Wind Systems for Power Boats ?

I would like to purchase a wind system for my trawler. I am only interested in wind speed and direction for docking and safety on the water. Currently my boat is equipped with Raymarine instruments so I would like to stay with this brand. My question is that comming from a sailboat background, is there a difference in winds systems between sail and power. What should I purchase for my need. Does anyone have a Raymarine system that they are happy with and lastly, I would like it to be wirless if possible. Thanks for you comments and recommendations.

put a burgee at the bow ..... its wireless

boatpoker said:

put a burgee at the bow ..... its wireless

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That's what we use too.

Burgee and flag work fine for slow speed manauvers. We also look up at the wind indicators on the sailboats around us. If you want something fancy that can do apparent wind and is wireless, you are probably looking at TackTick, but I don't know if it would integrate with your Raymarine instruments. Another option some of our friends use is a house weather station like the ones made by Davis Instruments, which are wireless but won't integrate with any electronics as far as I know. Although less expensive, our friends have told us they only get a couple of years out of the Davis models.

We have a Davis WEesther sdtstion which shows the wind direction, wind speed, out side temp and inside temp, wind chill factor. I bought it 17 years agao ans still working. www.davisnet.com they are also sold at many marine stores.

Airmar has a number of weatherstation products.

We had a 200 on our last boat, and it worked great. Of course it has many more features than what you are looking for, and isn't wireless. But their other offerings might have appeal.

Airmar Weather, GPS and Heading Products

We fitted a Raytheon ST40 with rotavector on the pilothouse roof. Show true/apparent wind speeds and directions on a dedicated display. Simple to install. Cost about $300. More than a burgee!! But can actually confirm that the wind is really blowing at 50kts!!

Chrisjs said:

We fitted a Raytheon ST40 with rotavector on the pilothouse roof. Show true/apparent wind speeds and directions on a dedicated display. Simple to install. Cost about $300. More than a burgee!! But can actually confirm that the wind is really blowing at 50kts!!

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I can tell its over 50kts when the spray is over the pilot house and that don't cost 300 bucks. :lol:

Yes but it is good to know that you are not sh1tting your pants for no reason!!

Chrisjs said:

Yes but it is good to know that you are not sh1tting your pants for no reason!!

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That could be just a bad restaurant meal.
My previous boat began life as a sailing club (CYCA) committee boat, it had B&G wind speed/direction instruments, vital to set start and finish lines, and for safety purposes. I don`t think they are a necessity, but could be useful, I certainly found them interesting when it was gusting 30 knots+ in harbour. It should be able to be done neatly without the expense of integration into an existing Raymarine set up.

boatpoker said:

put a burgee at the bow ..... its wireless

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Ditto!! The burgee is not just a decoration!!!

There are so many cheap but effective wireless weather systems now why pay for a overpriced marine version. They have their own small screens, so do not need to be networked.

Ambient Weather WS-2090 Wireless Home Weather Station

Peter B said:

There are so many cheap but effective wireless weather systems now why pay for a overpriced marine version. They have their own small screens, so do not need to be networked.

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in fact, I had asked my marine tech how much an integrated Raymarine wx instrument would cost me and it was around $900.

The Davis Wx stn will cost about $350 for non computer version, $550 for version that links to computer.
Lastly, I settled on the Chinese knockoff for $85. Yes, less than $100 and it comes with everything I wanted, including computer link, wind and direction and even a tipping bucket rain gauge although admittedly, swinging back and forth on the mast will not improve it's accuracy
Ambient Weather WS-2090 Wireless Home Weather Station
The reviews on Amazon seem about right, very delicate, but it survived me knowcking it a few times during installation.

just bought an Ambient for $85 also...if it lasts 2 years...I figure I'm still ahead.

Home based systems are ok but they are designed for a fixed position (ie house is not rotating on its axis)
I like to know the relative direction of the wind and its actual direction.
Now that I have a couple of sails going on I guess it will be more important.
I have a Navico 500 wind gauge that I have found more than adequate.

The burgee is only good up to a point , when the wind is really strong it disappears and at night during a strong blow I like to be able to track the wind shifts as well as it strength.

hey we are mariners not dirt dwellers.

Cheers
Benn

TackTic, which made wireless instruments including a T103 wind instrument, is now owned by RayMarine and has been re-branded RayMarine Wireless or some such. It may only interface with the very latest Raymarine gear & not necessarily yours. The Airmar PB200 (NMEA2000) and PB150 are wind, gps and heading sensor(and more) multi-instruments: very expensive. There is a rotovector (the arrow and moving cups) unit that puts out NMEA0183 directly and so could be connected to your RayMarine or any other display with a NMEA0183 input port: it is made by NASA Marine Instruments. Agree this is much more a nice to have than an essential...but nice-to-have's are, well, nice !

Here's a free program that converts relative wind to true for all of us dirt living, cheapskate "wannabe" mariners

Starpath Marine Weather Links

after a little practice and it can be done in the head well enough for all but competitive sailboat racing.

Thanks to all that responded. Comming from sail boats and new to my trawler, could explain my need to know so I think I'll look into the Raytheon ST 40 that Chrisjs mentioned. I'm replacing my Raytheon knot meter head display any way so I believe the ST 40 could fit right in its' place. I do appreciate the humor displayed on this site, it helps keep me from getting tech overload.

The traditional wind indicator , a night hawk , could still be use with the anchor or steaming light as illumination.