Tuesday, June 18, 2013

AIS

I have always felt that AIS is a game changer, especially on sailboats.  The ability to quickly identify contacts and see their CPA (closest point of approach), course, speed etc. will make offshore watch-keeping much less stressful.   If you install an AIS transponder then other vessel should be able to see your details, which is even better.  I have recently helped to install a Vesper Marine XB-8000 AIS transponder with WiFi on a friends boat.  I believe that this is the best deal out there (for the moment) as the use of iPad apps via WiFi makes the system much more usable.

The device; 

Back


Screen shots


Target List



Vessel Info



More info




Once we have installed the Seatalk/Seatalk ng connector to the Raymarine wind instruments and depth/speed we should be able to see wind data, speed and depth on the iPad as well.



2 comments:

Rhys said...

I'm interested in the rationale of buying the Vesper "black box" over the standalone Watchmate 850 unit. I have yet to decide which I prefer, and have no preference as yet...except that I like the feature set of Vesper's product (and their consultation with customers)better than all others.

audeojude said...

Gerry,
Been a while. Its scott carle that has been maintaining the downeasteryachts.com website now. :) Just installed the em-track B100 transponder with their S100 splitter on our boat Valkyr. It doesn't have the wifi but it has usb, NMEA2000 and 183 bidirectional ports that all work at the same time. You can use it as a multiplexer. So far it works great.

anyway... just saw your post on that and thought since I just did my project it was interesting. We are still refurbishing Valkyr. We have lived on her that last year and half though.