Wouldn't it be cool...

[jaceaser]

So pavatti is using a Garmin chartplotter in its AL-24 to control everything, stereo, tach, batteries, lights, etc. My thought is it would be cool to update older boats with something like this and give them some of the modern bells and whistles. I'm sure installation would be expensive plus the chartplotter is almost 5k, but my thought is if you love your boat it's cheaper to upgrade then get a newer one. Thoughts?

For reference:
Pavati AL-24
http://pavati.com/al-24/

Garmin 8212
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-t...rod110004.html

[TeamAllen]

I like your thinking and would be cool, but I don't love my boat that much. Haha

[chpthril]

http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/show...ch!&highlight=

[jaceaser]

That is super cool probably a lot cheaper than the garmin solution. I wouldn't mind retrofitting my boat with an awesome tablet helm. I'm curious as to who bought it.

[Thegerman618]

check out the "wake tractor" by Alliance you might notice something familiar about the helm.

I started a thread a while back looking to do this exact thing. There are quite a few Chartplotter/Depth/Speed/stereo/Engine Management all-in-ones out there that are ran by NMEA 2000 network. Here is the problem I ran into, the MP engines DO NOT support NMEA 2000 or at least not completely. The network that runs NMEA 2000 is pretty adaptive and works quite well but was not really ever designed for our type of application. Since all of us (ok 99%) of us are running fuel injection motors we have fuel return lines that return un-used fuel back into the system, installing a flow meter will be off by at least 20-30% due to this. There are workarounds however quite expensive. The NMEA network can be connected to a lot of different accessories ballast/stereo/ect. provided you purchase a plotter or remote helm that supports all that information. Eventually after months of research I decided against the upgrade and figured I would wait to see what happens IDBoating's tablet helm system. Though not sure I am completely sold on the tablet system...here is why and maybe IDBoating can shed some light if he sees this. I use a tablet now for controlling my stereo and my gopro cameras. Here in SoCal and my local lakes its not uncommon to 120+ OAT, these tablet get HOT so hot in fact they shut down until they can be cooled off, which can 20min or 3 hours depending on the conditions. Running Tablet helm, while cool if it gets to hot you are essentially losing control of the major systems. Now there maybe a workaround for this but I haven't heard anything.

[jaceaser]

I saw that boat the boat show here in Austin and that boat is fugly. The tablet idea is cool, but I would like a 10-12" tablet replacement. It's why I like the garmin option, big and burley. Waketouch is in the right direction, but it definitely needs a better looking UI. It would be cool if a good aftermarket parts company would pick up the tablet piece.