Raymarine Electronics Upgrade 2019

Old but good!

We have been happy with the old Raymarine E120 Classic nav system and had found the RD218 Radar invaluable during out 2018 summer trips to northern France and the Channel Islands, especially with the addition of AIS.

Old Analogue RD218 Radar

In terms of the Radar, it saved our bacon approaching both Cherbourg and Guernsey in grey-out fog conditions. With Guernsey in particular, we had two small fishing boats appear out of the fog anchored off exactly where we knew something would be, pre-warned by the Radar blobs overlaid on the chart plotter screen.

Thinking ahead, it was clear that we were at some point going to upgrade the ageing (13 years plus) electronics and we are of the mindset that if we leave it later rather than sooner, we are effectively doing the work for someone else (Grace's next owner).... so at the end of 2018 we pulled the trigger.

Dave Hudson at Hudson Marine Electronics gave us the advice and support we needed. HM are at our own Mercury Marina in Hamble and so it was easy to pop in for a chat.

https://hudsonmarine.co.uk ... I will say that this is a family run business and the team have been brilliant. They are committed and well stocked (very well stocked!) so if you are doing the online shopping thing then they are a safe bet also. But, if you own a boat and have the time then walk in the shop! One day we will lose these places so go meet and trade with a human being while you still can!

ES127 MFD

Dave steered us away from the most expensive Axiom MFD plus Doppler Radar setup to a step cheaper using the ES Series, ES127 MFD (£2000 ish) and the Quantum radar (£1439). This setup was saving us over £1000 compared to my original intention. Always good to have a supplier down sell you and explain the reasons.

We also saw a little (£160) Raymarine rebate. Add in the SeaTalkNg to SeaTalk1 convertor (£106) and the install costs (Can't remember! about £700) and we have a £4200-£4500 project. Bear in mind that I sold our working E120 MFD and RD218 radar on Ebay for a total of £1000 which helped.

Of course, we retain all our old transducers, auto pilot and instrument displays. We are just swapping out the MFD brain and the radar here. You have to do both together as all the new MFDs will not talk to older analogue radars. You have to go digital.

Install Details:

We used the old RD218 existing mast bracket. The hole centres are compatible with the new radar but it sits further forward on the bracket. We did not want this so Hudson do a convertor plate that sits the radar back again. 

No! Run the cable!

The Radar "should" only need a small power cable running up as the connection to the MFD is wireless (Wi-Fi). I was worried about that... and reassured... but guess what... we found the wireless connection to be unreliable. We have a fog horn speaker mounted below the radar and we concluded it was masking the wifi. So the Hudson lads (Paul and James) came back to run the stupid expensive Raymarine Cat6 cable up the mast back to the MFD. Problem solved. Honestly, if you are reading this, run the damn cable.

L-R Main Power, Radar Network, SeaTalk

In Situ

Interfaces with our older instruments and transponders

GPS:

The new ES127 has its own internal GPS and this is clearly better and faster to get a fix on power up compared with the old one (it sees more satellites too). Our old GPS antenna is still recognised by the new kit so we have left it in.

Lighthouse II or III

The eS series MFD plotters were released at the time of Raymarine Lighthouse II software. The screens are responsive and very fast compared to our old kit. From what I can see and understand the LH III software enhances 3D viewing that I do not use and will slow down the user interface of my eS and compromise the integration of the (old) Autopilot control onto the MFD. 

LH II is working for me so I am going to leave that all alone. 

In Use: First Impressions

The main thing we notice is screen resolution and chart plotter speed as we move around and zoom in and out. It's quick! 

The radar experience is no different and I am not sure what benefit the digital thing is buying me. I will say that the old RD218 was a 27 Watt  device in transmit where the Quantum digital system is 17 Watts. Thats is over 35% more power efficient on your batteries.

Our old system would sometimes refuse to get a GPS fix after turn on and would need a reboot to encourage it. All good with the new system. More reliable.

We like the AIS target interception plot. It gets too busy in the solent and thinks basically that everything is going to hit you! However it is perfect for off coast passages and working out what is going on in shipping lanes with the big stuff. You can easily see where 10 different ships are crossing and how to prioritise your attention to the closest. Really good.