Panbo

The Marine Electronics Hub

Category: Zany

Smörgåsboat 2: More tasty test electronics southbound on Gizmo 2

Cabin & deck gear / Communications / What's on board... / Zany / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

Smörgåsboat 2: More tasty test electronics southbound on Gizmo

Passagemaker_Who_is_Ben_Ellison_article_opening_spread.jpgThe jury is still out. Brian Lind may have written a blushingly laudatory profile of Panbo and me for PassageMaker magazine — and you can now check out “Who is Ben Ellison?” online — but I agree with regular readers who may rightfully doubt my ‘authoritative’ ‘expertise’! This site is not the “arbitrator of marine electronics” — no such thing exists — and evidence is building that I’ve become a bumbling old boat guy barely in command of all the gear he’s installed, plus very darn slow to write about it…

Ebikes for boats, learning from a Sondors 44

Cabin & deck gear / Zany / Green Boating

Ebikes for boats, learning from a Sondors

Sondors_electric_bike_profile_aPanbo.jpg

Folding bikes seem great for cruising boats. You can extend your sightseeing, fetch supplies, or simply get some rolling excercise. But I’ve wondered if a compactable electric bike could be even better and more fun. While that manly beast above is certainly unfit for stowing on even a mid-sized trawler, it’s led me to love the ebike concept and taught me what a good one may look like for my cruising situation…

SSECN and MITA cruising info apps, Doyle Bon Voyage, and Cuba Ho! 5

Wireless & Apps / The Trade / Zany

SSECN and MITA cruising info apps, Doyle Bon Voyage, and Cuba Ho!

SSECN_app_for_ICW_cPanbo.jpg

If I was once again in New Bern, North Carolina, about to cruise north with spring — instead of watching late April freaking snow fall in Maine — I’d certainly have the new Cruisers’ Net app loaded on my iPad and might well use it all day every day while I was still in the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). It’s absolutely loaded with solid, well presented information, and I’m happy to add that the Maine Island Trail Association (MITA) has done something similar for my local cruising waters…

TBF: Modeling NY40 Marilee, Weems & Plath magnifier & young Mr. Harding 5

Charts / The future / The Trade / Zany

TBF: Modeling NY40 Marilee, Weems & Plath magnifier & young Mr. Harding

Stephens_Waring_proposed_Marilee_design_aPanbo.jpg(Bits are back, if you know what I mean.) I skim a lot of email newsletters but this recent Stephens Waring Yacht Design creation brought the process to a quiet halt. I clicked up this image as big as possible and became mesmerized, and it later turned out that even the newsletter text is only a sketch of the bigger story. Before we get into that, I suggest you get mesmerized, and I snagged even higher resolution images. Clicking them big may be slow, but you should be getting yourself stilled and ready to simpy wonder…

TBF: Torqeedo Hybrid, transparent displays, DY Aqua Compact PC, Volvo screen repair & more 15

PC & peripheral / Electrical & Engines / Zany / Green Boating

TBF: Torqeedo Hybrid, transparent displays, DY Aqua Compact PC, Volvo screen repair & more

Torqeedo_Deep_Blue_Hybrid_diagram_aPanbo.jpg

Let’s begin 2016 TidBit Fridays with Torqeedo Deep Blue Hybrid, a new system I’d like to know a lot more about. It seems to be the most fully integrated electric propulsion and power management system yet, by far, and two independent gentlemen who know a lot more about these technologies than I do feel that Torqeedo has done a great job here. And it’s not just for sailing catamarans 40 to 80 feet; Nimbus 365 Coupé Cruisers are being built with twin 80hp equivalent electric inboard motors and the Deep Blue components seem to lend themselves to many configurations. I’ll know more very soon…

TBF: Simrad/B&G compact remotes, Ocean Signal AIS MOB alarm, Digital Yacht PC Radar PC & more 8

Network & control / AIS / Zany

TBF: Simrad/B&G compact remotes, Ocean Signal AIS MOB alarm, Digital Yacht PC Radar PC & more

Simrad_OP50_B_G_ZC2_cPanbo.jpgAt METS it was good to see Navico out with a compact remote MFD keypad, which will be available soon as either the B&G ZC2 or the Simrad OP50. There will be landscape and portrait versions to fit different nav stations and that big rotary knob is also a cursor joystick. This $399 NMEA 2000 networked and powered remote includes a “high-decibel” alarm speaker and can switch among as many as six displays with the active display shown on that skinny LED panel just under the remote’s brand name (which also shows red/green indicators when the keypad is controlling an autopilot). I’m hoping we’ll get to try the ZC2/OP50 when Navico again runs a writer’s demo session in late January.

TBF: Spinlock, Humphree, Actisense, Victron, GC Rigging, and Minn Kota’s must see 0

Wireless & Apps / Safety & SAR / Electrical & Engines / Zany / Good Gear (non electronic)

TBF: Spinlock, Humphree, Actisense, Victron, GC Rigging, and Minn Kota’s must see

Spinlock_Lume-on_DAME_winner_cPanbo.jpgIt’s easy to understand and appreciate Spinlock’s new Lume-On lifejacket illumination lights. The $20 pair should stick easily to the underside of any inflatable bladder (as long as you can get access) and then use the bladder’s translucence to nicely diffuse their flashing LEDs if and when they are water activated. It seems a small cost in money, weight, and hassle for an added aid to person overboard recovery, and thus Lume-On won a 2015 DAME Award in the safety category. It also shared the overall DAME award (the Grand DAME?)…

FLIBS 2015: Telemar superyacht helm, Hatteland 55-inch Chart Table, and Triton luxury submarines 6

Cabin & deck gear / Navigation / The future / Zany

FLIBS 2015: Telemar superyacht helm, Hatteland 55-inch Chart Table, and Triton luxury submarines

Hatteland_Series_X_55_inch_chart_table_cPanbo.jpgImagine running Coastal Explorer, or your favorite charting program, on a 55-inch multitouch display with 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution — also known as UHD or 4K — secured to a sturdy base with pushbutton up/down and tilt controls. I’ve never so enjoyed tapping out a route, and the Hatteland 4K Chart Table is actually way sexier than that…

TBF: FLIBS, dAISy, YDVR, G-Metrix OBD2, and DAME nominees 4

Wireless & Apps / Cabin & deck gear / AIS / Zany

TBF: FLIBS, dAISy, YDVR, G-Metrix OBD2, and DAME nominees

FLIBS_transit_map_n_app_aPanbo.jpgWith Panbo’s first TBF now a week old, how about some more acronym madness? This marine electronics TidBits Friday can’t include any of the tasty stuff being served at next week’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (FLIBS), but there certainly will be some, and I’ve been studying the transportation options for making the most of my four days at this huge event. The MyBoatShow app has not achieved perfection, but it’s better and may help. Come if you can or come by here for some TBL, and in the meantime…

TBF: NV Cuba, YB3 free, Furuno GP1x70F steals, BT VHF, and Sailing A 5

Communications / Charts / Zany

TBF: NV Cuba, YB3 free, Furuno GP1x70F steals, BT VHF, and Sailing A

TBF_logo_Panbo.jpgApologies in advance to Panbo readers who’ve complained about too many acronyms, because I’m adding a new one. The idea of Tidbit Friday (TBF) is to create an entry type where I can share some of the juicy morsels I often come across as I indulge my endless appetite for marine electronics and the wider world of boating. You won’t see one every Friday, but when I started listing possible recent subjects, it sure got long in a hurry. There’s lots I can do with one image and a paragraph…