"RL70CRC with 4kw Pathfinder Radar has been choosen to provide the foundation for a completely intergrated navigation system which will also incorporate PC based systems that will display raster charts, photos, and ENC's."
Well that was the original goal, but it never really worked that way. The Raymarine hardware all seems to work well together. The problems came with interfacing the PC using the Pathfinder PC kit. There are some quirky things that happen when trying to use the PC along with any of the Raymarine hardware, that causes random reboot of the Raymarine hardware. I have been able to reduce the number of events considerably, by recableing the system to remove excess length and sharp bends, but still do not have a rock solid system. I have been through a very systematic troubleshooting, guided by the Raymarine tech support but, still have occassional problems. Anyway, this is how we are presently setup.
The RL70CRC is an intergrated color radar/chartplotter with HSB2 and Seatalk capability. It is located at the upper helm and is linked to a black box fishfinder, the DMS250. It is a great sonar with excellent fish finding qualities. I elected to use the Raystar 120 GPS (seatalk version) to provide positioning data. I later regreted not getting the NMEA version instead, as it would have made compatability with other PC programs possible. Most other charting software did not support the seatalk interface at the time.
The PC side of the system was to provide for a second station at the lower helm. I was unhappy using a laptop to run the PC due to the slow speed of the system I had and the limitations of the display. I ended up getting a Shuttle PC which is a small compact desktop unit that uses standard desktop hardware like harddrives, DVD burners and expansion cards. Much easier to upgrade if required in the future. The Raymarine PC kit uses a PCMCIA card (common to laptops) to network with the HSB2 Network. Since desktops use PCI cards, an PCI/PCMCIA adapter is used. Raymarine specified the specific card that has been found to be compatible.
The compact size of the Model G5690 Shuttle PC allows it to sit in a convenient location on the shelf forward of the dinette. The low profile makes for good stability and unobstructed view through the front windows. Front mounted USB ports are convenient for digital camera and cell phone modem connections. Ports on the rear of the computer consist of more USB, serial (2) (important for nmea connections), DVI and analog monitor, firewire, optical, ethernet, phone modem, and parallel ports. It is housed in an aluminum case and has a Pentium 4, 3.0 Ghz. processor, a variable speed fan with a "piped cooling system" to keep noise at a minimum while cooling the CPU. Audio ports are found on both front and rear.
I use a "Y" monitor cable to feed a monitor at both helm stations. The keyboard and mouse are wireless units that transmit up to 30 feet. The range is much shorter on the boat, but it works. I feed the PC, NMEA positioning data from a Garmin handheld GPS. The only glitch is you must not start the GPS before the computer, or the PC on boot up will interpret the serial port data from the GPS as a serial mouse and cause problems. I also have a small inkjet printer in the cabin.
I use Offshore Navigator, Fugawi ENC, and the Raytech Navigator, depending on what I want to do and what type of charts I want to use. There are numerous issues with networking this stuff together and I am still working out the kinks. I've been slow going at it because it has not been a priority. I can view radar and depth info on the RL70 while using the PC as a chart plotter, and this works very well. Most of the time I pilot the boat from the flybridge and don't have a need for all the RL 70 functions to be on the PC. Ideally, and eventually, I hope to be able to display radar, depth, and charts on the PC, so I will have a full capabitilty at the lower helm station also.
I do like to do trip planning in my home office where I have additional copies on the navigation software. With the use of a USB memory stick, it makes it easy to transport your routes and other info from home to boat. It really is nice to have that capability, for those of us that have limited time at the boat.
Besides navigation, trip planning, and tide & current info, I also use the PC for alot of other things, from email to entertainment, so for me, it is a very handy tool to have onboard. The PC is powered by shore power and genset, or by a small 700 watt inverter which is hardwired into the boats DC system. By using a small power strip to plug the computer, upper station monitor/TV and printer, I simply move one plug to the source I want to use. The lower station monitor is a 12 volt DC version that is plugged directly into the boats DC system at all times. When underway or on the hook, we generally use the inverter, and use the AC system when at the dock. I use my Razr phone as a modem with the PC to retrieve email and get weather reports. The DVD Burner works a second DVD player, feeding the LCD TV/Monitor on the flybridge. The PC is also my I-Tunes player and feeds either stereo, cabin or flybridge with our favorite music.
So even though the PC Raytech software has not met my expectations, the PC has still been a great nav aid, trip planner, and double duty entertainment machine. I do expect to work out the "kinks" and have everything fully funtional by next season. I will expand on the software programs in the near future.