xm weather

photo finish · Post by **photo finish** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:37 am

http://www.xmradio.com/weather/marine.html http://store.wxworx.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc Does anyone have this or anything like this? boating in florida during the summer is a crap shoot....I love watching the weather. Tim Stamm Photo Finish 1981 33' Bertram FBC

Capt. Ed · Post by **Capt. Ed** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 8:12 am

Great minds do think a like! I have been looking at the same thing http://www.garmin.com/products/gdl30/, that overlays weather radar on my chartplotter and was reading last night about the Garmin unit I was going to order, but mine is the Garmin 2010c and this unit only works on the 3000 series. So I will have to upgrade units, which I may do as Garmin is coming out with their G2 maps amd will need the newer unit for those. Oh well, B.O.A.T! 1979 Bertram 33' FBC ALEXANDRA Port Richey, Florida

captgene · Post by **captgene** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 9:55 am

I hear this is really a nice feature on the Garmin. One of the boats that went to the Abacos with us had the xm Radio version, but it took a dump over there and I didn't see it work when we needed it. It works now I guess and he really likes it. add that to the Garmin navnet and I bet it would be impressive. I'm way behind in the toy dept. I still need a new autopilot. Gene Dugan

Sean B · Post by **Sean B** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:41 am

I've got the 3010C setup with the XM radio. Works great when it works. Problem with my setup currently is that I have the XM antenna temporarily zip-tied to the soft top frame, and it doesn't like to pick the satellites in every heading like that. But I expect that when I get my final radar tower setup (Garmin also) with the XM antenna at the very top of that assembly, it should work all the time. It already allowed me to outrun a thunderstorm last summer, so maybe it already paid for itself. Basically it is beaming down Nexxtrad radar images to your chartplotter, just like they show on the weather channel. I was also using it to watch the hurricanes on the boat last summer. The boat's radar and collision avoidance software warnings will all be on the same display when I'm done too. Pretty cool! Sean Burlingham "Island Time" 1987 Bertram 33 SF Melbourne, FL SBurlingham@cfl.rr.com

Capt. Ed · Post by **Capt. Ed** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:31 am

Soon we will just being going for the ride and fish... the boat will do the rest. I am more interested in real time water surface temps and current, the radar keeps me out of the storms. 1979 Bertram 33' FBC ALEXANDRA Port Richey, Florida

Post by **dougl33** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:25 pm

Ed, Let me know when you're ready to upgrade to the 3000 series. Maybe I'll buy your old 2010c. I love my 182c, I just wish the screen was a bit larger. Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth Marblehead, MA

Capt. Ed · Post by **Capt. Ed** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:49 pm

Will do Doug. 1979 Bertram 33' FBC ALEXANDRA Port Richey, Florida

photo finish · Post by **photo finish** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 3:06 pm

Ed, Are the G2 maps comparable to the unbelievable 3d navionics platinum that the new raymarine e120 is using? Tim Stamm Photo Finish 1981 33' Bertram FBC

photo finish · Post by **photo finish** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 3:18 pm

The garmin ,i believe, uses the wxworx system.Actually i think the wxworx is the basic guts of all the xm weather systems.If you go with the direct wxworx system it will work on any laptop.it even has wireless bluetooth so you could use it in the cabin or on the bridge with no wires.If i were starting with new electronics however, i would probably go with the garmin system. Sean, the antennae is for sure important to be unobstructed....sounds like you got a great system...I would love to see it. Tim Stamm Photo Finish 1981 33' Bertram FBC

Capt. Ed · Post by **Capt. Ed** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:15 pm

I need to look at this more closely and how much I will gain from it. The 2010C is really nice, the 3010C is newer, nicer and more money. Will I be happy or will I want the 4010C if they come out with it in a few months at the electronic trade show. How useful is it, how often will I use it, and what is it going to tell me that my radar, radio and eyes haven't? The G2 maps I was told is faster and 3D, which leads me to believe they will release a even more powerful unit in 2006. As a pilot also, I am accustom to reading weather charts, briefings and listening to weather updates. I have applied these same skills for many years to boating/fishing. After really thinking about it, I would get very little use from it for the expense and monthly fee to have it. It appears to be a nice thing to have, but not a "must have". I also have read on the XM site forum that coverage outside the U.S. is an issue. I think if I added all the things I think about, I would not have any room on the bridge, and it would look like the cockpit of the space shuttle. With that said, the Max-Sea's real time 3D http://comen.maxsea.fr/MaxSea/Products/ ... fault.aspxand there weather software http://comen.maxsea.fr/MaxSea/Weather/W ... fault.aspx is of much greater use to sport fishermen (view the video bill fishing with Norm Isaac using Max-Sea). Take a look at the Max-Sea and tell what you think Tim. http://comen.maxsea.fr/MaxSea/Products/default.aspx 1979 Bertram 33' FBC ALEXANDRA Port Richey, Florida

Sean B · Post by **Sean B** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 8:45 pm

quote:Originally posted by Capt. Ed I am more interested in real time water surface temps and current, the radar keeps me out of the storms. The XM system gives also you both the temperature thermoclines and the seas on your chart, if you turn those on. As for currents, they of course run in only one general direction off the east Florida shore: north. But you can pick up on current/temperature eddies with the thermoclines. I've seen the temp eddies on the system and expect to find fish in them but haven't had the chance to visit any yet. Next season I will have lots to report. I like to have the Nexdrad on the boat because I'll only have a 36 mile 4 KW radar, but this thing tells me the weather (and what's coming) from much further away, and it gives you the motion of the storms too. I'm not sure yet how all that will look on the screen when coupled with the boat's own radar yet. The collision avoidance thing uses the radar, along with data from the heading sensor and fluxgate compass that are a part of the autopilot, all talking to each other on the NMEA network. Basically it warns you if any object on your radar is on a collision course at your current heading and speed. But I won't have any actual experience with that until I find the time to install it. Finally, the autopilot I chose (Raymarine ST8001) will steer the boat across a series of waypoints, so yeah- when I'm done the boat will actually be capable of navagating itself to wherever I tell it to at whatever speed I set it at, and warn me with an alarm if it is in danger of hitting something. Not that any of that is a substitute for a set of eyes on the bridge... In fact it'll probably allow me to look around better instead of monitoring my heading and chartplotter every 20 seconds. Met a couple from New Smyrna a while back that had a similiar system on their boat, they said that sometimes they go to sleep down below while running offshore, with the alarm set to wake them up if something comes near them. Dumb. Wonder how long it'll be before they end up on a jetty. Here is the XM stuff: http://www.xmradio.com/weather/marine.html The example sea surface map actually shows my fishing neighborhood. If you see the temp thermoclines in a circle you've found an eddie. Having all that data on your chart position screen is very cool. [img]http://www.xmradio.com/weather/images/d ... cetemp.jpg[/img] Sean Burlingham "Island Time" 1987 Bertram 33 SF Melbourne, FL SBurlingham@cfl.rr.com

Sean B · Post by **Sean B** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 9:03 pm

quote:the antennae is for sure important to be unobstructed....sounds like you got a great system...I would love to see it. Tim, If you ever find yourself in Melbourne you are more than welcome to come check it out, shoot me an e-mail. From the bridge it doesn't look like much except for a big chartplotter, all the work is the dozens of hours running and soldering all those wires, which I guess noone but me will ever truly appreciate In the next few weeks I hope to be hanging my radar array, which will sit on a 16" tall mount. There is also a light bar holding the XM antenna, another (taller) anchor light and a second GPS antenna all above the radar array. Will post pics of that assembly when I get it done. I'm not happy with the GPS antenna location I have, on the hood of the boat just above the windshield, because everybody seems to want to use it for a handle. So I'm putting a second one way up top with a switch to choose between the two. The autopilot is a whole big project by itself and I'm not sure exactly when I'll get all that stuff in. What I really want is to install something useful in those damned duct-taped holes the last Owner graced me with. [img]http://www.bertram33.com/images/uploads ... GE%201.JPG[/img] Sean Burlingham "Island Time" 1987 Bertram 33 SF Melbourne, FL SBurlingham@cfl.rr.com

Post by **dougl33** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 3:26 am

Its amazing the things they're coming out with these days. My grandfather boated in the NE (as far south as Long Island and as far north as Maine cruising at 7 knots) for 60 years and never had more than a compass and a radio for the first 50. The last 10 he broke down and used a fathometer. That's pretty much the way my Dad got the boat I grew up on (a 1926 38 Matthews). He added a CB in the 70's and a hand held gps (which he never figured out how to use) in the early 90's. He used the same charts and courses my grandfather had used. Unfortunately, the boat was sold in 1998 and was cut up and dropped into a dumpster 2 years later. My Dad gets such a charge out of my 182c its all I can do to keep him from touching the screen. Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth Marblehead, MA

smanni · Post by **smanni** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 3:47 pm

I bought the 3010c with xm this year and it is great. The sea surface chart overlay feature is great for fisherman - it took us a few weeks to get used to all of the features, but well worth the time. Overall very easy to use.

Sean B · Post by **Sean B** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 5:29 pm

Did you get the XM box with optional sat radio receiver? I learned that they recently decided to give away the sat radio, which was an extra $10/month, to the xm weather users for free. Kind of pissed me off considering I didn't spend the extra $80 for the weather/radio combo box. Not sure I'd ever use the sat radio anyway, but if I knew it was going to be free I would have wired it in. The one thing that I was cheap about... Anwyay, lesson is if anyone else gets this system, spend the extra $80 bucks on the XM module that has the free radio Sean Burlingham "Island Time" 1987 Bertram 33 SF Melbourne, FL SBurlingham@cfl.rr.com