Boating-safe and Boat Information

Boating-safe and Boat Information

MULTIPLEXED POWER MANAGEMENT

The Moritz Aerospace, Inc. company which is a subsidiary of Carling Technologies, Inc. has launched the OctoPlex™ Shipboard Multiplexed Power Management and Monitoring System.

This offers intelligent monitoring and control of boat systems, as well as provide total control of all AC and DC circuit protection from any location. Interestingly this enables remote mounted circuit breaker panels which optimizes cabling.

The system software is also capable of updating as each new NMEA 2000 component is installed. Boating-safe and Boat Information

NEW SMALL ELECTRIC WINCH FROM LEWMAR

Lewmar launched the world's smallest electric winch, the L34 as part of the new Stretch Winch range and designed for small sailboats in the range 9.8m-12.2m (32ft-40ft) in length, and available in manual and electric versions. Boating-safe and Boat Information

NEW VETUS THRUSTER WINS BIG AWARD

The EPS Silent Thruster from Van Den Velden Marine Systems (VETUS) of the Netherlands was the overall winner of the Design at METS awards. I have had a lot to do with thrusters in the commercial maritime world and have a thruster on my own boat. The innovation starts with the elimination of the traditional arrangement of a central hub and gearbox. The new design features exchangeable blades connected to an outer ring. This floats on ceramic bearings and is powered by an integral electrical motor in the casing. Boating-safe and Boat Information

AIRCON HEAT EXCHANGER INNOVATION

Another exciting new innovation in the contest was the Peltech Geotronic T8LL-24V Pisolo air conditioner heat exchanger, from Gallinea Srl of Italy. It cleverly uses Peltier cells instead of the conventional compressor and refrigerant arrangement. This significantly reduces size, weight and vibration. Clever stuff! Boating-safe and Boat Information

IBEX INNOVATION AWRDS

The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) and Boating Writers International (BWI) gave IBEX Innovation Awards to Auto Anchro Systems for a Panel Mounted anchor Rode-Counter system. Mercury Marine's Shadow Technology Digital Throttle & Shift system also won an award. Another very interesting product was the AvXcel Inc. TropiKool 40 marine refrigerator which uses a reverse Stirling cycle engine and natural refrigerants that include helium and carbon dioxide and it has just two moving parts. Blue Sea Systems Dual Circuit Plus Battery Switch won the Electrical Systems Category and this simplifies switching between two battery banks. Boating-safe and Boat Information

The METS show has been on in Amsterdam this month including the Design Award METS (DAME Award). The following are some of the nominated products for the award. The awards jury does an assessment of the products based on several key criteria such as the overall design, functionality and materials use, and this also includes innovation and originality, ergonomics and that very important price/quality ratio. The shortlisted companies and marine electrical and electronics products are:

Airmar Technology with the Ultrasonic Weather Station; Autonnic Research for the Wind Vector Module; Carling Technologies for the Octoplex; Interphase Technologies and the iScan 180; Navman and the Autopilot Display; Raymarine and the Smartcontroller, SmartPilot IPS, and the S100 Autopilot Controller; Belship and the Black Magic Dimmer; Besenzoni and the Electrical Lateral Door; F.lli Razeto & Casareto for the Free Go Leo, Free Go No Shock lighting; Frensch and the F-6 LED Spotlight which is great lighting development; Gallinea and the GEOtronic T8LL-24V Pisolo; Veco and the Vega MK II Air-Conditioning Control system; Willdo and the Pump Out System; Scubar/Iris Surveillance and the Scubar Underwater Camera; Simrad and the SA50 Search and Rescue Transponder; Amartech and the innovative Retractable Propulsion System for Sailing-Yachts; Blue Sea Systems and the clever Dual Circuit Battery Switch; Mastervolt and the very good Frequency Isolation Transformer; Minn Kota/Johnson Outdoors and the Engine Mount (EM) Trolling Motor; Sigmar Marine and the Water Heater; Van der Velden Marine Systems and the EPS Silent Thruster and finally Navionics and the very good Navionics Platinum.

ACR European EPIRB

US-based ACR Electronics has launched the AquaFix 406 P-EPIRB (Personal Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) in Europe and it is available in the UK, Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Spain and Ireland. It allows broadcast of GPS coordinates for SAR services which will increase emergency response times and accurate within 100m. Readers should note that from February 1, 2009 EPIRB’s will be required to change to 406 MHz if they are to be satellite detectable with 121.5 MHz frequency remaining as a homing frequency. Good products and good to see them available Europe. Boating-safe and Boat Information

Navman Latest

Navman have really made an impact on the marine electronics scene. They came out with some new products at METS that included a new line in grayscale fishfinders that have improved display resolution and a 200% increase in the ping rate. The new FISH 4400 series range comprises 4 four models. Another new item is the TrackFish 6500 which is a feature packed combination unit on a 5-inch screen. It also features a WAAS-enabled GPS chartplotter all preloaded with a 32MB world map. The depth range is up to 305m (1,000ft). If that isn’t all they have also come out with the Tracker 5380 which has a 3.8 inch TFT daylight viewable screen, and the 5430 features has a daylight-viewable four-level grayscale screen with 360x240 resolution. Navman are very busy people indeed. Boating-safe and Boat Information

Boating-safe and Boat Information