Our dream Raymarine setup
Welcome to a new era of marine electronics!
While showing signs of aging, our 15 years old Raymarine equipment was still functioning fine when we decided to upgrade it. With more short-handed/solo ocean crossings ahead of us, we felt we wanted our electronics to be more seamlessly integrated with one another and work better for us.
Our goal with our new equipment was to be able to access and control all functions of our boat from anywhere onboard, including our autopilot and the AIS/radar alarms.
As solid and convinced Raymarine users since our start in sailing in 2015, we were absolutely delighted when Raymarine accepted us in their ambassador program, effectively allowing us to install and test the equipment that we dreamed of.
So here are all the components of our dream Raymarine setup and what we like about each component.
*The links featured in this article are affiliate links from Catamaran Supply, a small independent online chandlery ran by our friends Willem and Anett.
Chartplotters
Axiom 9+
We chose the Axiom+ 9 for our cabin. We love how intuitive it is to use, and how customizable the displays are. Thanks to how interconnected our system is, we can access and control every system we have on board from the plotter: charts, radar, autopilot, music, etc. We can even access all data coming in from our Victron Cerbo, which allows us to see in real-time the status of our batteries, alternator, solar array, and water tanks.
We truly use it as our "electronics central".
AXIOM 9 PRO
You should be able to use the Axiom+ touch screen even when it is wet, however, we felt we wanted a chart plotter with buttons in the cockpit, as it is a place where we tend to... wear gloves ;)
The Axiom Pro does everything the Axiom+ does, plus buttons.
RAYMARINE SEATALK NG BACKBONE
The SeaTalk NG Cables are essentially NMEA 2000 cables with Raymarine proprietary plugs, making them waterproof and a bit smaller. You'll need the blue backbone cables to run all the network or 'Backbone' information and then white 'Spur' cables (see below) to connect the backbone to the specific device. The network will also require power to it.
RAYMARINE 5M SPUR CABLE SEATALK NG
We use spur cables to connect devices to the Seatalk NG Backbone.
Radar
Quantum 2 Doppler
The Quantum 2 is a solid-state radar, meaning there are no spinning parts nor a magnetron to warm up - which takes away warm-up time for the device and the power required to operate is very very low.
There is also limited radiation coming from the device which allows for safe mounting down low.
The downside is that the device is limited to about 25NM, though for most sailboats, it is generally fine.
The Quantum 2 comes with all kinds of features including Doppler to help a user identify if an object is moving towards or away from the user.
RAYMARINE QUANTUM DATA CABLE - 15m
RAYMARINE POWER CABLE - 15M QUANTUM
Autopilot
RAYMARINE EV-200 SAIL LINEAR DRIVE
The Evolution Autopilot series from Raymarine is a big step up from the older systems (we still have our older system on board as a backup).
The EV1 sensor monitors 9 axes and adjusts yaw, pitch, and roll, which makes it a very comfortable autopilot in all kind of sea state.
Simply put, it does a better job at steering the boat than we would do days in and days out, and it is amazing piece of kit that has taken us through some challenging times.
NMEA0183 TO SEATALKNG CONVERTER KIT
If you don't want to upgrade all your equipment at once, that's okay! The converter kit allows you to connect older Seatalk 1 equipment with your Sea talk NG Network. We used the converter kit to keep our old autopilot connected as a backup.
VHF + AIS
RAY 90
The Ray90 VHF black box was an unexpected addition to Polar Seal before we left Bermuda on our Transatlantic.
She has been a great VHF and includes options for a second wired stator or up to three wireless VHF stations (See below).
(Also, don't forget to turn down the squelch sometimes. Inside joke)
RAY90 WIRELESS SECOND STATION
AIS700
AIS 700 is a class B Transceiver that has worked well for us over the last 2.5 years and 13,000 NM. There is an internal splitter included to connect it to the antenna together with the VHF.
Sensors & displays
i70s
The i70s is a Multi-Function Display (MFD) that can display all the information being broadcast throughout your system (minus charts).
This includes wind, Speed, Deep, wind angles, AIS targets, or a combination of any of these plus much much more. It's a great little device to have near the helm to monitor the sailing conditions and can be tailored to your information preferences.
DST810 SMART TRANSDUCER
ST60 LONG ARM MASTHEAD TRANSDUCER
ANALOG TO DIGITAL TRANSDUCER CONVERTER
The iTC5 takes analog information from wind sensors or depth meters/speed logs and converts it to digital signals which can be used across the SeaTalk network.
It is an important little device to ensure we have all the information we need on your network.