I have bought a used Leopard 38 catamaran which I want to add large
chartplotter and radar to. Boat is in BVI, I will need to get items there
by a bulk Tropical Freight shipment (to USVI), or purchase in the area. Any
recommendations on vendors in USVI or PR?
The Garmin 3210 plotter I observed had XM Satellite radio and weather
reports. I am not familiar with this, For the radio, I would assume I can
buy one for less than $100 as a separate piece. How good are the weather
reports? Are there real time radar pictures? Does it work in Caribbean and
have reports for there? I know XM says it is ony licensed for USA, but how
far out does it reach? No mention was made of Puerto Rico.
The owner of a 3210 I observed said the sat radio "Was all part of the
package". I assumed that I would only buy 3210 plotter, 4KW radar and a
cheap separate fishfinder with NMEA output to read on plotter. Does this
all work? As I don't need 2nd station, I don't see need for their
propreitary network. In addition I will hook up NMEA for DSC in/out and
NMEA out to autopilot.
One particular interest: I am used to using 2 chart formats at the same
time: Garmin and Cap'n with a variety of chart vendors. With my new boat I
no longer have a pilothouse and will not be taking PC outside. The Garmin
3210 has a marine video cable... This includes RCA plug/NTSC in and 15 pin
output for a monitor. If I convert my laptop imiage to NTSC to match the
Garmin input, will I get a quality picture on the 3210? This would possibly
solve my problem of getting my laptop viewable outside by hanging a flat
screen in the catamaran doorway.
Is AIS available now, if so from who? Connecting AIS to the 3210 via NMEA
would cause a shortage of inputs, is there a NMEA combiner made? Is this
how it is done?
Lee Haefele