I short listed three suppliers on instrumentation; Raymarine, Furuno & Garmin.
At the time of selection, Furuno had too many problems with their Navnet 3D and although they will certainly get it right, I had enough to think about on a boat like this and wanted to go cruising without worrying about updating instrumentation.
Garmin has a very good reputation for reliability but I thought it was a bit short on features compared to Raymarine & Furuno, e.g. no HD Radar and the touch screens are gimmicky but in my opinion, not practical in a seaway, the sales guy had trouble in reliably making selections even in an office that wasn't pitching and rolling.
Therefore the instrumentation for Buena Vista is based around the Raymarine G-Series and where practical, redundancy has been built in as we will be doing long ocean passages. http://www.raymarine.com.au/products/g-series/
There will be two G-Series GPM400 processors, each driving one display in the Pilothouse and one on the Flybridge. Therefore if we get a processor failure, there will still be a display operational at each helm location.
The displays are Argonaut, 2 x G219P 19" in the Pilothouse and 2 x G615XL 15" on the Flybridge. The Pilothouse displays will be primarily powered by 230v, but have also been ordered with DC/DC converters and pre wired for 12vdc so that in the event of an inverter failure, there is back up power available for navigation.
There is a night mode on the G-Series and the Pilothouse displays will also be fitted with night filters, while the Flybridge displays dim to black. http://www.argonautcomputer.com/tflex-sunlight-readable-monitors.php
There is one fixed G Series keyboard in the Pilothouse and one wireless G series keyboard that can be used both in the Pilothouse or can be taken to the Flybridge for opertion there. The wireless keyboard is charged via coiled keyboard cable and can also operate as a wired keyboard while plugged in, providing backup if the wireless transmitter fails..
A 4kW, 72" HD open array will provide the radar service and an AIS transponder provides not only information on all shipping over 300 tonnes within VHF range, but also makes us visible to commercial traffic and transmits our position, course and speed.
Radar is the only part of the system that has no specific backup, while it is very useful, I do not consider it to be essential enough to provide a backup antenna. I have sailed the past 5 seasons in Australia and the South Pacific without radar and have had no incidents at all. Good seamanship and watchkeeping procedures, which we will do anyway, provide the backup required.
Two depth, speed and temperature transducers provide redundancy, particularly depth, which I consider as probably the most important instrument on the boat. One will be connected to a DSM30 Fish Finder and operate through the G Series system, while the other is connected via a pod to the ST70 multifunction graphic instrument. A wind transducer will connect to another ST70. There will be another ST70 on the Flybridge.
The autopilot will be based on the SPX30 with a type 3 hydraulic pump, and will be controlled through an ST70 autopilot control head in the Pilothouse. A Smartcontoller wireless remote will provide autopilot adjustments on the Flybridge as well as remotely monitoring important functions anywhere on the boat (like when I am off watch in bed!!), such as depth, wind speed, XTE etc. Rather than a full redundant Autopilot system, as everything is plug and socket, key spares will be carried.
Both VHF Icom 604 with Command Mic for the Flybridge and HF Icon 801e radios provide the basic communications and a Pactor HF modem provides basic text e-mails to keep in touch with family as well as essential weather information via Sailmail and also weatherfax.
One other instrument that I feel is essential and is probably a leftover from my sailing days is a barometer. I have selected a Bohlken Digital Barograph so that we can monitor pressure trend lines. This unit also has a USB output so that trend data can be sent to a PC.
As the first season on the new boat will basically be coastal cruising, we will not be far from mobile voice and data services so the decision was made to boost this facility with the installation of an Ericsson system. We will install a satellite systems for communications when we head offshore, as equipment, plans and pricing are continually being improved.
For visual monitoring of the boat, CCTV cameras will be located in the engine room, lazarette, cockpit and flybridge, which will all be connected to the G-Series via a GVM400 audio visual server.
Navigational and monitoring screens will also be able to be displayed on the TV's in the saloon, master & guest staterooms, so that essential services can be monitored while off watch.
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