Monthly Archive: April 2021
The Garmin GPS 24xd combines a high-performance GNSS receiver with a heading sensor though it only costs $50 more than their GPS 19x GNSS receiver. Thus it can inexpensively stabilize chart and radar views on your MFD while also ensuring that your boat’s AIS target is headed in the right direction even when it’s tied up. I’ve been testing one, successfully, and also investigating why the GPS 24xd is not a good replacement for a more accurate, faster-updating, and likely better located Heading sensor that’s appropriate for autopilots and radar ARPA/MARPA calculations.
Whether on the water, in an RV, riding the trail, or operating a piece of industrial equipment, a dead battery will ruin anyone’s day. Veratron’s new VL Flex Intelligent Battery Monitor Kit contains everything needed to deliver real-time battery health and status to the smallest dashboard. It combines two pioneering products, Veratron’s award-winning Intelligent Battery Sensor and its revolutionary VL Flex Instrument. All additional components needed for a fast and easy installation are included.
Mercury Marine, a division of Brunswick Corporation (NYSE: BC), today launched SmartCraft Connect, which allows boaters to use Garmin and Raymarine multi‑function displays (MFDs) to access detailed information about the status and operation of their SmartCraft‑compatible marine engines.
Dockmate, manufacturer of wireless remote controls for yachts, announced today its next generation of receivers that are built with advanced hardware and communication features.
“Your boat should fit like a glove!” yacht designer Dave Gerr wrote in the 1990’s, and the 2020 refit of Gizmo’s lower helm is the closest I’ve gotten to that excellent advice yet. The ergonomically arranged array of displays and controls above are also a somewhat experimental mix of PC and tablet navigation tools with dedicated marine electronics and oodles of monitoring in the background. I could talk for hours about the gear choices and install details, but the focus of this entry is how well this helm layout works
Blue Guard Innovations announces the introduction of its boat monitoring and control system, Smart Skipper. Smart Skipper enables owners, operators, and captains to monitor the security and safety of their unattended vessels.
It’s certainly noteworthy that KVH now offers a smaller, simpler, and less expensive VSAT antenna, but the TracPhone V30 announcement also mentioned new service rates of potential interest to those cruising and working on slimmer budgets. Although the more affordable plans only include small amounts of high-speed data, they also offer unlimited low-speed data. Is it fast enough to make working by satellite a reality at a reasonable cost? Depending on how you use the KVH mini-VSAT broadband service, it just might work for you.
There’s probably no good time for a bow thruster to get stuck in ON mode, but it happened to me while backing into our marina slip on a windy day. Moreover, that maneuver included...
