Using a tablet as a boats system backbone

[Snore]

NOooooo. Garmin data stream is proprietary. Vesper will connect on NMEA0183 and NMEA2000, translate both to 0183 and stream it out. This makes it possible to connect iPads, iPhones, PCs, Macs, Androids— whatever to the data stream.

On my personal boat, Ray Seatalk1, SeatalkNG and vintage Garmin all connect and the data streams to my iPhone, iPad and Mac.

If you go garmin AIS/WiFi, your are locked into them forever. I delivered a Bavaria with Garmin WiFi, it basically made the MFD a slave to the iPad. Response was at dial-up speed.

[anddy103]

Got it. So would you use just use a tablet with navonics until you could afford the xb-8000? Or would you look at something else that you could keep as another backup?

[Bill O]

As suggested by Reefmagnet, take a look at the Raspberry Pi. We have set up our pi for the full navigation system on our boat as well as the autopilot brains. We do use a tablet in the cockpit that has all the data/info relayed from the nav. station and also can control the autopilot.
Here's a couple of write ups we have on the Rpi nav system and the autopilot setup. They work great.


Bill O.

[Zzmeyer]

Agree with Snore. For about $850 you can get a 7 inch Raymarine chartplotter. It is easier to integrate AIS (which I wouldn't leave home without) and radar if you desire. You can link your tablet to the mfd very easily (even for me). It gives you the redundancy. I use my tablet more than either of my 9 inch mfds while underway, however, so you wouldn't be crazy to go without (but you still need some backup)

[svmobert]

Originally Posted by anddy103

Thanks guys I think the closest to what I was looking for was the xb-8000. Although with the price I think it makes more sense to get a garmin and do it the normal way. Any reccomendations on used Garmin's?

The XB8000 is an AIS Transponder.... It can't be compared to a Garmin MFD in functionality...

If your goal is a 100% tablet based navigation system, then a Vesper XB8000 + a Furuno Firset Watch Radar + an iPad running TZ iBoat is a great solution. You get full navigation, radar overlay, AIS, position data, etc and if you have wind/depth/speed instruments on board you can tie those to the XB8000 and get that data on the iPad also.

That said, screen brightness, battery life/charging logistics, and weatherproofness are all issues with tablets. Having a weatherproof MFD in the cockpit is a good idea, even if you plan to use an tablet most of the time. You can add a Furuno GP1871F or GP1971F MFD to the iPad/Firstwatch combo I mentioned above..

Or you can just use any MFD and associated radar/instruments like normal, and just add an iPad or similar using iNavX, TZ iBoat, Navionics, and other apps.

Most vendors (Raymarine, Garmin, B&G/Navico) have iPad apps to mirror the MFD over WiFi nw also.

From the research I have done, and based on a project I am working on currently, you can use OpenCPN with an MFD based system pretty well, B&G being the best integrated radar currently. I know Garmin has been integrated for a while, but the B&G 3G/4G radar integration is currently far more powerful.

Another thing to consider, if you have instruments and radar on board, you usually need a (same-brand) MFD to do firmware/software updates on those devices.. So while you could technically integrate everything and use it without an MFD, if you need to do an update, you will need to find an MFD in order to do it.

Net-Net:

Even with a fully functional laptop or tablet navigation setup, having an MFD gives you the following..

1.) True weatherproof plotter
2.) True daylight visible screen
3.) A platform for doing firmware updates on your instruments and radar
4.) A backup navigation system in case your laptop or tablet fails (and the reverse is true of course).
5.) A display that is hardwired to boat power, no charging to worry about.

There are various ways to leverage a tablet on board, depending on what systems you already have or plan to add.

[anddy103]

Awesome idea did not think about the raspberry pi. I do not know enough about them but will look into it.

I do like the xb8000 but do not have the money for the entire system. I am trying to stay around 500 to start for that price is there a mfd that you would reccomend to start growing the system off of?

This was what I was thinking about getting.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Simrad-GO7-...IAAOSwcedamNKj

[anddy103]

It would actually be the Vulcan 7 not the go7

[Jammer]

Hi Anddy


I use a Galaxy S8 running Navionics as my "chartplotter." I have a Vexilar sonar connected to it via wifi.


You can make it work but there are some drawbacks to be aware of.


* Most tablets and phones will overheat on a hot day, especially in the sun, if the screen is on at full brightness all the time. When they overheat, first they quit charging, then they close apps, then they shut down.
* Any sort of enclosure or protective case will make overheating worse. I got rid of mine.
* You have to think about how to mount them and how to supply power. I installed a mount and have an industrial USB-C charger wired directly to the 12v. No cigarette lighter
* Various things can interrupt the charting software, such as software updates, phone calls (for a phone, perhaps not on a tablet), too much time goes by so it wants you to enter a pin or password.
* As noted upthread the screen is not very readable in full sun
* Touch screens on these will not work reliably when wet

* There are bugs in Navionics that can cause it to crash
* In a wet environment the charging connector will not stay sealed. Even if you have a water resistant computer it will not charge while the connector is wet. So you're left with whatever power is in the battery until you can get the connector thoroughly dried out. This takes a day unless you have compressed air



I have not tried to connect mine to anything except the sonar.


It is not an ideal solution but can be made to work if you are on a budget and are confident enough to navigate using flaky tools. I carry paper charts also


I would not want to rely on a cobbled together solution in tricky conditions but it is fine for the kind of sailing I'm currently doing.

[roland stockham]

I have always used laptops for nave but a few years ago moved to 2 in 1 hybrids between laptops and tablets. Pluses are that it will run as a tablet so you can mount it on a magnetic arm. This is really useful because anything standing on the chart table tends to suck damp up from the surface. I also find that going with full windows OS makes for a lot more software options. Android or mac tablets are great as a second device but pretty limited if it is all you have. The other thing is that if you look at refurbished business machines they are way better spec and much more robust. New they are usually $2-3,000 which is out of my range but you can get good ones for a few hundred as refurbished.

[Snore]

I would go with the tablet over a fixed touch screen. At 64 I still have good balance and hand-eye coordination. But even on a 44’ cat when things get bumpy touch screens feel like a “roadside sobriety test”. It is worse on a monohull. Often my left hand is used to stabilize my right hand so I can use the touch screen— rather comical if you watch me.

Raymarine now sells a supplemental key pad for thier MFDs- IMHO don’t leave the dock without one.

Perhaps because the iPad is in my hands and moving about the same rate as the rest of my body, but I find the iPad touch screen easier than the mounted ones.

The XB-8000 is a great black-box device. It must be linked to a tablet, phone, MFD or laptop to display info. Linked to a tablet or phone thier Vesper App even lets it work as an anchor alarm (not tried by me yet). The biggest feature is it sends out a non-proprietary data stream.

[RobertoD]

It depends how complicated you want to become. Paper Charts and a GPS work well, but charts are getting expensive. NEW TECHNOLOGY IS GREAT AND POWERFUL - BUT CAN GET COMPLICATED AND EXPENSIVE - AND MORE OPORTUNITY FOR BREAKDOWN. Low cost navigation - Samsung tablet, (much cheaper than Apple) one with GPS - they just about all have it now, and OPEN GPN, and/or NaAVIC (NaAvic.Net) will give you low cost navigation. But also depends on how far and where you want to go.

[malbert73]

I have both MFD and ipad. I do think getting backup ipad at least with built in GPS gives you nice redundancy- think boat electrical failure in middle of night.

For price of MFD you can get a few ipads and a faraday box. Good case made here though battery status, screen brightness in sun, loose tablet, and waterproofness should be addressed

https://www.sailmagazine.com/cruisin...ting-by-tablet

Though Andy clearly doesn’t like having electronics on deck. His approach actually sounds great for ocean passages but a helm MFD sure makes inshore and coastal much easier.

[malbert73]

By the way, does anyone run Navionics with a vesper AIS networked? Last season when I checked the Vesper data doesn’t show on the navionics on my ipad. I was considering different software for charting

[Lake-Effect]

Our friends have been using an iPad with Navionics as their chartplotter on their small coastal boat. They brought it along for a charter, and I was impressed at how useful it was as a navigating aid, even though the boat already had a full Raymarine system. I've also played with OpenCPN on small laptops - very useful.



But the tablet won't be sufficient as the 'backbone'. A better, more capable system would need a dedicated small computer (eg the aforementioned Raspberry Pi, or a similar small-board Linux computer) as the backbone, receiving the wired sensors and then using wifi to push data to the tablet.

[svmobert]

Originally Posted by malbert73

By the way, does anyone run Navionics with a vesper AIS networked? Last season when I checked the Vesper data doesn’t show on the navionics on my ipad. I was considering different software for charting

Navionics Boating app does not support AIS and other data.. It only supports depth and position coming from WiFi.

You can use TZ iBoat or iNavX to pull in all the information that the Vesper provides (AIS, Position, etc). If you connect your boat instruments to the Vesper you can also get wind/depth/etc in those apps.

The downside for those two apps is you have to buy the charts inside the app, you can't use your existing Navionics subscription.. iNavX does have Navionics charts in their chart store.

For free you can download iAIS from Digital Yacht. iAIS is a limited version of iNavX that provides a live AIS view and you can even use your existing Navionics subscription to download navionics charts into iAIS.