Seattle Boat Show!

The Seattle Boat Show had a different vibe for us this year than past years.  We always enjoy going to the boat show and looking at the larger "on the water" sailboats at Lake Union as well as the latest electronics at the indoor show.  This year we had a "list"!  Purchasing a 1993 boat with mostly original electronics and systems and ... well about everything from 1993... provided a lot of opportunity to shop the boat show.




Can't we buy this new catamaran dad...please?

Before going through my short list of Boat Show items... Let me mention one seminar that was worth the whole boat show all by itself.  We attended the seminar on the Coho HO HO.  Not only are these guys a "rally" to head down the coast, they are a wealth of offshore information.  For those who join up, they organize monthly offshore information seminars to help us first timers get ready to head South.  They also provide the "Line Cutting" festivities to make sure we leave.  Looking forward to the comradery and weather routing advice as we make the flight south.


Moving on...my short list for this year is:



Where is my list??? Was this catamaran on it???

#1 - Functioning Autopilot - hand steering in the winter is not fun, but we really enjoyed that Christmas trip to Victoria B.C.!  I started looking at the B&G H5000 system, but a knowledgeable offshore sailor in the B&G booth pointed me to the B&G NAC-3 system with a 7" Zeus3 display for autopilot control with the added benefits of advanced "sail steer" computations and incorporated forward scanning sonar support.  At half the price of the H5000 system (mainly for racers... which we are not) it sounded pretty good to me!

Sailsteer!  Well, maybe gimmicky, but half the price!

#2 - NMEA2000 Backbone and components.  The 1993 B&G NMEA0183 system works... mostly... depth sometimes shows shallow when we are in 200'+ depth and wind does not always register at slowest speeds... but it works.  I am looking at replacing with NMEA2000 components primarily from Maretron.  I am pretty interested in their WSO100 Ultrasonic Wind Sesnor!  Designing a NMEA2000 backbone is trickier than I thought.  Let me know if you want help demystifying the process.



Look...no moving parts!

Being a computer engineer by trade and liking electronic gadgets, I am a Furuno guy at heart.  I had the TZ Touch 2 Chart plotter in a box, in my garage, long before we sold the house and purchased the boat.  The rebates were great!  Also I have been a Maxsea laptop chart software customer long before Furuno purchased the company.  So running the latest TimeZero Pro SW on my laptop is a great link to the TZT2 without having to purchase charts for either.  After purchasing Manna, I quickly got the TZT2 installed, replacing the Raymarine C80 (anybody want a used C80 and B&G 4" displays??).

#3 - Back to the boat show... Needing radar, I am definitely interested in Furuno's DRS4D-NXT Radar.  It has the range and better resolution than the 4kW DRS4D unit, but operates at only 25W using Doppler technology!  So getting the Radar to integrate into my TZT2 Chart plotter for our foggy\rainy sailing days, was pretty high on my list.  One interesting feature of the NXT is it's ability to color code targets based on whether they are moving towards (red), away (green), or the target is stationary (yellow).

Knowing our budget was dwindling quickly we had a few other "top" priorities before heading south.



Tana was a great help in shopping!

#4 - Manna did not come with a dinghy and we knew whatever we purchased would soon become our car as we turned to mainly anchoring out when heading south.  We definitely wanted a RIB with an aluminum hull to minimize weight and take beach abuse.  An ideal size/weight/capacity of a cruising dinghy seems to be around 8'-9', but the HP rating was typically less than 9HP.  Considering we primarily want to be anchored out...out of the crowds, plus we enjoy diving/snorkeling, and exploring coves, we thought 15HP would be a good motor for extended dinghy trips and hauling water, fuel, groceries, etc...  This typically meant 10'+ 140lb+ heavier dinghies.  One brand stood out for having a light weight <100lb 9.5' dinghy that would take a 15HP outboard.  Of course it cost more than the rest... go figure!  So yes we actually bought a boat at the boat show.  The AB 9.5 AL with a 15HP Yamaha.

Ahhh the simpler boating life.  No electronics, plumbing, wiring, wood, leaking windows, and easy to clean!

#5 - Next on our list was an AIS class B transceiver.  We had one on Consort and found it to be extremely valuable in dodging the "high speed" ferries in Canada that come out of nowhere in the Gulf Islands.  AIS is also great for dodging all the freighter traffic coming in and out of the Puget Sound.  Our last unit was a ACR, but we found a great price on a Sitex AIS MDA-1 and Splitter MDA-3.

#6 - Lastly, we knew we wanted SSB communications for the offshore trip down south.  Much to my surprise ICOM is no longer distributing their M802 SSB radio in the US.  Something about new FCC regulations. I have read enough about the M802 to know there are all sorts of 3rd party information on operations and programming for the M802 unit.  Fortunately I found a "package" distributor that still had the M802 in stock.  SeaTech systems provided the M802 radio, AT140 Tuner, Pactor P4 Modem, KISS ground plane, lots of cables, magnetic filters and more.  So if you are looking for a package, check them out!  They shipped quickly and were easy to work with over the web.





We are staying with our current life raft... but this will be on our list for next year.

So now the work begins.  But at least it will be the "Fun" type of work that provides the gratification of new functionality!