Well I couldn’t
work out how to do it with only an a-series on the network. Although I could perhaps have tried a little harder or tried without the initial setup had I not had one.
The acu-200 fits easily where the old 2005 course computer was. I spent a fair time finding a really good location for the heading
sensor way back in a stern bulkhead far from any other devices and metalwork. Being an nmea2000 device you can easily put it anywhere on the
boat you have a bus nearby. An hour in total to swap over to the new system so should be able to revert to the old one in an
emergency without too much trouble. I considered installing them together and making a switchover but didn’t go ahead with it as access to where it’s installed is a bit on the tricky side.
Plugged the p70s into the network and there’s a couple of minutes doing the
rudder swing thing and checking it’s all working. Out on the
water with an O over Q flying and it did it’s thing automatically.
It’s now working perfectly and being controlled through the network either from the old 7001+ or the new p70s
head, or the a-series plotter or over
wifi from computer.
If you were on a tight
budget then you could without doubt upgrade to the new course computer and save several hundred dollars by borrowing a p70s from a friend for a couple of hours and plugging it into your network, certainly. As it is I put the p70s at the chart table where I only had a
depth gauge before and so now I get a bit more info easily visible at
anchor.
Testing so far in an ugly rolling swell almost dead downwind in not enough
wind last week confirms the new course computer is infinitely better at holding course in tricky conditions than the old one, at least by my first impressions. A good result in my book.