Weekend weirdness: hybrid power cat
Some might quibble with “distinctively handsome profile”, but wow what a concept: 6 knots ‘free’ using 6,000 watts of photovoltaic panels laid on the (thus squarish) cabin tops and deck, but if you want to...
Category: The future
BNT sale, rumors and speculation
Brunswick still hasn’t sold its BNT electronics division, but a big reason it might want to raise cash is becoming more apparent. Ever since the stock price popped a bit on the late April announcement, it’s...
The solid state disk (SSD), gotta be good for marine electronics
Let’s see, according to the Samsung press release, that little 32 gig solid state drive (SSD) she’s holding, used in the new laptop and UMPC, can take twice the impact of a regular shock resistant laptop HD, reads 300%...
USCG finally kills LORAN?, hopefully a red herring
The May issue of BoatUS magazine has this “Action Alert”: With no warning to users, the U.S. Coast Guard has proposed termination of the Loran system by requesting zero budget for Loran in its FY 07 budget...
David Ritblatt #2, man of aphorisms
On April 25th Brunswick formally promoted David Ritblatt from general manager to president of BNTME , and then two days later announced that BNT was for sale! How much did Ritblatt know and when did...
David Ritblatt #1, the MEJ interview
Today I did talk with David Ritblatt, president of Brunswick New Technologies Marine Electronics (BNTME). While he delivered no scoops about the future corporate home of Northstar/Navman/MX Marine, he was quite persuasive about how healthy his division is…and...
Brunswick to sell BNT, Ben Baffled
Well, I’ll be damned! The very unexpected news is that Brunswick now plans to sell much of Brunswick New Technologies, specifically the marine electronics bundle of Northstar, Navman and MX Marine plus Navman’s non-marine operations. This plan seemingly torpedos...
Zeus (4), IPS joystick, and what does it all mean?
Volvo also introduced an omni-directional no-thruster-needed joystick at the Miami Boat Show. It has a computerised control module running a pair of independently turning IPS drives, like Zeus, but doesn’t have Zeus’s nervous system. That’s me...
The power of Zeus, part 3
So what do I mean that the new Zeus propulsion system has nerves as well as brains? Well, hooked into the drive controller is an ultra high precision GPS and inertial navigation sensor which feeds it fast updates on...
The power of Zeus, part 2
Above is the Zeus demo boat, which has just departed a slip at Miami’s Sealine Marina and now—instead of the normal hard right, hard left exit—is going dead sideways down the channel. Leaving those bow lines...
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