Too much electronics?

[refugio]

Take a look at the electronics in this 1981 52 Cheoy Lee Motorsailer - not counting the two small ones on the dash I see 12 discrete pieces in this one photo.

 

[refugio]

I ran across this on CL, but tracked down the YachtWorld listing:

• GPS: 2 Trimble Navtrac and NEW Furuno GPS
• VHF: Furuno FM 2610 and NEW Icom 604
• NEW EPIRB
• SSB: Furuno FS 1501 and SEA 106
• Radar: Furuno 1731 (36 mile) and Furuno 1832 (36 mile)
• Sounder: Furuno FLV-666 and Eagle
• Plotter: Furuno RP-110
• Auto Pilot: Raytheon-NECO
• Weather Fax: Furuno Weather Fax 108

 

[JD]

I ran across this on CL, but tracked down the YachtWorld listing:

• GPS: 2 Trimble Navtrac and NEW Furuno GPS
• VHF: Furuno FM 2610 and NEW Icom 604
• NEW EPIRB
• SSB: Furuno FS 1501 and SEA 106
• Radar: Furuno 1731 (36 mile) and Furuno 1832 (36 mile)
• Sounder: Furuno FLV-666 and Eagle
• Plotter: Furuno RP-110
• Auto Pilot: Raytheon-NECO
• Weather Fax: Furuno Weather Fax 108

Seems they just added and never took anything away. At some point it will overload the electrical system. Somewhat sense less to me. If I had done that with cars I would have a complete junk years in the back of the house. Same with computers or coffee makers or TVs you name it.

 

[refugio]

In my world (software) we have the concept of "technical debt", and I think something that applies here. Plotters with obsolete cartography and antennas, everything pre-network era, and as JD said what is likely to be a problematic electrical system.

Decommissioning, removing, and filling all the holes for these items is going to be a non-trivial job. Essentially, this looks to me like one big collection of "deferred maintenance".

 

[Phil Fill]

In my world (software) we have the concept of "technical debt", and I think something that applies here. Plotters with obsolete cartography and antennas, everything pre-network era, and as JD said what is likely to be a problematic electrical system.

Decommissioning, removing, and filling all the holes for these items is going to be a non-trivial job. Essentially, this looks to me like one big collection of "deferred maintenance".

That sounds about right as many of the older long range boats have back up. Two, VHF, Depth, Radar, GPS, Charts and a auto pilot and weather. So 12 is about right. The Eagle original had the above, but I took out the old Radar, which we need to replace. Looking at the new broad band short range which provides better detail. If we went with the new multi function bundle packages we would still keep the old for back up.

 

[windmill29130]

There's nothing wrong with redundancy. You have to take into consideration what type boating thi person does and whether or not it is needed. Passagemaker, I would say yes. An ICW trawler, no.

 

[JD]

Passagemaker, I would say yes. An ICW trawler, no.

Maybe but a lot of this stuff is out dated and if I were to be using the boat in the middle of an ocean I would want the best possible (with in my budget) and not two outdated items of the same thing. The SSB's are 30 years and 45 years old. The radar is a 1992 vintage and the other 1997. The chart plotter is of the 80' or 90's as is the NECO Autopilot.

The Nina was a Passage maker but I'm not booking a cruise anytime soon.

 

[windmill29130]

Maybe but a lot of this stuff is out dated and if I were to be using the boat in the middle of an ocean I would want the best possible (wit in my budget) and not two outdated items of the same thing. The SSB's are 30 years and 45 years old. The radar is a 1992 vintage and the other 1997. The chart plotter is of the 80' or 90's as is the NECO Autopilot.

The Nina was a Passage maker but I'm not booking a cruise anytime soon.

You are forgetting they used a sexton at one time. Maybe this guy was comfortable with the equipment and set in his ways. If he knows how to use it and it works, then good for him. I personally lie very few buttons, turn it on and go!

 

[dwhatty]

Greetings, as RT Firefly would say. I believe that you mean Sextant. A Sexton is something else altogether.

 

[windmill29130]

Greetings, as RT Firefly would say. I believe that you mean Sextant. A Sexton is something else altogether.

That is they way we say it and spell it down south!

 

[swampu]

hahaha, thats a great find. I laughed my ars off. Though that's the last thing on my mind I am more and less guy. I like the network capabilities and all in one units. I already have a radar so I'll at least have two screens.

 

[dwhatty]

That is they way we say it and spell it down south!

Ah, the Southland. A very different place indeed.

Tom Lehrer - I Wanna Go Back to Dixie - YouTube

 

[windmill29130]

We might not be able to read, write, or speak well, but we can boat all year!

 

[dwhatty]

We might not be able to read, write, or speak well, but we can boat all year!

Yeah, I'll definitely grant you that and wish we could too. It's getting chilly here these days.

 

[Marin]

THe other issue with a hodgepodge of electronics like this is that there is a good chance some of it doesn't work. Or doesn't work right.

The 120' corporate yacht I was associated with for awhile for a book project had once had a pilothouse like this. Every time they needed a new or different radio or some other capability they added another box. By the time the skipper/manager who hired me took over the boat half the junk in the pilothouse didn't work. So he had it all ripped out, removed the engineer-designed pilothouse altogether (the boat, from Abeking and Rasmussen had been build originally with an open flying bridge), had a new pilothouse designed that complemented the lines of the boat, and installed an integrated instrumentation and electronics system. So it went form ten or fifteen boxes scattered all over to one big display screen.

We have an unused box now on our boat, the very nice (in its day) Furuno Loran-C. We're still determining what to replace it with now that Loran is no more.

 

[Peter B]

That boat set-up certainly gives meaning to the word 'redundancy'. He has more of that than even a Boeing, Marin.

 

[Marin]

That boat set-up certainly gives meaning to the word 'redundancy'. He has more of that than even a Boeing, Marin.

That pilothouse looks more like a McDonnel-Douglas product. I have friends who flew DC-9s, MD-80s, etc. and they said that until the MD-95/Boeing 717 came along McDonnel Douglas just sort of stuck stuff wherever there was room on the flight deck. So you'd get half a system over here, the other half over there, and so on.

 

[Brooksie]

Seems a bit much to me. 10 years ago we took our boat from Cape Cod to Trinadad (via Cuba out & Turks return) and back using a Garmin 120 and a compass. In addition we had paper charts, a couple of cruising guides, & a handheld VHF.
No instrument on that panel would have saved us from our assorted minor follies over 3 years.

 

[FlyWright]

Greetings, as RT Firefly would say. I believe that you mean Sextant. A Sexton is something else altogether.

I didn't dig graves, but I rang the bell for our church for a couple of years as a kid. Does that qualify me as a semi-sexton? (Yes, long ago I was the hunchback of Westchester, IL. )

 

[markpierce]

"Walk this way." (Marty Feldman in Young Frankenstein)

 

[markpierce]

Gee. In my couple decades of pre-trawler/Coot experiences on sailboats (29-foot sloop and 24-foot cutter), only had charts, compass, and binoculars. It's much easier now navigating with GPS, electronic charts, radar, depth gauge, auto-pilot, and VHF.

 

[Marin]

My boating in Hawaii was pre-GPS. Loran existed but nobody I boated with had it. Our navigation was our view of the islands. When we fished off the north shore of Oahu out some 30-50 miles we didn't use a compass and if there were charts on the boat I never saw them. We simply went out, trolled around for a day, and headed back. The closer we got the more obvious the landmarks were and so we corrected our course accordingly.

At the start of our boating here in Puget Sound we got the relevant charts, of course, and we soon put a plotting Loran-C on the Arima. So while I know how to do it I've never actually had to run a boat using a compass and following courses plotted on a chart. I've pre-plotted a number of courses in our chartbooks to places we visit frequently in the islands on the theory that if the electricicals all stop holding hands we can transition immediately to the charts and the compass (which we use to hold a course anyway so we're used to using it). But so far we've never had to do that.

 

[RickB]

It's much easier now navigating with GPS, electronic charts, radar, depth gauge, auto-pilot, and VHF.

Motoring up and down a river in daylight is called "pilotage." A paper chart and one eyeball is all you need for that.

 

[FF]

"if I were to be using the boat in the middle of an ocean I would want the best possible (with in my budget) and not two outdated items of the same thing. The SSB's are 30 years and 45 years old. The radar is a 1992 vintage and the other 1997. The chart plotter is of the 80' or 90's as is the NECO Autopilot."

So you would rather have a "modern" all in one setup , where you pop a fuse and revert to the sextant and DR plot?

Old stuff is not BAD stuff , if its proven and working old stuff is easier to get repaired in West nowhere. \

The new stuff just gets replaced , OK if you have 2 or 3 spares, and are at your home dock.

 

[alormaria]

You can never be too rich, too thin or have too many electronics.

 

[captrigney]

I've heard it said that 10 year old electronics are worth about 50 cents a pound.

 

[FF]

"I've heard it said that 10 year old electronics are worth about 50 cents a pound."

At the pace of modern "improvements" and model changes , that might be 10 weeks?

 

[windmill29130]

You can never be too rich, too thin or have too many electronics.

 

[FlyWright]

I've heard it said that 10 year old electronics are worth about 50 cents a pound.

Assuming 25 year old gear is worth half that, then I've got a $2 Furuno fish finder that works like a champ!! It would cost 500 times that to replace it.

 

[FF]

It would cost 500 times that to replace it.

About what a $20 gold coin is worth today .