We did a comprehensive update on the entire electronics package on EOTI. Like anything you do on a boat the project was significant because it was touching so many different parts of the boat. You can see in pictures the differences and how it made a significant improvement for use and monitoring by just looking at the pictures. Here is what the original navigation station looked like on EOTI before we bought the boat. It was a pretty plain and static affair. Nothing wrong with it, but it just needed some updating. We like to have a dedicated chart plotter at the nav station because we always run paper maps along with the electronic aids to navigation.
Here is how the navigation station looked after the refit and update to all of the electronics. The generator panel was moved from the alley by the engine to be closer to the electric panel that tells you if you have a safe start condition. We also updated all the contractors. You’ll notice that the Victron is there now next to the gen panel.
The Radios were all updated. A Fusion Appolo went where the old VHF was located. The VHF was moved up, tied into the AIS, and a loud hailer with fog horn was added. The SSB was kept but to be honest we haven’t used it that much.
The GPS plotter was updated along with all of the electronics on the boat. B and G Zeus 3 12 inch displays were placed at the helm and nav station. Two Triton displays are in the nav station. One is a dedicated autopilot display, and the other is usually a wind instrument. Holding tank and battery monitors were placed in this location also. An updated LitleLite stalk LED light was placed in the nav station to replace the plastic one that was there previously. The lighting was all swapped to LED and blue ribbon lights were put into place for courtesy lights at anchor. The nav light is red. Since this picture was taken a LPG gas detector alarm was added and some of the LED lights in the main panel were updated.
Here you can see the addition of the LPG gas alarm. A Iridium Go! will be added to this panel also with a dedicated power supply and external antenna in the near future. The idea being that you will be able to remove it in moments if needed and it will always be charged.
EOTI came with an SSB, but to be honest I’ve never used it and don’t’ see a use for it. We’re going to keep it for listening to Chris Parkers webcasts when off shore but currently we get them daily via our Iridium email account.
You can drive the boat from the nav station. A fully function autopilot remote is in the nav station as well as the Zeus3 MFDs having the autopilot function. The Autopilot control pad is a nice to have. Even though the Zeus3 has a tab for autopilot controls you don’t have to sacrifice screen real estate to use the screen.
In the future we’re going to add two cameras (maybe one) to the system. The cameras will be HD wide view and FLIR (supposedly there is supposed to be a merged unit from FLIR coming to market). The MFD will act as a monitor for that meaning you will have access to better than eyeball video at the nav station. Of course that will also be on the backbone network available at the helm too.
*There is an update to this picture* The original idea was to make the pod lower so Sydney could see over it. The original pod and instrument structure was above my eye line when standing behind the wheel. To make the pod more user friendly with the things a sailor would want located directly in front of them. This fits the bill. The instruments are clear in full daylight and seem happy. I’m not a fan of how the autopilot control pad is mounted but it seems to work just fine.
As always there was no external support for this project and it was all done on my hard earned dime. A significant amount of up the mast work had to be done for this as we did all new antennas and mast jewlery too. Though there were some project hurdles the team at Just Catamarans did all of the B&G work which was extensive. I am very happy with the work they did. You can’t see some of the coolest things in the photographs. The 4G radar system was moved off the rear stay onto a mast mount. Forward Scan Sonar was installed along with new transducers (done during the next haul out). All new instruments on the mast top. New Flux compasses. Every NEMA wire as replaced and everything was updated to the new standards. Total cost for this including labor was about $40K. That included a lot of custom cabinetry work and demo of the old system. I was quote significantly more by other dealers.
***UPDATE*** The updated picture below shows how we added the controls for the electric furling and also the two electric winches. The rigging work was outside the costs of the electronics work and happened about year later. We’re going to need to update the new pod quite a bit. After a couple hundred miles sailing I’m not happy with the distance between the switches. Though they used all the real estate of the pod and it “looks” neat. The order of the switches does not follow the work path nor do they make sense. The Synchronized Main Furling system from Selden is very sweet. However if the buttons were in a better order I’d have nearly the same thing for my staysail and it’s sheet.
One lesson I’ve learned. No boat is ever done.
