While most of the commercial world is counting down to Christmas, the marine trade is already looking further ahead - to the London Boat Show. Already exhibitors are starting to announce the new products they will be unveiling at Excel in January, and as has come to be expected, one of the most exciting areas looks set to be electronics.
Bristol-based Digital Yacht will be launching its first-ever “integrated electronic bridge product.” To you and me that means a dedicated boat computer.
Tailored for the 'plug n play' leisure market, and for boats from 30-70ft, the new IB70 Series offers radar, chart plotter, GPS, AIS and MARPA target tracking in one compact unit.
The system comprises a black box compact processor, 12- or 15-inch display, waterproof keypad control unit and joystick controller. There are touch screen options, plus a variety of radar antennas from 2-25kw in both radome and open array styles. Antennas are included for GPS and AIS, and the system will also connect to a secondary GPS receiver and instrument system through a standard NMEA interface.
The basis for the system is a high performance ruggedised PC. The embedded operating system is hidden, and the system boots straight to the navigation and electronic chart display. The user can access normal PC functions if required but has the security that system will always reset, despite its expansion possibilities, say the makers.
MARPA radar target tracking, radar overlay and AIS, which identifies commercial ships equipped with AIS transponders and overlays their position, track and details onto electronic charts, are included as standard. The capability to overlay animated weather data is also standard and the data can be downloaded while afloat from satellite communications equipment, GSM or Wi-Fi devices.
The system is produced in conjunction with Jeppesen Marine, a Boeing company, and makes use of Jeppesen's high-resolution marine mapping data. Charts for the whole of the world are included as standard, with users able to unlock regions as required. Each large region, which holds around 100-150 paper charts, costs £179.95 inc VAT.
The IB70 with 15” high bright screen, 2kw 50cm radar dome, AIS receiver and GPS costs £3,995 inc VAT. The IB20 plotter system without radar capability costs £1,495 inc VAT.
The new products will be on show on the Marine Electronic Services Stand, S85, at the 2007 London Boat Show, which runs from Friday January 5th to Sunday January 14th.
For more information visit www.digitalyacht.co.uk
