into a NMEA bus?
Has anyone created a 'shopping' list for these parts?
Thanks!

[sailjumanji]

To use a chartplotter to CONTROL the autopilot, they need to be from the same manufacturer. That may be because each manufacturer seems to have proprietary commands to control the autopilot. Alternatively, the chartplotter can send a waypoint to the autopilot for it to steer to, and the wind instrument can provide a wind angle for the AP to steer to. (Assuming that you network together all of these on NMEA 2000, etc.) My B&G Zeus 3 will control my B&G ram autopilot. But on my previous boat, my Garmin CP would not control my Raymarine autopilot.

The old Seatalk instruments like the ST60's can be networked into a NEMA 2000 system using a Seatalk-to-SeatalkNG converter. Getting all of your data onto a systems allows sharing among the instruments.

[jamhass]

Originally Posted by bigtex

I guess this is the part I cant seem to find documented. I need a USB to serial adapter and then out from the serial into a NMEA bus?

One option starting from an ST-60 system is to add an ST-60 Graphic display. This includes a ST to NMEA converter in the display unit. They show up on EBay on occasion.