Poynting OMNI LTE antennas
I’m always on the lookout for new LTE antennas that could help improve my signal while on the water. Poynting has a couple of interesting marine antennas that I’ve been using for a while.
NMEA 2000 network troubleshooting tools
NMEA 2000 networks are part of any connected boat, and can be problematic by nature of their design. Troubleshooting an N2K network can be done very easily and cheaply, or you can use more advanced tools.
What’s on your boat server?
Servers are more common on boats today than ever before. Having some sort of system to run SignalK, a dedicated alerting system, or some other service has become just as integral as having a chart plotter or VHF radio.
One year after switching to power
I switched from sail to power a year ago and haven’t looked back. There are pros and cons, but I am glad I made the switch!
Furuno FM-4800 VHF Radio
Furuno released the FM-4800 VHF radio in late 2018, and I have been using it since then, and really like it as my primary boat radio.
Low Data Mode helps boat WiFi use in iOS 13
As of iOS 13, there is a Low Data mode for WiFi! For many years, you’ve been able to limit cellular bandwidth usage, but iOS has not had a way to control the same thing for a WiFi network, until now.
weBoost Drive Reach cellular amplifier installation and testing
weBoost released the Drive Reach recently which is a more powerful and refined version of the venerable Drive 4G-X, the gold standard for cellular amplifiers since 2014. I have been using mine for a few months, and have some observations
Victron + Wakespeed + Battle Born power system
Rendezvous came with a decent power system which I had hoped to use for a year before upgrading. However, performance and other problems cropped up in the first few months of using it, so I moved this project earlier in the list and jumped in.
Best boat Internet systems
Below are my recommended system designs for getting high quality Internet on your boat. There are several different choices depending on your technical ability and budget.
Rendezvous internet setup
Having a reliable setup has always been one of my top goals, usually leveraging several technologies. Rendezvous has a similar setup to some of my other boats, but with some modifications and improvements.
Boat piano and storage
The Yamaha P-125 piano is super light, has an excellent action, a few great piano sounds, and is perfect for my boat. I also built a system to store it in a closet.
