Panbo News and Reviews

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New FLIR M300 cameras – visible light, thermal and color thermal

At the NMEA Conference last week, FLIR previewed the M300 line of marine cameras with five models including the company’s first visible light only camera. They also debuted Color Thermal Vision (CTV) and MSX edge enhancing imaging technologies. Ben Ellison and I took a night ride on the FLIR/Raymarine demo boat in busy Norfolk Harbor and saw how all this technology can enhance situational awareness.

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Vesper unveils Cortex – combination AIS, VHF radio and boat monitor

Vesper has cemented a reputation for high performance, well-thought-out, feature-rich products. So, when they tease that “The future is coming” as they have in their recent promotional material it’s worth paying attention. It turns out Vesper’s take on the future is about continuing their track record of innovative features while expanding their capabilities to VHF radios and boat monitoring.

16

Bliss: 100hp diesel powers trawler, Seakeeper, and huge battery bank

The goal of the makeover certainly sounded like cruising bliss, but could a 100hp Yanmar diesel really propel a 39-foot trawler while also producing gobs of 12 volt DC to feed both SeaKeeper gyrostabilization and a huge battery bank? I’m pleased to report that the dual MGDC 250 amp alternator setup seen above on the actual trawler Bliss has proven my skepticism unwarranted, and an already beloved cruiser became a “new boat” in the process.

16

Sirius Signal announces new dual color & white SOS distress lights

Sirius Signal just announced a super bright red-orange/cyan electronic Visual Distress Signal Device (eVDSD) that promises to be vastly more effective than the current white light models, especially in coastal areas with shore lights in the background. The new model C-1002 SOS device also includes a Bluetooth app for testing, maintenance, and much more…

Engine data displayed on a Raymarine Axiom Pro 16 108

Yacht Devices J1708 Engine Gateway brings data from older engines to NMEA 2000

When I bought Have Another Day I really wanted the data from my early electronically controlled diesel engines available on my MFDs. I’ve had access to this data previously and knew the value of the data for fuel management and engine monitoring. My path to getting that data wasn’t easy but I think I helped blaze a trail to easy engine data on your NMEA 2000 network.

9

DirecTV on water, the future is clear as mud

A lot has changed in the 25 years since KVH started making their TracVision line of satellite TV receiving dishes. But, the upcoming reconfiguration of DirecTV’s satellite constellation brings more changes and a lot of uncertainty for on the water DirecTV subscribers. Hopefully I can clarify what’s happening.

9

Using your PLB/EPIRB better & testing ACR’s ResQLink View

In this dangerous world, most types of boating are quite safe activities. But when things do go wrong afloat, getting the needed help can be a lot harder than it is ashore because of poor communications. So I was pleased to learn about an easy way to make the excellent safety communication tools known as PLBs and EPIRBs a little more effective…

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GFCI and ELCI breakers can be confounding, but heed their warning

I recently met cruisers who have been having trouble connecting their mid-80s boat to shore power pedestals equipped with GFCI (ground fault current interrupters) or ELCI (electric leakage current interrupters). Many months of working with electricians allowed them to plug into GFCI breakers without tripping them but still not ELCIs. So, what’s the problem, why did it take months to get it fixed, and what serious safety issues were uncovered? Read on…

Siren Marine, Boat Command, Nautic-On and BoatFix's apps 1

Monitored boats, connected boats and smart boats, what does it all mean?

If you’ve been reading Panbo, boating magazines, or spent any time at a boat show you’ve likely seen boat monitors, connected boat products and smart boat products. But, you may well not know what these things are or how they’re different from each other. Hopefully, I can help shed some clarity on this latest collection of buzzwords.