[C320-list] Instrumentation

[Kaare Wold]

I am able to add my  $0.02 worth on the Tack Tick.  Just like you, the 
concept of not running wires is very attractive and appealing so I 
investigated that thoroughly.  Read owners reviews on the instrument and you 
will discover an alarming amount of negative comments ranging from customer 
service (or lack of), difficulty in calibration, accuracy issues and overall 
disappointing performance.  With that said, I stopped at the Raymarine booth 
at the January Chicago Strictly Sail Show.  To shorten the story, the 
Raymarine tech representative told me that if it was his boat, go with the 
hard wired and not the Tack Tick wireless system.
I am sure there are many owners that are very satisfied, but this was  the 
advice I received from the Raymarine tech.
Kaare & Mary Wold
Sheet Music #945

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sean Kaldor" <spkaldor at yahoo.com>
To: "C320 Mailing List" <C320-List at Catalina320.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 6:13 PM
Subject: [C320-list] Instrumentation


I'd like to upgrade the instrumentation on my humble '98 C320 and am seeking 
some advise...


I currently have:
A) Raymarine C80 chartplotter in the salon connected to a Raystar 125 GPS 
receiver, not connected to anything else.
B) Raymarine ST4000+ autohelm control head at the helm, with the wheel 
controller and fluxgate compass, also not connected to anything else.

C) Raymarine ST60 Speed and Depth at the helm, with their transducers below, 
also not connected to anything else.

I'd like to add wind, maybe AIS, get the chartplotter to the helm, and get 
everything talking to each other.

My questions for anyone out there, based upon your experience with the 
C320...

1) Does anyone have experience (good/bad) with wireless wind transducers and 
TackTick (now Raymarine Wireless)

2) Do I need to drop the mast to wire a masthead wind transducer?
3) Do you have thoughts about using one big multi-function display vs. 
normal individual instruments? Experience good or bad?
-Is there one multi-function display that can control all those components 
and give me charts - a single piece solution?

4) Has anyone had success with anything new/innovative, such as iPad based 
or something other than RayMarine?

If you had to do it all again, what would be your preferred setup?

I prefer simple and reliable, but I'm not sure if that it wireless (less 
cabling to go wrong), multi-function (fewer components), or stand-alone 
instruments (tried & true with isolated components).

I'm wishing the prior owner got the deluxe instrument package and I wouldn't 
have to solve this riddle :)

Any thoughts would be appreciated.


Sean