Radar is a game changer, navigating around squals is supper cool and when you get the hang of it it makes setting up your sails in advance much simpler. Also it picks up many boats not transmiting AIS which is super useful at night or in bad visibility. Seeing breakwalls or rocks on radar gives you an accurate distance and it will suprise you with how far they are in reality, especially when there are no other features in the environment to help you judge distance. Do you absolutly need it? No, but once you have it its such an amazing tool that you'll thank yourself for installing it. Because it's not mission critical you end up learning things with it over time and as your knoledge grows about it's capibility and uses you end up really growing to love it.
I “fish” wires for a living. I use a long ball chain. The kind that turns lamps or ceiling fans on. I bought a magnet with a small telescopic rod on it. I bought it from the local auto parts store. When you drop the chain down the hole you can use the magnet to pull the chain out of the hole. Then I put a string on the chain and pull that through first then the wire. The small chain is not very strong.
I think it’s fricken awesome but I don’t have anything to compare it to. And, the whole system is fairly new so also can’t comment on robustness. There was a bit (and still is) of a learning curve because of the sheer size of the customisation and functionality which I guess is a good thing 🤛
If you know how to use radar properly it is very useful whenever you can't see land clearly, ie off the coast, bad weather, night sailing, fog. It can be used in collision avoidance and for navigation. But you need to know what you're doing with it, do a radar course.
We went with all B&G too and we've had lots of regrets. The VHF is a mess. Lots of software glitches and the remote wireless mic is a headache. Ours was in the shop multiple times and it's broken yet again. We finally gave up and put a wired mic cable to the helm that goes to the back of the radio. Now I can move the wired mic back to the helm when we are moving. As bad as the V60 is it is at least better than the V50 which never worked right and after approximately 50 hours waiting on hold with B&G support they finally just gave us a V60. Both horrible radios. From now on we are only buying VHF radios from companies that specialize in radios like ICOM or Standard Horizon. NMEA-2K is like USB in that it is plug and play and everything just works with everything else. Not a fan of the Vulcan chart plotter. Yes it is half the price of a Garmin but the cost-savings are not worth it. After using the plotter over 10k nautical miles it is obvious the people who designed these never actually used them in the field. The only good thing that B&G makes is the Triton display. They work well but the older version was actually better. The newer model "glass helm" look prettier but actually display less info. The old sailsteer display would give you apparent and true wind degrees and speed. The new display will only display 3 figures not four. We talked to the B&G guys at the Annapolis show and they said "you don't need that " well...okay. -or something. I hope you have better luck with your B&G gear than we have.
Thats a real shame. so far so good for me. I have had a few minor UI problems with the chartplotter but nothing major. My VHF has been spot on. Cheers for the comment!
I would not spend money on another B&G radio. Buy Icom or Standard Horizon only. The V60 we have is not as bad as the V50 but still bad. We unhooked it from the NMEA-2K network and use it just as a VHF radio. It still picks up AIS signals and will display them on it's own radio screen but we do not attempt to have it send NMEA information on the network as it just causes problems. We bought a Vesper class-B AIS and hooked it up to the NMEA-2K network and it works wonderfully. The setup was super simple with the B&G chartplotter. It was plug and play. If the Chartplotter died we would replace it with a Garmin. I'm done with B&G, the only B&G component we would possibly replace with another are the Triton displays. Those are not too bad and are cheaper by far than any other similar product that can do the same thing.
Radar is a game changer, navigating around squals is supper cool and when you get the hang of it it makes setting up your sails in advance much simpler. Also it picks up many boats not transmiting AIS which is super useful at night or in bad visibility. Seeing breakwalls or rocks on radar gives you an accurate distance and it will suprise you with how far they are in reality, especially when there are no other features in the environment to help you judge distance.
Do you absolutly need it? No, but once you have it its such an amazing tool that you'll thank yourself for installing it. Because it's not mission critical you end up learning things with it over time and as your knoledge grows about it's capibility and uses you end up really growing to love it.
Awesome! thanks for all that. looking forward now to really figuring out the radar and honing my skills 👍👍 good tips
Nice install and cool video!
Thanks mate! I am a subscriber of yours! I’m doing my best to be trimaran for the next boat. Cheers for the comment 🙏
I “fish” wires for a living. I use a long ball chain. The kind that turns lamps or ceiling fans on. I bought a magnet with a small telescopic rod on it. I bought it from the local auto parts store. When you drop the chain down the hole you can use the magnet to pull the chain out of the hole. Then I put a string on the chain and pull that through first then the wire. The small chain is not very strong.
What a cute dog!!😍
🤨.... kate?
@@slightadrift😂
Free freesbee😂
Hola como calibras la wind direction?
Interested to get your thoughts on the B&G gear. I’ve heard next reviews on how robust the equipment is and their service doesn’t seem to match up.
I think it’s fricken awesome but I don’t have anything to compare it to. And, the whole system is fairly new so also can’t comment on robustness.
There was a bit (and still is) of a learning curve because of the sheer size of the customisation and functionality which I guess is a good thing
🤛
Instrument panel looks very nice! Good job!
Why did you use a vhf antenna splitter? I thought the B&G v-60 included both vhf and ais in one unit?
It does but you need two antennas. I have two but I wanted the extra range from the mast vhf
If you know how to use radar properly it is very useful whenever you can't see land clearly, ie off the coast, bad weather, night sailing, fog. It can be used in collision avoidance and for navigation. But you need to know what you're doing with it, do a radar course.
Thanks for the tips! A radar course sounds like a really good idea. I still am not super proficient with radar
👍
We went with all B&G too and we've had lots of regrets. The VHF is a mess. Lots of software glitches and the remote wireless mic is a headache. Ours was in the shop multiple times and it's broken yet again. We finally gave up and put a wired mic cable to the helm that goes to the back of the radio. Now I can move the wired mic back to the helm when we are moving. As bad as the V60 is it is at least better than the V50 which never worked right and after approximately 50 hours waiting on hold with B&G support they finally just gave us a V60. Both horrible radios. From now on we are only buying VHF radios from companies that specialize in radios like ICOM or Standard Horizon. NMEA-2K is like USB in that it is plug and play and everything just works with everything else.
Not a fan of the Vulcan chart plotter. Yes it is half the price of a Garmin but the cost-savings are not worth it. After using the plotter over 10k nautical miles it is obvious the people who designed these never actually used them in the field.
The only good thing that B&G makes is the Triton display. They work well but the older version was actually better. The newer model "glass helm" look prettier but actually display less info. The old sailsteer display would give you apparent and true wind degrees and speed. The new display will only display 3 figures not four. We talked to the B&G guys at the Annapolis show and they said "you don't need that " well...okay. -or something.
I hope you have better luck with your B&G gear than we have.
Thats a real shame. so far so good for me. I have had a few minor UI problems with the chartplotter but nothing major. My VHF has been spot on.
Cheers for the comment!
Got issues with V50 as well.
Having all B&G set up Zeus 2, triton.
Now need to change my vhf and hesitate with V60b to use AIS…
I would not spend money on another B&G radio. Buy Icom or Standard Horizon only. The V60 we have is not as bad as the V50 but still bad. We unhooked it from the NMEA-2K network and use it just as a VHF radio. It still picks up AIS signals and will display them on it's own radio screen but we do not attempt to have it send NMEA information on the network as it just causes problems.
We bought a Vesper class-B AIS and hooked it up to the NMEA-2K network and it works wonderfully. The setup was super simple with the B&G chartplotter. It was plug and play.
If the Chartplotter died we would replace it with a Garmin. I'm done with B&G, the only B&G component we would possibly replace with another are the Triton displays. Those are not too bad and are cheaper by far than any other similar product that can do the same thing.
Slow down with your camera please, good content.