[CA] Replacing Pathfinder Radar and Displays

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome to the Raymarine Forum Shay,

Q1. I would like to replace the MFDs with one that has the ability to use a chart that is based on the Explorer Charts.
A1. Raymarine's Axiom and Axiom Pro MFD are of Raymarine's latest generation of MFDs and would typically be recommended as the first choice for those installing a new system. These MFDs are designed to support Navionics, C-Map, and Raymarine LightHouse Charts. LightHouse Chart include vector and raster offerings from various government hydrographic offices (NOAA, US Army Corps of Engineers, etc.) as well as commercial cartography developers such as the following:

- Fugawi Aboard Canada - LightHouse Edition
-----Quilted Raster charts of Canada based on the complete collection of Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) charts.

- Soteknik Swedish Marine Data – Lighthouse Edition
-----Online marine raster chart reproduction of the official Swedish Maritime Authority Charts

- Blue Latitude Press – Sea of Cortez – LightHouse Edition
-----Derived from their best selling guidebooks, Sea of Cortez: A Cruiser's Guidebook, this set includes all of the popular harbors and anchorages from Cabo San Lucas to Guaymas (including La Paz, Loreto, Bahia Concepcion, Santa Rosalia, Bahia de los Angeles, and San Carlos).

- Blue Latitude Press – Pacific Mexico – LightHouse Edition
-----Derived from their best selling guidebooks, Pacific Mexico: A Cruiser's Guidebook, this set includes all of the popular harbors and anchorages from Mazatlan to Bahias de Huatulco (including San Blas, Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo, Zihuatanejo, and Acapulco).

- Wavey Line - Caribbean Wavey Line has created a deluxe set of raster charts for the most popularly visited areas / ports / marinas of the Bahamas.

- Finland Marine Rasters These charts from Solteknik are online marine raster chart reproduction of the official Finland Maritime Authority Charts

- NV-Digital - Denmark, Netherlans, Norway & USA This nv charts collection, produced by Nautical Publications, is especially made with the requirements of yachtsman in mind. These brilliant, high-color raster charts are for use on your Raymarine Lighthouse II supporting plotters.

Q2. Another priority is a depth sounder that will track the bottom in shallow water and in turbulence. I would rather not replace the one year old B744V transducer unless replacing it improves the depth sounder shallow water performance.
A2. Should the currently installed transducer's plug have been designed to be directly mated to the L760's Transducer socket, then it may be adapted to be mated to the Transducer socket of an Axiom DV MFD, Axiom RV MFD, or Axiom Pro RVX MFD. When using the currently installed transducer, fishfinder depth performance and imaging would be expected to be very similar to that experienced with the currently installed equipment. The minimum operational depth may be slightly improved when used with a DV or RV transducer.

Q3. Will you make recommendations for 2 MFD replacements (one for the fly bridge and one for lower helm) and a new wired Radar scanner? I’m not a big fan of touch screens but it looks like that is the way the technology is going.
A3. Given this preference, it would be recommended that an Axiom Pro RVX be installed at the lower station and that an Axiom Pro S MFD at the upper station. All resources (including charts) and features are shared among these MFDs. Of the items which you have listed, the following may be retained for use with the new system:
- Raymarine 400G Course Computer
- ST6002 x 2
- SeatalkNG to Seatalk Converter
- RS130
- B744V (if it matches the specifications identified within the response to Q1.)