Before we bought the boat we knew we would want to upgrade and modernise the navigation and other systems. This is where the main expense occurred.
Chartplotter, Radar and Sonar
Destiny came with a Simrad chart plotter of some vintage. Although perfectly functional, it was not intuitive and fell way behind modern systems in terms of capability, interoperability and usability. It had to go. Changing the chart plotter also meant having to change the radar since the new system could not be easily integrated with the old.
The old system
After trailing the web, speaking to numerous people and visiting the Southampton Boat Show we opted for a Raymarine system. Our previous boat was equipped with a beautiful Garmin touch screen plotter; however, in rough conditions we found this very difficult to use. We wanted a touch screen but also felt that having a traditional option of "buttons and dials" would be greatly advantageous. Of all the options we found the Raymarine suited us best. We opted for an Axiom Pro 12 chartplotter and a Quantum 2 doppler radar. We also added a new sonar.
The decision regarding what to buy was relatively straight forward. Fitting it was another matter. The old depth sounder had to be removed but the Sikaflex was doing a sterling job of holding it in place. I had to resort to drilling out the old unit. Fortunately, the new sonar had a slightly larger diameter so I had a bit of tolerance to play with. Once removed, fitting the unit was easy. Fitting the radar and chartplotter was also relatively straight forward. The problems arose trying to feed the leads from the new equipment. We took out the captains chair, removed the wall panels, removed some ceiling panels and a panel behind the settee in the pilothouse. We also had to remove the storage box on the deck in order to thread the cables around a corner designed to stop water ingress - well, it stopped us threading the cables anyway! Eventually it was all done. Linking it all together didn't take the expert from the marine equipment shop long at all. We then had to get the boat back to looking like a boat rather than a bomb site.
We now have a super chart plotter linked via a cable (and wifi, if required) to the radar, AIS, engine data, sonar and other equipment.
Fusion Radio
The radio/cd player that came with the boat was of the type that would not have been out of place in a 1980s car - big graphic equaliser, flashing lights, way too many buttons and not capable of being linked to anything. It had to go. We replaced it with a Garmin Fusion RA70N which can be linked to the chart plotter and can be driven by a Bluetooth connection form our iPhones/iPads. Great for Spotify etc.
Battery Monitoring
Destiny has a traditional battery monitor that is useful for seeing how much power is being used or put back into the system. It is less helpful in providing an accurate determination of the SOC (state of charge) of the main battery bank. An accurate SOC is important since it helps inform you when you need to top up the batteries. Allowing the batteries to run too low adds another discharge cycle to the bank which shortens its useful life. We chose the SmartGauge system which I had fitted to our previous boat. It's very simple to fit and meets our needs well.
Galvanic isolator
The boat was not fitted with a galvanic isolator. These are an important and cost effective way of helping to protect the expensive metal fitting on a boat from corrosion caused by stray electric currents in the water. We fitted one.
Safety
Destiny came with a really good selection of safety equipment but we added a personal EPIRB, life jackets and an additional medical box.
Still to come
There are still a few planned purchases on the cards. We need a tender, outboard and a davit system to launch and retrieve the tender. This will be essential when we move to the Med but is not pressing in UK waters. Additionally, I would like to get some scuba kit to supplement the wetsuit and snorkelling equipment that is already on board.
No doubt there will be other things that come to mind after we have used the boat for an extended period.
Chartplotter, Radar and Sonar
Destiny came with a Simrad chart plotter of some vintage. Although perfectly functional, it was not intuitive and fell way behind modern systems in terms of capability, interoperability and usability. It had to go. Changing the chart plotter also meant having to change the radar since the new system could not be easily integrated with the old.
The old system
After trailing the web, speaking to numerous people and visiting the Southampton Boat Show we opted for a Raymarine system. Our previous boat was equipped with a beautiful Garmin touch screen plotter; however, in rough conditions we found this very difficult to use. We wanted a touch screen but also felt that having a traditional option of "buttons and dials" would be greatly advantageous. Of all the options we found the Raymarine suited us best. We opted for an Axiom Pro 12 chartplotter and a Quantum 2 doppler radar. We also added a new sonar.
 |
| The new kit |
We now have a super chart plotter linked via a cable (and wifi, if required) to the radar, AIS, engine data, sonar and other equipment.
Fusion Radio
The radio/cd player that came with the boat was of the type that would not have been out of place in a 1980s car - big graphic equaliser, flashing lights, way too many buttons and not capable of being linked to anything. It had to go. We replaced it with a Garmin Fusion RA70N which can be linked to the chart plotter and can be driven by a Bluetooth connection form our iPhones/iPads. Great for Spotify etc.
Destiny has a traditional battery monitor that is useful for seeing how much power is being used or put back into the system. It is less helpful in providing an accurate determination of the SOC (state of charge) of the main battery bank. An accurate SOC is important since it helps inform you when you need to top up the batteries. Allowing the batteries to run too low adds another discharge cycle to the bank which shortens its useful life. We chose the SmartGauge system which I had fitted to our previous boat. It's very simple to fit and meets our needs well.
Galvanic isolator
The boat was not fitted with a galvanic isolator. These are an important and cost effective way of helping to protect the expensive metal fitting on a boat from corrosion caused by stray electric currents in the water. We fitted one.
Safety
Destiny came with a really good selection of safety equipment but we added a personal EPIRB, life jackets and an additional medical box.
Still to come
There are still a few planned purchases on the cards. We need a tender, outboard and a davit system to launch and retrieve the tender. This will be essential when we move to the Med but is not pressing in UK waters. Additionally, I would like to get some scuba kit to supplement the wetsuit and snorkelling equipment that is already on board.
No doubt there will be other things that come to mind after we have used the boat for an extended period.
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