Planning a complete electronics update on the 53

[krush]

If going with Furuno, one can do Touch Screen MFDs and do PC with TimeZero software. It's basciaally the same software on the screens. A guy on thehulltruth did a good write up about it.

[Rustygem]

Great information. I am soon in the same boat with needing to upgrade electronics. Seeing alot of people running with PC's and tablets. Interesting to hear everyone's input.

[schuter]

If going with Furuno, one can do Touch Screen MFDs and do PC with TimeZero software. It's basciaally the same software on the screens. A guy on thehulltruth did a good write up about it.

Have a link to the write up?

Thanks
Schuter

[marcel921]

Just redid the electronics on a 1979 43C. Ended up going with 2 Garmin 1242xsv MFDs. One of them fit into the dash but the other had to go into a pod because of the lack of space. They were much cheaper than the Garmin 7612 and from what I understand the main difference between the 1242 and 7612 is a second transducer port on the 7612. If you're planning on cruising only, one transducer should be plenty. The 7612 will operate faster but I can't complain abut the speed of the 1242.

I was also going to go with a Garmin autopilot but was talked out if it by the marine electronics company we used. He said go with the Simrad autopilot. You can still integrate it with your Garmin MFDs. I ended up going with the Simrad AP44. It was not that the guy wanted to sell us a more expensive option as the Simrad was cheaper than the Garmin. He said they have seen quite a few issues with Garmin autopilots. That's not to say the Simrad can't break on me tomorrow.

I also went with a Airmar B75C-12-chirp transducer mostly because we do a lot of bottom fishing in up to 1500' if water.

Radar is a Garmin GMR Fantom 24. It is a dome radar. Would have preferred the open array but it was considerably more $$$$$. Low power output and has a built in trails feature. Kind of a poor man's ARPA.

All of the major electronics manufacturers make great products. I went with the Garmin MFDs just because I find them easy to use and I love using the Active Captain app on my iPad. Easy to create routes/waypoints and get helpful information on anywhere you might be going to. Easy to transfer your user data from iPad to the units.

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[Boatsb]

Just redid the electronics on a 1979 43C. Ended up going with 2 Garmin 1242xsv MFDs. One of them fit into the dash but the other had to go into a pod because of the lack of space. They were much cheaper than the Garmin 7612 and from what I understand the main difference between the 1242 and 7612 is a second transducer port on the 7612. If you're planning on cruising only, one transducer should be plenty. The 7612 will operate faster but I can't complain abut the speed of the 1242.

I was also going to go with a Garmin autopilot but was talked out if it by the marine electronics company we used. He said go with the Simrad autopilot. You can still integrate it with your Garmin MFDs. I ended up going with the Simrad AP44. It was not that the guy wanted to sell us a more expensive option as the Simrad was cheaper than the Garmin. He said they have seen quite a few issues with Garmin autopilots. That's not to say the Simrad can't break on me tomorrow.

I also went with a Airmar B75C-12-chirp transducer mostly because we do a lot of bottom fishing in up to 1500' if water.

Radar is a Garmin GMR Fantom 24. It is a dome radar. Would have preferred the open array but it was considerably more $$$$$. Low power output and has a built in trails feature. Kind of a poor man's ARPA.

All of the major electronics manufacturers make great products. I went with the Garmin MFDs just because I find them easy to use and I love using the Active Captain app on my iPad. Easy to create routes/waypoints and get helpful information on anywhere you might be going to. Easy to transfer your user data from iPad to the units.

. Attachment 43156

How will you update the autopilot? Your guy didn't do you any favors. The Garmin. Has the ability to add a shadow drive that will release it when you turn the wheel as a safety measure but is.harder to install properly.

You could have used all Garmin or all Simrad and had better integration and upgrades.

[marcel921]

How will you update the autopilot? Your guy didn't do you any favors. The Garmin. Has the ability to add a shadow drive that will release it when you turn the wheel as a safety measure but is.harder to install properly.

You could have used all Garmin or all Simrad and had better integration and upgrades.

The AP44 has a flash drive port on the back of it. You can download updates onto a flash drive, plug it into the back of the unit, and then install the updates.

[Boatsb]

Its a Pita to pull the unit to put in the drive compared to the easy Garmin Active Captain that updates every unit over the network.

Most people never bother and end up many versions older.

Old software is probably the number one cause of service calls.

[zigzag930]

Just to add some additional info to those interested in a PC based solution:

I have older Garmin 12" and 8" displays which are networked and connected to a GMR18 dome. The boat also has an older Furuno open array, which is not working (best guess - needs a magnetron which is no longer available).

Anyway, the Garmin system works well, although a bit slow to re-draw the charts compared to the Axiom on my other boat.

I wanted a back up system and decided to supplement the Garmin with a Raspberry Pi4 based system. For those who are not familiar with a Rpi, they are an all-in-one computer that is about the size of a pack of cigarettes.

I added a 17" monitor, USB Glonass GPS, USB to serial cable, usb hub and RF wireless keyboard and mouse. The entire system was under $300.00.

I installed OpenCPN "Headless versions" for Rpi onto the SD card, booted up the system and began downloading the S57 vector charts (which are free).

FYI, the Rpi has wireless internet, wired internet, 4 USB ports, HDMI and audio ports, so pretty much everything need to connect to my Garmin network and NMEA 0183.

After setting this up, I realized I didn't need the USB GPS as the information for position was output from the Garmin unit. However, I am able to select either GPS as the source for my OpenCPN positioning. That is a nice backup in case the Garmin GPS or MFD crash.

What was really interesting is that I was able to send the GMR18 Radar image to OpenCPN. OpenCPN will even control the radar so I can change the range, gain, etc from either the PC or the Garmin systems.

So now I can run my charts on either the Garmin (bluchart3) or OpenCPN (S57) on one unit and full screen radar on the other.

As all of this equipment is located inside the pilothouse, I don't have to worry about needing a waterproof or ruggedized PC and this little system seems pretty nice for the price. Another nice bonus is that the wireless interface allows me to connect the Rpi to the internet and use this system as a web browse, etc. BTW, the "Headless" version of OpenCPN allows tablet, iPads, etc to act as a remote keyboard, monitor for the OpenCPN system. This way I can bring a tablet anywhere onboard to keep an eye on the course, radar, etc even if I go below.

Eventually, I will be upgrading the MFD's and radar to newer (and hopefully better) equipment. For now, this will keep me happy and let me re-focus on the new inverter system that Scott is helping me design.