Here is a broken masthead fix that you may find useful or interesting.
The boat has 2006 vintage masthead wind speed and direction which drives a ST60+ wind instrument at the nav table and a repeater in the cockpit. A couple of weeks ago the masthead died, it may be repairable but only entire units are available here (St Martin) @ $500+. Plus that entails climbing a 63' mast multiple times with no guarantee of success.
So I bought a WIRELESS masthead and instrument from NASA Marine in the UK. Much less than the RM unit. Arrived stateside in 3 days, then had it shipped to St Martin.
The masthead talks to a transceiver in the cabin, which sends NEMA 0183 to the instrument. Works as advertised. Masthead is on a temporary mount on my radar pole.
Now the neat part.......
I had previously bought a YDNR bridge from Yacht Devices to send AIS data to my phone navigation app. so I have visual AIS in the Cockpit.
The YDNR has a wifi hot spot and 4 ports:
NEMA 2000 - unused except for power.
NEMA 0183 #1 - for AIS connection
NEMA 0283 #2 - previously unused (now wireless masthead)
SeaTalk - converts Seatalk to NEMA and visa versa.
I hooked the NASA transceiver to NEMA 0183 #2, disconnected the existing RM masthead wires and, voila, the new wind data appeared on the existing ST60+ instruments.
So everything works with minimum hassle and cost.
I not a big fan of these high tech solutions, but I am getting roped into this one due convience, cost, and utility. Buuuut....I may want to buy a spare YDNR bridge if I go further remote. $300.
The boat has 2006 vintage masthead wind speed and direction which drives a ST60+ wind instrument at the nav table and a repeater in the cockpit. A couple of weeks ago the masthead died, it may be repairable but only entire units are available here (St Martin) @ $500+. Plus that entails climbing a 63' mast multiple times with no guarantee of success.
So I bought a WIRELESS masthead and instrument from NASA Marine in the UK. Much less than the RM unit. Arrived stateside in 3 days, then had it shipped to St Martin.
The masthead talks to a transceiver in the cabin, which sends NEMA 0183 to the instrument. Works as advertised. Masthead is on a temporary mount on my radar pole.
Now the neat part.......
I had previously bought a YDNR bridge from Yacht Devices to send AIS data to my phone navigation app. so I have visual AIS in the Cockpit.
The YDNR has a wifi hot spot and 4 ports:
NEMA 2000 - unused except for power.
NEMA 0183 #1 - for AIS connection
NEMA 0283 #2 - previously unused (now wireless masthead)
SeaTalk - converts Seatalk to NEMA and visa versa.
I hooked the NASA transceiver to NEMA 0183 #2, disconnected the existing RM masthead wires and, voila, the new wind data appeared on the existing ST60+ instruments.
So everything works with minimum hassle and cost.
I not a big fan of these high tech solutions, but I am getting roped into this one due convience, cost, and utility. Buuuut....I may want to buy a spare YDNR bridge if I go further remote. $300.
