Part of today was spent investigating the boat data network to find out what went where, and then draw a pretty picture. As the photos show, I was mostly successful – there’s a single SeaTalk1 cable in the helm console that I can’t find the other end of. I suspect it’s a power connector, since none of the other SeaTalk devices have a power input. However, with the craziness of the wiring loom behind Blue Opal’s chart table, I think it’s going to take something like a tone tracer to find out where the darn thing shows up. Actually, as I sit here typing this, it becomes obvious – follow the power cable from the switch labelled ‘Autopilot’ and see where it goes!
One thing I have learnt – the Raymarine GPS unit is not a simple GPS antenna that comes back to the wiring looms and gets converted to NMEA/SeaTalk – it’s a full SeaTalk device in and of itself. This means I can’t just swap the cabling over to an AIS unit; I’ll actually need a GPS antenna, or see if I can get a unit with an integral GPS. Given the space behind the chart table is right under the deck, an internal GPS might work just fine; the one in the icom VHF does after all.
