Seatalk and NMEA2000

Raymarine Seatalk 1 and NMEA200 combined

The boat was delivered, 2006, with just Raymarine equipment with the network Seatalk 1, ST1, and some NMEA0183. My wish is to update and supplement with NMEA2000, N2K, from Garmin which I used on our last boat. Especially supplement cause You don’t just throw away two well functioning Raymarine 12”, E120, and a radar. In addition, for Navigation purposes, we use the iPad app iSailor that gets better and better.

The easy way to combine the two networks is to use the Raymarine Seatalk 1 to Seatalk NG converter, Raymarine E22158. Seatalk NG and N2K is the same protocol, with some dialectal differences, but have different cabling. The converter works in both directions. ST1 messages is converted to N2K and vice versa

The first test to this approach was to swap the mounted Raymarin Bidata ST 30 instrument to a Garmin GMI 10 N2K display (Really bought to our old boat but never mounted). The Garmin display was mounted in the same hole as the Bidata instrument but the Bidata instrument was still connected to the ST network due to that it receives depth and speed information which is distributed to the network. It was just hidden behind the instrumentpanel.

The power to the N2K network is supplied via the ST1 network.

The picture shows the GMI 10, well-functioning, and mounted in instrumentpanel. It also shows the newer GMI 20 for comparison.

The cable for connecting the converter to the ST 1 network is supplied with converter kit but an additional kabel was purchased connecting the converter to the N2K network, Raymarine A06046