Marine Technology - Ocean Navigator

19 Dec

Maretron and Raymarine Announce Collaboration

Eric ColbyBluewater Gear, Electronic charting, Industry & Company News, Marine Electronics, Marine Technology

Marine electronics maker Raymarine has partnered with Maretron to integrate the latter’s vessel monitoring systems into the former’s Axiom chartplotter displays. Maretron’s MConnect is a client-server technology that offers access to real-time data across hundreds of data points on a vessel. Integrating MConnect with Raymarine’s Axiom family of multifunction displays lets users monitor and control vessel components from Raymarine’s LightHouse interface. MConnect’s data visualization and customization tools are compatible with Raymarine’s MFDs. They let a user configure personalized interfaces and control vessel systems with ease. By combining MConnect’s graphics editor with Raymarine’s high-definition displays, users can create dashboards that consolidate…

02 Dec

ePropulsion Extends 96-volt Offerings

Eric ColbyBoat & Gear News, Electrical Systems, Engines and Propulsion, Marine Technology

Electric propulsion supplier ePropulsion has expanded its 96-volt offerings. The company said it’s building on the ePropulsion Smart System Architecture, introducing a Pod Drive 20eSSA, G102-230 battery and a modular energy system called PowerCruise Essential for small electric and hybrid vessels. The new offerings will debut in the 2025 model year and were on display at the METSTRADE show in Amsterdam in late November. “Following the success of our X-Series and I-Series motors and the G102-100 battery, and based on discussions with our boat builder partners, we have enhanced our existing product offerings,” Danny Tao, co-founder and CEO of ePropulsion,…

30 Oct

New Numbering Format for VHF Marine Radios

Eric ColbyBoat & Gear News, Communications, Marine Electronics, Marine Technology

New marine radios for the VHF-FM band (156 to 162 MHz) are being made with a new channel numbering scheme. The “A” designation for some channels in the U.S. is being replaced with 10. Going forward, channel 22A, which is used by the Coast Guard for all ship’s calls and Urgent Marine Information Broadcasts, will become 1022. There’s no effect on operation. All two-digit assignments, designated uses and frequencies stay the same. Eighteen channels for the U.S. numbering scheme are affected, while four “B” channels in Canada will change to “20” designations. The change was ordered by the International Telecommunications…

07 Oct

Open Waters Solar Flexible Panels

Eric ColbyBoat & Gear News, Electrical Systems, Marine Technologyboating tips

Simon Angus wanted a boat that he could move easily to a destination, so he built a modular 40-foot all-carbon electrically propelled catamaran. The twin-hulled vessel could be broken down to fit in a shipping container and be re-assembled with the use of a crane. His goal for the boat was to make as self-sufficient as possible so he equipped it with 16 110-watt semi-flexible solar panels. “On day one, they were great and we were generating a huge amount of power,” says Angus. After a year, however, the power output dropped to 60% to 70%. “The biggest issue with…

31 Dec

Victron BMS wins 2021 Husick award

Tim QueeneyBatteries, Marine Technology

The 2021 winner of the Ocean Navigator Chuck Husick Marine Technology Award is the Lynx Smart Battery Management System (BMS) (www.victronenergy.com/battery-management-systems/lynx-smart-bms). The Lynx unit is a full-featured BMSystem for managing lithium batteries, with capabilities like a battery monitor showing state of charge, a pre-alarm signal, Bluetooth connectivity, local and remote monitoring using a Victron GX device and more. Husick award judge and voyager Rebecca Childress wrote in an email, “Victron makes amazing products and this one sounds like another great way to stay on top of your electrical setup!” The runner-up finalist was the Groco E Valve series with a…

31 Dec

What is a marinized engine?

Tim QueeneyMarine Technology

In a recent issue that included a story on repowering, we wrote that Volvo marine marinizes Kubota engines for some of its engine offerings. This point brought a response from Stanley Feigenbaum, one of the founders and former owners of Beta Marine engines in the U.S., who informed us that Volvo uses a diesel engine manufactured by the Shibaura engine company as the basis for some of its marine engines. This was helpful, but it raised the question: what exactly does marinizing an engine mean and why is it important? It’s no surprise that the marine engine market is significantly…

31 Dec

Balancing and Busses

Dave McCampbellBatteries, Marine Technology

Editor’s note: Below is Part 2 of an article providing information on choosing and installing a LiFePO4 lithium battery system aboard a cruising sailboat. Part 1 appeared in our 2021 Ocean Voyager annual issue on page 8. Recently we removed 390 pounds of GEL lead acid batteries from our catamaran and replaced them with 100 pounds of lithium (LiFePO4) cells. The LiFePO4 batteries have almost twice the useable capacity and take up half the space. Our cells came from one of the many well-respected lithium factories in China. Most of these have been in business for ten years or more…

31 Dec

Battery changes?

Ann HoffnerBatteries, Marine Technology

Twenty years ago my husband and I were inside a Florida Sam’s Club buying deep-cycle lead acid batteries for our Peterson 44. That same year the Maxi-cat Playstation set a transatlantic speed record with a lithium battery on board. It started a trend in boating. In the years since then, how have lithium batteries done in the boating marketplace? At the 2021 US Sailboat Show in Annapolis I asked vendors whether they sold more lithium than lead acid batteries. Custom Marine Products’ Tom Trimmer said at the last pre-pandemic boat show people asked him to “tell me more about lithium.”…

10 Nov

Marine Electronics, November 2021

Ocean NavigatorMarine Technology

A final approach to an anchorage demands precise steering, sometimes requiring you to stand out on the bow to navigate through a difficult passage. While Wi-Fi-based systems connected to GPS or autopilot are available to aid in this task, a stand-alone remote steering system may be simpler to install, easier on the cruising kitty and simpler to control. Unlike most other areas of the marine electronics industry, only a small handful of manufacturers have gone through the trouble of designing a remote steering device that does not interact directly with a chartplotter via Ethernet or wireless connection. Most skippers are…

31 Oct

Signal GPS improvements

Story and photos by Craig SmithMarine Technology

The incredible accuracy and reliability of the Global Positioning System, which has been in use for more than two decades, has given it the quality of a force of nature — always there, doing its thing, like the seasons or the tides. In reality, of course, a sizeable group of U.S. Air Force personnel and civilian contractors work behind the scenes not only to operate the system but to improve it. Let’s take a dive into a somewhat complicated aspect of GPS that most users never consider: the steady improvements to GPS civilian navigation signals. The original Global Positioning System…