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Garmin 7000 and AIS 600, some install details 27

Navigation / AIS

Garmin 7000 and AIS 600, some install details

Garmin_AIS_600_back_cPanbo.jpg

Today I checked out some just-received Garmin gear prior to installation on Gizmo, and I noticed some nice little changes.  For instance, this AIS 600 has an automotive blade fuse instead of a glass cartridge and its relatively flimsy holder (which should all vanish from boats, I think).  And Garmin’s included NMEA 2000 cable is thicker than it used to be, indicating, I’d guess, some added EMI protection (needed to get NMEA certification, pdf on that subject here).  Garmin has also started using separate split screw collars — seen on and off in the photo — on lots of connectors besides Ethernet, which means easier to run cables (in some situations).  Note, too, the most LED indicators I’ve ever seen on a Class B transponder.  Tentatively speaking, the thing seemed to work pretty well too…

Paneltronics AC load shedding, smarter power 7

Electrical & Engines

Paneltronics AC load shedding, smarter power

Paneltronics AC load shedding module.jpg

Paneltronics new load shedding system is somewhat related to my battery/monitor/charger travails.  Boaters of all sorts are struggling to management their electrical appetites and the line between electrical and electronic is getting fuzzy indeed.  And there are all sorts of us; I have no need for AC load shedding personally, though this device is unique in that it’s aimed at boats like Gizmo…

Panbo logo, & Gizmo lit for the 4th 8

Cabin & deck gear / Zany

Panbo logo, & Gizmo lit for the 4th

Panbo Logo draft.jpg

It’s just a draft  — artist I’m not — but maybe someone out there in Panbo land can craft this into something fun for a hat and business card?  The graphic idea is an electronic wave turning into an ocean wave, but I’m open to another design…as long as it floats some boats.  Seriously, the first hat (a nice long billed khaki cap) will be yours, plus my undying gratitude.  (If it would help to start with my draft creation in vector form, you can download it as an .ai file.)  Homework is completely optional, of course, and you, like me, may have a holiday to celebrate…

Maretron DSM250, N2K ups & downs 25

NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

Maretron DSM250, N2K ups & downs

Maretron_DSM250_dual_depth_cPanbo.JPG

There’s a lot to say about this screen and how the values got there, or didn’t, but what I like the most is how Maretron’s DSM250 is displaying the outputs of two NMEA 2000 depth transducers at once, and that I was even able to name their data windows in an informative way.  I think the screen will be useful in some tight gunkholing situations, and would be even more so on a larger vessel or a multihull.  Unfortunately this level of N2K data management is not yet available elsewhere, unless I’ve missed something…

Datalux Tracer police car computer, good on a boat? 43

PC & peripheral / Zany

Datalux Tracer police car computer, good on a boat?

used_Datalux_Tracer_PC_in_good_company_cPanbo.JPG

My search for Gizmo’s navigation PC has taken a strange turn — as you can see above, posed around a Furuno MFD12 — and I’m blaming a Panbo commenter who recently crowed about scoring a 12v, fanless all-in-one Datalux iPix on eBay.  I’m close to crowing myself — and maybe a few of you will join me, as there are three left — but I could use some geek help to better understand what’s under the hood of this particular Datalux Tracer police car computer…

Maturing iPhone apps, troubled ENC edition 18

Handheld

Maturing iPhone apps, troubled ENC edition

Charts_Tides_iPhone_AC_cPanbo.JPG

Pardon me if I use an entry on the improving state of marine iPhone apps to illustrate my concerns about NOAA’s local chart screw ups, but it works.  Navimatics Charts&Tides 3.6.2 was the first charting program of any sort I’ve seen that includes NOAA’s first 1:20,000 ENC for Camden Harbor, but it will be confusing fog bound visitors soon!  Those semi-invented channel buoys that I first saw on the raster chart are worse here, given equal graphic weight with real navigation aids, more precise looking wrong locations, and all without the “Priv aids” label that might help a navigator sort things out…

Furuno supports whale slaughter? Or Sea Shepherd BS? 42

The Trade

Furuno supports whale slaughter? Or Sea Shepherd BS?

Sea_Shepard_vs_Furuno_cPanbo.JPG

I don’t like what some Japanese companies, supported by their government, are doing to whales, but I’m smart enough to know that a reasonable alternative to Sea Shepherd’s nasty headline above might be: “Furuno won’t give (or sell) Sea Shepherd a new radar because its government asked it not to.”  Or: “Furuno won’t support protesters who ram Japanese ships.”  Or maybe: “Furuno wants nothing to do with an arrogant jerk like Captain Paul Watson!”…

Ella’s Pink Lady vs Silver Yang, DBE! #1 12

AIS

Ella’s Pink Lady vs Silver Yang, DBE! #1

Pink_Lady_Silver_Yang_AIS_crash2.JPG

DBE! is my new shorthand for “Don’t Blame Electronics!”  And the collision of Ella’s Pink Lady with the Silver Yang off Queensland, Australia, last September is a terrific example (especially as no one got hurt).  I first heard about it in a Panbo comment focused on the “limits in detectability of Class B AIS” that the Australian Safety Board uncovered, which I’ll discuss after the break.  But I sure hope that the Class B naysayers who may jump on this news actually download and read the full report first.  Then they’ll know that the AIS data collected by a shore station and shown on the above chartlets (click for full size) was available on both vessels, and could have easily been used to prevent the accident…