"Glass Cockpit" instrumentation for a 98' 310?

[Fly'n Family]

Recently purchased a 98' 310, and over the winter I'm going to replace the insturment and switch panels - as well as the instruments themselves. I've noticed on the newer vessels they've gone to glass panels, which I really like. As I fly a private jet with a glass cockpit for a living - I was wondering if anyone with an older boat has retrofitted theirs, and upgraded to glass? Is it doable, or would it be a nightmare physically and financially? Thanks

 

[Nick 55]

How much is a primary and secondary G1000? Not to mention trying to multiplex all the current sensors on the boat.....

Nick

 

[Fly'n Family]

How much is a primary and secondary G1000? Not to mention trying to multiplex all the current sensors on the boat.....

Nick

G1000 as in the type found in prop aircraft? I had no idea. Seems to me there would be someone that makes a package specific to boats.

 

[Boat Guy]

You have to see if your engines have digital sensors or analog. Mine, for example, are analog.

I did find a company that had sensors to convert to digital that could be shown on MFDs.

http://www.seasmart.net/marine-wireless-networking-AGW.html

 

[Nick 55]

Sorry, yes. Like those. I've seen them in a Citation Mustang. I am new to boats so I don't know if anything like that exists, but I'd guess if so, it would be priced like an aircraft system.

Nick

 

[CSR_Admin]

It is priced far less than an aviation system. However, you may never get it working right. Ay new multifunction display like a raymarine c125 or a Garmin 4208 (any nmea2000 capable display) will do it. You then need a device to capture all of the analog engine data and put it on the nmea2000 network. You'll see the two currently available options linked below. The problem is that every boat is different, so you really have nowhere to turn for tech support to make it al work. Every old boat is a new experiment.

http://www.actisense.com/products/nmea-2000/emu1.html

http://www.maretron.com/products/ems100.php

 

[Fly'n Family]

Wow.....some great information - thank you for the responses and the links. I've made up my mind if this is do-able, I'm going to do it. Any other additional info is greatly appreciated as anyone thinks of something.

 

[kaz911]

The best looking tue "glass" at the moment is Raymarine gS series - or Garmin 8000 series. But bring the big bucks.

For more "versatile" look at the new Simrad NSE Evo2 - a controller box - where you can put in the marine touch screens you want. And 1 controller box gives you 2 independent displays - so like having 2 chartplotters on board. But of course price runs up for marine touch screens... But you can more or less chose any size screen you want - which is not "normal" among other blackbox providers. Simrad also does the best "small radar domes" IMHO. Garmin does the worst RM is in-between.

I have "currently" a Lowrance HDS 12 Touch - and Simrad NSS8. The Simrad looks great - and the Lowrance looks like a "brute" - but they can more or less do the same.

If you are used to Garmin in your cockpit - then maybe consider the 7000 series. The 7000 series is about 3 years old but still a great workhorse. That strikes a balance between price and features. The 8000 series is the newest kid on the block from Garmin - but is very expensive. I have an Garmin 8008 on my testbench and it is great - and looks great. Garmin is so far also the only MFD that has "automatic" routing from point a->b. I would NOT go back to the 4000/5000 Garmin series as they are now 7 years old and are showing their age - which means no more feature updates via software upgrades.

But Garmin also only use their own map charts - where Simrad, Raymarine and a few others use Navionics and some uses CMAP (from... Jeppesen - and no they are not multi-volume 15 lbs ringbound..) - so if you can compare maps at a store to see the difference in map quality - that would be on my list as well before make a decision. Where I am - Garmin is far behind Navionics in update - but in other places it can be the other way around.

But to really guide you - you need to tell us more. Do you just want nav charts and routing? or do you want to fish and use fishfinders - if so how deep? Do you need Radar? I know you want engine data - but what about the rest ?

 

[Fly'n Family]

The best looking tue "glass" at the moment is Raymarine gS series - or Garmin 8000 series. But bring the big bucks.

But to really guide you - you need to tell us more. Do you just want nav charts and routing? or do you want to fish and use fishfinders - if so how deep? Do you need Radar? I know you want engine data - but what about the rest ?

Thank you very much for the information. The jet I fly uses ProLine 21, I referenced the Garmin earlier because I know they put that in some prop aircraft - but I've always felt Garmin makes pretty decent gee whiz boxes. In fact, my vessel has a Garmin GPS on it already. No, I'm strictly interested in a nice looking - two screen type of set up for engine and vessel information. My boating consists of lakes in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Arizona - so chartplotters and such are not necessary. In essence, I want to bring up the technology and appearance from gauges/instruments that have been around for decades to the current timeline. I also know they can provide more efficiencies in operation, in addition to providing more visually accurate information. I was just looking at the Mercury "Vessel View", and it appears to have almost everything I'm looking for regarding functions.

 

[kaz911]

Thank you very much for the information. The jet I fly uses ProLine 21, I referenced the Garmin earlier because I know they put that in some prop aircraft - but I've always felt Garmin makes pretty decent gee whiz boxes. In fact, my vessel has a Garmin GPS on it already. No, I'm strictly interested in a nice looking - two screen type of set up for engine and vessel information. My boating consists of lakes in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Arizona - so chartplotters and such are not necessary. In essence, I want to bring up the technology and appearance from gauges/instruments that have been around for decades to the current timeline. I also know they can provide more efficiencies in operation, in addition to providing more visually accurate information. I was just looking at the Mercury "Vessel View", and it appears to have almost everything I'm looking for regarding functions.

VesselView and VV7/VV4 requires engines with Mercury SmartCraft to work. So I think that is out of the question for a 1998 SR. And it is too expensive to retrofit.

But I think you are going to be disappointed in most "engine" displays on MFD's. They are not very configurable in general - where Lowrance are the most flexible, Simrad 2nd most - and Garmin and Raymarine are mostly "static" displays you can't do a lot about. So you get they layouts the manufacture has built in and not much flexibility. It might be better to go with a few of the smaller dedicated digital displays from Garmin or Raymarine like the Garmin GMI20 or Raymarine i70.

If you want non-chartplotter screens with very configurable engine/environment gauges - then Maretron is very flexible on their TSM800/TSM1300 series displays. They require a few support boxes as well to work - and for 2 screens with support boxes we are talking about $10-12,000 before you have them installed. The smaller DSM150/250 could also be a choice. But they is quite expensive as well. http://www.maretron.com/products/userInterfaceProducts.php. I have the DSM800 on my boat (indoor model of TSM800) - and it works nice and screens are configurable as you want them. Graphics design is functional but looks a bit dated compared to the Garmin GMI20 or Raymarine i70. But as I said - the most configurable screens available - so you can have the data there you want in the order you want.