Seeking Experience on My Electronics Plan

[apetersonjr]

Okay... It's final and I officially own Cyrolia, a 2010 Jeanneau 53!

And now I'm seeking electronics experience and expertise:

First, here is my situation. She will stay based in Taina Marina, Tahiti, but every 1-3 weeks, I will fly to Tahiti and sail her for 2-3 weeks. Then return home for 1-3 weeks, and then repeat. After 6 months or so, I will start taking longer passages and possibly by the end of the year, leave French Polynesia for other South Pacific destinations. Hence, I'd like to keep that in mind as I start to fit her with her electronics package. Currently, she has her original 2010 electronics including two Raymarine C120 widescreen plotters, one at the helm and one at the nav station, and ST70 gauges, and a Raymarine SPX 30 autohelm. (The ST70 gauges use Raymarine's Seatalk NG protocol which I'm told speaks with NMEA2000 seamlessly. Any experience here?). The helm C120 unit does not work. (Actually, it seems to function, but unfortunately, none of the buttons work so I'm not able to navigate from the home screen or press "OK" to accept warning/notification messages.)

Here's my list of priorities and I would be interested if you agree and/or have any other thoughts and comments:

1. Cortex M1 AIS Transponder / VHF with the Cortex H1P Portable Handset, and two cradles (one for helm and one for nav station. (I've been an ICOM guy for most of my sailing years, but I am very attracted to the quality and features of the Vesper Cortex. I will use my ICOM handhelds, and the 2010 Garmin VHF for redundancies.). I'm still waffling between the Vesper and the Em-Trak... but lean toward the Vesper for the feature-rich monitoring, VHF combination, DSC and collision features, and strong integration to an iPad. Still open and could be still swayed... I am concerned about one comment that the Vesper is only 2.5 watts...and the Em-Trak is 5 watts.

2. B&G Zeuss 12" Plotter and Halo 20 Radar. My thought is to replace the helm Raymarine C120 with the B&G Zeus 12" Plotter. Currently, there is no radar on the boat... It was removed.

3. Iridium GO Marine Package.

4. iPad Air. I would use the iPad as a portable plotter and to display for all Raymarine instruments, and the B&G plotter, as well as for Predict Wind and Vesper AIS information. While I would have the Raymarine C120 widescreen at the nav station, the iPad would give me a second screen to display all instruments and Vesper AIS.

I have two ST70s that are burnt out, and seemingly, the previous owner didn't cover them, so others are dimming... My thought is to replace them with B&G Triton 2 displays, one by one as budget permits.

Do you believe my priorities are in order, in consideration of what I currently have on the boat, and what I should have to get me started for the cruising I will be doing this year? Any other considerations or ideas? Thank you for sharing!

[Dogscout]

First off I am no expert here. The Zeus and ipad will work together, but I am not certain that the ipad will repeat the raymarine instruments. Which really should not be a problem because the Zeus should have everything. But what is feeding data to the Zeus? Which wind instrument is used, which Depth/Speed/Temp instrument is used? The things that provide data to the network must be considered.

Also regarding the ipad. To repeat the Zeus you need the B&G or Navico app. If the Vesper gives the AIS to the NMEA 2000 and the Zeus can see that, then it will display on the ipad with the other zeus data display. Otherwise you will have to switch between the Vesper and B&G apps which i would not like.

The HALO 20 will connect to and display on the Zeus. Will it display on the Raymarine at the nav station? If using the ipad then the radar will display as a repeat of the Zeus.

I'm all for keeping it in one big family. The B&G V60-B VHF with a splitter on the antenna and a H60 handset. The Zeus or even a Vulcan at the helm and a couple of Tritons at the helm. A HALO 20 up the mast. would do everything you want.

And then what about the Autopilot?

[Jammer]

I would do the same thing.


The Vesper Cortex is new to the market and so it's too early to know much about how it performs and how it will last, but Vesper are highly regarded and by the specs it is a far more capable unit than anything out there. It will send AIS data to any chartplotter.


I don't know whether you will be able to control the existing autopilot from B&G chartplotters or instruments. Depending on the age and condition of the unit you may want to replace it as part of your initial set of upgrades.

[jeffrobbins]

Just wanted to correct one thing... the Cortex M1 is 5W not 2.5W as mentioned earlier

Also, it will take your NMEA 2000 and 0183 instrument data (if you still have that) along with AIS and GPS and send it to your iPad navigation apps.