|
By Ben Ellison — Spring 2006
Steve Smith is refreshingly unapologetic about his love of the latest electronics and thus was possibly the perfect customer for Raymarine’s ambitious H6 computer-based “command center” when it was introduced at the 2004 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. Smith’s new Eastbay 58, Souvenir—eighth in a line that’s ranged from a used 31-foot Chris-Craft to an ultra-high-tech 87-foot Queenship—would soon be delivered, and he was “looking for a Boeing 777 glass cockpit. I’m just fascinated with this new technology. I just like it.”
The helm shot at right was taken a year later in Naples, Florida, and hints at H6’s appeal. The twin 15-inch displays, with their distinctive anodized aluminum bezels, are in what Smith calls “piloting mode.” Note the vivid windows indicating rudder angle, leeway, and depth. In a tight docking situation, the right screen can be switched from the radar/chart display to an aimable aft camera. In fact, Smith can use the trackball control or a wireless infrared mouse to modify and position windows however he likes and then name and save the setup for quick access on a later cruise. A “mode” applies to all four of Souvenir’s displays—there are two more at the helm below—and H6 can handle more than four if desired.
A standard H6 system integrates elaborate video and audio capabilities, served by a second computer that also automatically backs up the main navigation processor. But the system is quite customizable, and Smith and his wife, Mary, chose a single PC with a separate entertainment system.
Mary may be cheerfully tolerant of Steve’s appetite for cutting-edge electronics, but she did insist on televisions and stereos with more traditional controls. (Perhaps she wanted to make sure she had a diversion during the thorough tech tours that her husband generously hosts for curious geeks such as myself?)
At any rate, the lack of normal H6 redundancy accounts, at least partially, for the Northstar 952 chartplotter and Raymarine ST60 instruments in the overhead. Also up there are a trusty Simrad AP50 autopilot—“it’s rarely even three-hundredths of a mile off course”—and an Icom 602 VHF. Its microphone is out of the picture, just right of the wheel, with a CommandMic connected to another 602 below to the left, meaning Smith also has radio redundancy and can monitor two channels without scanning. But that’s not all. He usually sets up his Garmin 276c portable plotter next to the cabin H6, and he carries a laptop with both Nobeltec and Maptech charting programs, along with his paper charts. You can’t count all of Souvenir’s nav backups on one hand!
>> Next page >> Part 2: Souvenir Page
1,
2
|
