May 29, 2012 20:12
I have an Islander 28 sailboat and I'm looking to upgrade my electronics a bit. I have MacGPS, a serial cabled Garmin GPS48, and Autohelm instruments with SeaTalk run to a jumped connection box. I have iNavx on my phone. The GPS48 will not receive routes now for some obscure reason.
I like having the GPS at the helm. An IPad just can't be mounted, or read well, in my small cockpit. I want to continue to use the Autohelm instruments, except that the ST4000 wheelpilot seems to have lost it's mind and may need to be replaced.
I want to add an inexpensive AIS system as well.
I see some recommendations for the Garmin GPS78 and it looks pretty good. Will it work wirelessly with my MacBook, or must it be used over a serial/usb cord? Is it better to just get a small cheap bluetooth GPS to feed the MacBook/AIS system? Is it possible to have an AIS overlay feed to the GPS78 at the wheel?
From there I'm a bit lost on what to buy or how to put it together.
Would appreciate some ideas...
TIA,
Jack
I like having the GPS at the helm. An IPad just can't be mounted, or read well, in my small cockpit. I want to continue to use the Autohelm instruments, except that the ST4000 wheelpilot seems to have lost it's mind and may need to be replaced.
I want to add an inexpensive AIS system as well.
I see some recommendations for the Garmin GPS78 and it looks pretty good. Will it work wirelessly with my MacBook, or must it be used over a serial/usb cord? Is it better to just get a small cheap bluetooth GPS to feed the MacBook/AIS system? Is it possible to have an AIS overlay feed to the GPS78 at the wheel?
From there I'm a bit lost on what to buy or how to put it together.
Would appreciate some ideas...
TIA,
Jack