Alden BR40 helm

BR40Helm

It was some fun getting a little wheel time on this Alden Brenton Reef 40 on Vineyard Sound last week. Despite bright sun and huge glass, you can see that the screen of the Raymarine C120 was up to the task. The radar overlay worked nicely too, and is much appreciated by the owner, who’s seasoned in boats and planes. I was there to write about cruising, not electronics, but presume that the C120 is getting heading info from the Simrad AP25’s compass via the fast version of NMEA 0183. You can also see (bigger here) an Icom VHF, an ACR pan & tilt spotlight, and ZF (Mathers) single lever electronic controls (whose delicacy took some getting used to). The owner laments that the E Series wasn’t yet out when he chose this rig, because he’d like to try the Weather Channel Marine satellite system that he’s heard will become an E option. And it shouldn’t be too long before fully electronic Yanmars and NMEA 2000 will create the choice of a second E in place of the analog gauges. The picture is courtesy my sharp shooting neighbor Jamie Bloomquist.



Ben Ellison

Ben Ellison

Panbo editor, publisher & chief bottlewasher from 4/2005 until 8/2018, and now pleased to have Ben Stein as a very able publisher, webmaster, and editing colleague. Please don't regard him as an "expert"; he's getting quite old and thinks that "fadiddling fumble-putz" is a more accurate description.

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