Chart Plotter failed

Chart Plotter failed - time to upgrade

Before the Failure :( 

Our 12 year old Garmin 741XS Chartplotter failed, at the dock, it would not turn on after we shut it down. This has happened three times now, once on the ICW, once when heading in from the Ocean and now at the dock while testing it.

Circuit Breaker - On √ 

Fuse √

Power at the connector to the Chartplotter √

It just will not boot up! Grrrrr.

Time to upgrade.

This is our 3rd Garmin Chartplotter, two on a previous sailboat and this one which came with the boat when we purchased it in 2015. 

We have a full NEMA 2000 system plus a Garmin HR 18 Radar. Our helm station is nicely setup with the Chartplotter, GMI instrument to show wind and pretty much any other data from the system, and our Raymarine Evo 100 Autopilot.  So ideally, the new Chartplotter will fit in the same footprint as the old one.

Down to West Marine with the old Chartplotter in hand we browse the available units.

Garmin GPSMap 943xsv

Multifunction Display with US and Canada Navionics+ Charts

Closest in size is the Garmin GPSMap 943 xsv. We spend a while discussing it with the WM rep and were able to confirm with Garmin Tech Support that our older Garmin HR 18 Radar would work with the new unit and that it would physically fit on our helm station. The power connection was also the same and the only other connection we were concerned about was the NEMA 2000 and that is standard.

Thirty minutes later we were walking out of the store with our new Chartplotter. WM confirmed that if it did not work on our boat we could take it back.

That night we both plowed through the install manual and the user manual. We also watched several YouTube videos on how to connect the GPSMap 943xsv to Active Captain and how to get the latest charts.

The new Chartplotter came with a 1 Year Navionics + subscription which means we can get the high res charts and the Auto Guidance feature - very cool!

After registering our new Chartplotter using Garmin Express on my laptop, we were able to log into Active Captain on my Tablet and download chunks of the Navionics + Charts for our area.

So far so good. Now time to install the new Chartplotter on the boat.

Step 1 - Physical mount it to the helm station. Our old Chartplotter mount is almost identical to the new, maybe a couple of millimeters narrower.  So 4 bolts removed, new mounting bolted down, ready to install.   --- 1st issue!

The mount has slots which hold the Chartplotter in place with a couple of large turn screws, but the diameter of the threaded part of those two turn screws are just a tiny bit too large, it's really difficult to get the screws into those slots.  Once I figured that out, it was not a big deal, but installing / removing the new Chartplotter is a pain. Doable but - maybe it will ease with use.   I did have to turn the mounting 180º so that the Chartplotter is mounted from the forward edge of the mounting rather than from the aft edge so that the turn screws would not be obstructed by the instruments on either side of the mounting.

Ok, That's done.

Step 2. - Make the Electrical Connections. This was a none issue! The power connector fit, so did the NEMA 2000 and finally so did the Radar RJ45 connector. Woohoo!

Ok, time for the 1st light test.

Peggy was at the helm and I was down in the cabin. Nav System Power √, the Auto pilot instrument woke up, so too did the GMI and the Echo Depth sounder.  Next was the GPS power - √

Now the GPSMap 943xsv woke up, it took a while for it to boot and first offered Demo Mode, we skipped that.

Next it offered the main setup options. We quickly went through that process, setting the boat dimensions and type.  Finally we got to the home screen.

We saw the new unit on display at the West Marine center so we had an idea of the screen layout.  But we got to see so much more with the unit on the boat where it was connected to our Radar, AIS, Compass, Depth Speed, Temperature, Wind data. There is so much to see!  Peggy asked if Garmin had an online Demo system? I cannot find one ( so if any of you know different let me know too 😊  ) 

Ok, let's keep going on the progress here.    We turned on AIS and that works as expected, probably a bit clearer than the 741xs. Next - Radar - We powered up the Radar then on the GPS Map home screen selected Radar and Single view which just shows the Radar view. On the left is a menu to complete the Radar Setup from the current 'Trxm Off', touch that and the Radar starts to spin up and in a few seconds we had full Radar Display.

Back to the home screen - Click on Vessel and then 'Wind' and wow! Much more info on the screen than on the 741, running data as well as clear current wind displays - shows more than on the GMI but all on a single screen

Sof ar we have Charts, Radar AIS and all of the other NEMA 2000 data. We did not test the Autopilot yet, but that's on the list.

And there's more! Active Captain! We had downloaded a couple of segments of the Charts from Navionics via the Active Captain app. Then with the Tablet set to use the same WiFi network as the 943xsv the system transferred the chart data to the Chartplotter.  Now we have the latest Hi Res chart data on the new Chartplotter. 

We did try the Auto Guidance and that is totally sweet! To try it out we setup a waypoint up the ICW and then hit the Auto Guidance, selected go to the waypoint, then selected Auto Guidance, the route down the North Fork of the New River, past all of the bridges, down to the ICW then North up past Los Olas Blvd Bridge, Sunrise Bridge, Oakland Park Bridge and Commercial Bridge and then to the Waypoint. Wow!   Now we'll have to see how that works with the Auto pilot although, there is no way that I'll leave the navigation to the system, it's challenging enough without the Auto Pilot let alone trust Auto Guidance to the job.  But it's really nice to see the route plotted out for us. Of course, I'm pretty sure that it does not consider the Wind for sailing a route, but having the route plotted out easily is a major plus.

Next time we're at the boat we'll check out the Autopilot access - do we have to still control the Autopilot via the Raymarine Control Instrument or can we manage it from the Chartplotter.  Also, we'll setup the Garmin DST 810 Depth,Speed  & Temperature transducer ( we extract it each time we dock ) and see how that data is displayed.

Mainsail is still at the cleaners, so no sailing this week but next week is looking good.

See you on the water.