In Miami Actuant Electrical invited a few boating writers like Ed Sherman, Steve D'Antonio and myself to tour several production boats that have chosen to use BEP CZone distributed power and digital switching systems. A highlight for me was getting to hear the founder of Scout Boats explain why he would do such a crazy thing. I joke of course -- and there's an argument that you have to be a little nuts to build boats anyway -- but Steve Potts (seen to the right of BEP's Jarrod Sagar above and interviewed here in Soundings) made a compelling case for why systems like CZone are critical to creating boats that truly satisfy modern customers...
There's lots more to report on from the Miami show, but partially installing a Maretron DCR100 Direct Current Relay on Gizmo just got me so excited I want to share. This boat has never had switches for running and flood lights on the fly bridge -- especially annoying when I wanted to light myself up when crossing paths with a possibly unaware stranger -- and it didn't have a switch for the new bow LED spot at all (to be explained). Now for relatively little effort and expense, I'll not only have switching at both helms but also be able to monitor and even alarm on real-time circuit currents. The installation isn't complete but I'm fairly confident that Gizmo will trek north with that often-cited feature of digital switching, an immediate warning if any one of the four incandescent running light bulbs blows. Plus I got to experience the beauty of NMEA 2000 Labeling, a feature that Maretron has trail blazed but which will hopefully become common across brands...
Raymarine was a little slow getting their Miami press releases out, but then again they have a LOT to talk about. And even with the six releases you'll find at that link, they left out what I think is a significant move: the "coming soon" Lighthouse 6 software release for all a-, c-, e-Series multifunction displays -- as well as the new gS glass bridge MFDs -- will include support for Empirebus NXT digital switching and distributed power technology. With Ray's endorsement, the fully integrated bridge just got a little more real...
They did it! Torqeedo has apparently pulled off a giant leap in electric outboard technology with Deep Blue, an 80hp motor that can give even a sizable boat some serious gitty-up. I heard a little about it at IBEX -- like there may be a 440v lithium battery involved -- and I'm sure the Torqeedo site will reveal much more soon. What we do know now is that the METS DAME Design Award judges "inspected 115 products from 25 countries" and first chose Deep Blue as one of 39 nominees (PDF here), then as winner of the propulsion category and finally as the grand DAME that "will bring great benefits to both the users and builders of marine craft." Other interesting products were also honored in Amsterdam this morning...
Happy day! You may recall that I planned to put solar panels on Gizmo last summer, but in fact I didn't know what to expect in terms of output or even if that output would support my Sea Frost refrigeration system. Well, wow, you're looking at 17.3 amps of solar juice at around local apparent noon today, and I'm seeing 12 amps as I write this four hours later. And though I've been running all sorts of gear all day, and the refrigeration for two days, the battery bank is at 12.6v, which is a healthy number I rarely see unless I've just been out cruising. I'm thinking of having a cold beer to celebrate!...
This is not the scene most boaters want to see in the middle of their salon going into Memorial Day Weekend, but at least I can look forward to checking out how well that Victron MultiPlus 12/2000/80 charges and inverts. It may seem crazy to replace the perfectly functional Xantrex Freedom 25 that used to occupy this spot, but it's part of an aggressive "re-power" plan that's had me busy recently. Besides the Xantrex has already replaced the broken one on my in-law's M/V Brilliant -- which partially subsidized this upgrade -- and I'm nearly as happy pulling cables as I would be lounging on the fine settee that will eventually go back here...
EEL purportedly stands for Easily Engaged Locking system but perhaps more to the point are the strong and sleek eel-like jaws of Marinco's new shorepower connector. It's designed to work with existing screw-on-ring inlets -- like Marinco's own 30 and 50 amp models -- except that now you can easily and quickly make the connection with one hand. The EEL even has a built-in LED light for orienting the blades, but just grabbing the jaws tends to orient the plug correctly anyway, so hooking up is just a matter of a little twist and then letting the jaws grab the inlet threads. There's also a secondary lock though the product manager at Marinco's Miami press conference suggested that it was more about peace of mind than necessity. Those jaws are apparently moray eel strong, but is the EEL a sufficient response to the Smart Plug challenge?...
Aside from the StructureScan HD demo just discussed, I also got to try out the remarkable Teleflex Marine Optimus 360 system in Miami. Yes, it does bring joystick go-any-which-way control to twin outboards -- YouTube videos here -- but there are several impressive subtleties too. One is the underlying Electronic Power Steering (EPS) system that's diagrammed in blue above and can be had without the "360" throttle, shift, and joystick if desired...
When I first met Don Hyde, founder of Vessel Vanguard, and his business development guy Gordon Ramseier at IBEX, I may have been a little hard on them. That's because a similar plan to put all of a boat's system information into the cloud had gotten me excited last summer, but then seemed to stall. I'd realized that doing this right meant arduously creating a huge yet flexible database of specs, manuals, parts lists, bulletins, maintenance recommendations etc. for thousands of different bilge pumps, AC units, marine toilets, etc. etc. So I came at Don and Gordon with something like "Show me your database!" and, by golly, they did...
I've long been meaning to give a hearty shout out to a slightly odd site called Compass Marine. What's odd is that the author -- RC Collins, an ABYC certified marine electrical technician and sailor -- is using an online database designed for photographers to create excellent how-to articles on subjects like Installing a Battery Monitor. But once you get used to the captioned illustration format, I think you'll be amazed. As suggested in the screen shot above, RC built a demo 12v power system so he could photo illustrate the Victron BMV-602S installation to near perfection, and he even annotates some of his photos to further make his points. This amount of work is not trivial. Collins could use a copy editor (me too!), but he really knows his stuff and he goes to extraordinary lengths to explain what he knows...
