The Marine Electronics Hub
The relatively low-cost Iridium satellite two-way communications service known as SBD (Short Burst Data) has proven itself remarkably reliable and useful on boats, as seen with the Garmin InReach Explorer+ I’ve been long testing (and...
Ben Stein’s cabling frustrations reminded me about the value of good cable glands, like the selection from PYI Seaview. They are designed so that you can pass a cable with a fair-sized connector, or several such cables, through a deck or superstructure, but end up with a tight waterproof seal around the cables…
I’m noticing a trend and I don’t like it. You see that nice, metal wrapped RJ-45 connector in the picture? It’s junk now, corroded and unusable. It’s sitting on the counter in my galley clipped off the Winegard Connect 4G1xM I’m starting to test. I believe this is because of the cabling approach Winegard has used on this otherwise very well designed piece of hardware and Wnegard isn’t alone.
I did hire a diver to clean Gizmo’s bottom last September, but he said he found very little hard growth. So it seems fair to say that the water-based copper-free Pettit Hydrocoat Eco did well in that department…But I’m sorry to report that even the extra Zinc Omadine biocide did not prevent the brown slime from growing fairly thick at Gizmo’s waterline just a month or so after launch…
Despite our phone conversation with Garmin cartography manager Ken Cirillo, the company had still not officially declared their plans for ActiveCaptain in writing. That changed today with a Garmin email to AC captains beginning:...
This was such a pleasant surprise. Perhaps you recall how I built a solar-charged bilge pump system into my tender Gadget in early 2016. It’s worked very well but also taken abuse, and the 3AH battery died last December. There were a great many choices on Amazon, but if you want the amazing technology seen above, get…
Ben and I are excited to report that we’ve teamed up with Steve Mitchell from SailBits to co-present the Marine Electronics Forums. Steve brings a wealth of knowledge to the forums and if you...
Holy cow! I’ve never seen WiFi download speeds over 100 Mbps on land, let alone in a marina, and nevermind a dreaded marina well populated with liveaboards and northbound snowbirds. I measured the internet connectivity above while logged into New Bern Grand Marina’s WiFi and… The amazing results were consistent… but there is much more to the story…
In early 2013, installing a CZone Signal Interface to put Gizmo’s tank levels on my NMEA 2000 network was a very pleasing experience. In fact, I’ve kept it installed for long testing and have become quite dependent on its reliable performance. So it was bad news when I somehow… But, dang, replacing the SI also turned out to be pleasing…
We’ve launched a new Panbo Forum today. We will also keep the old forum around read-only so that all discussions will remain available…
