We have a very standard Raymarine system on the new yacht. We have wind, tridata for boat speed depth and water temperature, a liner autopilot and chartplotters at the navigation station and on the deck. It is a copy of the system on Passion but using the latest hardware. I reported my purchase of the last chartplotter and autopilot system in the last post and they went straight onto the onto the yacht. When we powered up the Seatalkng network I was surprised and annoyed that we had a constant “No Pilot” alarm that was preventing any diagnosis of the system. The issue was resolved by downloading the latest version of software for the EV1 course computer and it fixed the issue immediately. I am not pleased that the equipment shipped in the one box was not software compatible but at least it gave me some practice at the software updating and all the equipment is now on the very latest versions of everything. Also the discussion with the Raymarine technical person provided some good advice on system redundancy like putting the Seatalkng into both chartplotters so that if the master fails the slave takes over with all the data already connected. Another good idea is to have a dedicated Seatalkng power supply prewired behind the panel so that if the autopilot fails we can plug the power supply into the backbone and still have the Seatalkng network running. I could power the backbone separately but I have run out of available connections and in ten years have never had a fault with the autopilot system powering the seatalk network on Passion.
Software version 1.11 on the EV1 course computer instead of the required 2.17
With the instruments working I turned on the VHF and realized I needed the MMSI number so went on line to apply for one only to find that I had already done the exercise and already registered the VHF and AIS. I shot off an email to AMSA apologizing for being forgetful and promptly entered the data into the VHF and it worked even without the antenna installed. The radio is working fine too and so are a few lights.
The next target for electrical completion is the fridge. The condenser is mounted in the ice box and the compressor is sitting on the base ready to be joined so by Friday night I hope to have a cold beer in the fridge.
The other domestic appliance that needs to be installed is the oven and the gas fitter is due this week.