Hi everyone,
New to the forum but have been "playing" with OpenCPN for a few years and I believe it is mature enough to run as the primary Nav/Data/Control system on a crusing boat. I live in Germany but have bought a SailBoat in the US and am heading over in Jan. 22 to start a refit. I'm going to strip all of the electrics (12v/110v) out of the boat and redo it in 24v/230v. All of the Plotters and "electronic stuff" on the boat is 15+ years old and I have no desire to replace it with commercial options. I want to rebuild the boat using OpenCPN/Openplotter/PyPilot etc...and RPi's. I was really impressed with Seans Pypilot Video and also the work that others on this Forum have done with Pypilot.
I'm a real DIY kind of Guy and love building things myself (even it it costs more in the end than a Commercial equivalent ). I'm a Prototype Engineer in the Aircraft industry so I definitely fall into the "Hardware" category not so much the "Software" side. I'm planning on purchacing a complete setup from Sean as soon as I get to the US so I'm trying to get a "List" started as to what components I'll need. As for the Software side I hope I'll be able to call on the expertise of this group for any help.
I am planning to set up the Autopilot like I saw in the Video from Sean on the Steel sailboatboat. I would like a similar Motor and Wheel setup rather than a Quadrant system with Linear Drives. I like the Idea of the Windshield Wiper motor because they are readily available anywhwere. A question I have about the Wiper motor is: Do you have to modify the motor in some way or will "Off the shelf" work? My Boat is a 46 ft Center cockpit Ketch and about 16t. Any recomendations as to Wiper motors or (I assume) DC motors that would work?
I really want to set the boat up completely with RPi. I think I will probably have to have multiple Rpi's so as not to overload a single unit. I'm thinking that I'll run each subsystem (Pypilot, OpenCPN for Nav/Radar/AIS, Boat info, Environmental info etc...) on its own RPi and then combine all the data (through SignalK ?) into a central monitor (at the Nav Station) and a remote monitor (under the Sprayhood/Dodger). Am I making this to complicated? I'm used to building in redundancy and ease of subsystem replacement/repair so I dont know if I would be going overboard having each subsystem going to it's own RPi. I definately don't want a complicated system that will take a Degree in Software engineering to set up and would be fairly easy to Repair/replace when I'm sitting somewhere in the Tuamotus or the Solomons...
Anyway, before this post gets too long, I'll leave it there. A hardy Thank you in advance for any advice.
Many thanks,
Rick
New to the forum but have been "playing" with OpenCPN for a few years and I believe it is mature enough to run as the primary Nav/Data/Control system on a crusing boat. I live in Germany but have bought a SailBoat in the US and am heading over in Jan. 22 to start a refit. I'm going to strip all of the electrics (12v/110v) out of the boat and redo it in 24v/230v. All of the Plotters and "electronic stuff" on the boat is 15+ years old and I have no desire to replace it with commercial options. I want to rebuild the boat using OpenCPN/Openplotter/PyPilot etc...and RPi's. I was really impressed with Seans Pypilot Video and also the work that others on this Forum have done with Pypilot.
I'm a real DIY kind of Guy and love building things myself (even it it costs more in the end than a Commercial equivalent ). I'm a Prototype Engineer in the Aircraft industry so I definitely fall into the "Hardware" category not so much the "Software" side. I'm planning on purchacing a complete setup from Sean as soon as I get to the US so I'm trying to get a "List" started as to what components I'll need. As for the Software side I hope I'll be able to call on the expertise of this group for any help.
I am planning to set up the Autopilot like I saw in the Video from Sean on the Steel sailboatboat. I would like a similar Motor and Wheel setup rather than a Quadrant system with Linear Drives. I like the Idea of the Windshield Wiper motor because they are readily available anywhwere. A question I have about the Wiper motor is: Do you have to modify the motor in some way or will "Off the shelf" work? My Boat is a 46 ft Center cockpit Ketch and about 16t. Any recomendations as to Wiper motors or (I assume) DC motors that would work?
I really want to set the boat up completely with RPi. I think I will probably have to have multiple Rpi's so as not to overload a single unit. I'm thinking that I'll run each subsystem (Pypilot, OpenCPN for Nav/Radar/AIS, Boat info, Environmental info etc...) on its own RPi and then combine all the data (through SignalK ?) into a central monitor (at the Nav Station) and a remote monitor (under the Sprayhood/Dodger). Am I making this to complicated? I'm used to building in redundancy and ease of subsystem replacement/repair so I dont know if I would be going overboard having each subsystem going to it's own RPi. I definately don't want a complicated system that will take a Degree in Software engineering to set up and would be fairly easy to Repair/replace when I'm sitting somewhere in the Tuamotus or the Solomons...
Anyway, before this post gets too long, I'll leave it there. A hardy Thank you in advance for any advice.
Many thanks,
Rick