Simrad at FLIBS, GB65 & MX510
This old-man-on-a-megayacht shot seems right for my birthday (62!), and also says a lot about what Simrad is up to. The 142’ Richmond Lady sports a passel of Simrad gear, including two GB60 systems with six 19” displays. There’s a lot of detail on this Richmond Yacht page, and you can check out the bigger photo (thanks to Ron Ballanti). Though it’s not online yet, the GB60 will soon be upgraded to the GB65, which will include MAX Pro cartography and support for GRIB files and Navico’s Sirius Weather Module (which will pop up in several Navico brands).
GB60 systems will be upgradeable to GB65 with a board swap and a software update (which will likely please the owners of Alexis). One thing that tickled me about the Richmond Lady install was the pride of place given to a Simrad AI50 Class B AIS display, seen below and bigger here. There were over 100 AIS targets visible in the vicinity of the Fort Lauderdale show, and when zoomed in they showed a lot fewer dimension errors than in prior shows. Yesterday I could see on an AIS Web viewer that Richmond Lady had moved to another berth in Lauderdale. She and Gizmo were among only 4 Class Bs in view, but that’s 400% more than last month.
Meanwhile, Simrad had other big boat advances to talk about. One is StellaMaris, a whole-yacht integration service that’s beginning in Europe, and another is the new MX510 seen at the Show below. This heavy duty, seriously certified DGPS navigator is the latest in a line that has gone to sea under brand names like Magnavox, Leica, and MX Marine. Got a vessel with a big GPS appetite? The 512 version of this product has nine (9!) serial ports.
Hey Ben Happy Birthday.
You look great at the helm…I think everyone should get a 142ft boat for their 62nd birthday present.
Keep up the great work!!
Happy Birthday Ben !
These nice screens are produced nor far away from here…Hatteland Displays…
Ditto! you’re a month older than me, and it shows!!?!
Happy Birthday Ben!
I think they should let you borrow her for the day 🙂
One thing which has always struck me about marine electronics installs is that they have little design/visual integrity as they are basically a bunch of equipment from often several manufacturers placed in a panel or series of panels. They never seem to have the integrated appearance of an automotive dash or even an aviation one.
I don’t know the way around this design chaos, but it has always irked my visual tickle bone. And what a shame that thousands and thousands of well designed (stand alone) gear ends up looking like an assemblage on a table at a flea market, despite the beautiful installs.
Will we ever see some sort of modular cases or :”skins” which can used.. or at least color options for the consumer?
I know this seems like a non techie issue… and it is… but as an architect who marvels at the beauty of many “hulls” which seem to be well thought through, functionally as well as visually, this oddity has always stuck out like a sore thumb and in my mind diminishes the beauty of many yachts.
Anyone else see this?
Ben; health, wealth and happiness to you on your birthday and never stop chasing those electrons! Chances are you won’t catch one…. hahahaha
Jef
Jef/Anon: I found your comments particularly interesting. My first response was a bit huffy: A professional Bridge is not a place for esthetics, its for the most functional transfer of information. The fundamentals of human engineering apply, just as in the cockpit of an airplane.
But then I realized that I have seen few Bridges that comply with the science that goes into cockpit design. There are too many displays, with too many different interfaces, and they are too spread out. Related functions (such as used during docking) aren’t grouped together, away from diferent functions, such as watch keeping.
However, I do not advocate sticking to one manufacturer just to keep the displays color coordinated.
Sandy,
It’s not a matter of using one mfg to obtain an environment free of visual clutter, though this is often one “easy” approach.
We can have standard gauge sizes, fonts, lighting levels etc. We could also have some standard cabinets as in rack mount audio equipment.
I don’t know the answer here because one thing about boats is that they are truly semi custom – 99% of them because it’s up to the owner to “trick them out” and that includes instrumentation.
I would love to see a more harmonious and useful, in the sense that data is organized instrumention on yachts.
jef