Posted on 06/23/2006 12:52:17 PM PDT by 2Jim_Brown
CHICAGO, June 23 (UPI) -- Captain Roger Sardina navigates the Sea Ray Run, a 40-foot-long Sundancer motor boat made by Brunswick, through the "Danger Spot A" of Burham Harbor on Lake Michigan, using the wireless global positioning system. We've just completed a quick cruise of the lake, on a very rainy morning here in Chicago, but the sea state -- the height and movement of the waves -- was relatively steady.
Today's luxury motorboats are outfitted with networks, wired and wireless, making them quite advanced, although not as state-of-the-art as one might encounter on a ship in the U.S. Navy. There are no anti-torpedo countermeasures, but there are GPS plotters, with prevalent color features, MP3 devices, satellite radio and TV systems, and satellite phones, as well as wireless Internet access systems, said Geoffrey W. Storms, vice president, high performance product development at Brunswick, during an on-board interview with Wireless World. By Gene Koprowski
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
Wireless GPS? Who would of thunk?
Even lowly fishing boats are heavily equipped with electronics these days.
A typical fishing boat now has GPS, including full mapping, sophisticated sonar systems, and often even underwater television cameras, all in the interest of finding fish and catching them.
That's not to mention the VHF radio, and for those who go offshore, radar, and more.
I just added side-scanning sonar capabilities to my own boat. With it, I see a 3-D representation of the water column and bottom structures. That includes seeing individual fish in something like a dead tree on the bottom.
It's amazing. It truly is amazing.
Indeed. Untying that knot from the old way was a pain.
Yup. Sea Ray is a brand of Brunswick Boats now. Seems like all the boat companies are getting bought up and merged together. I'm not sure it's a good thing, either.
Here's a partial list of boat companies that have been sucked up by Brunswick. You'll be shocked:
Albemarle
Baja
Bayliner
Boston Whaler
Cabo Yachts
Crestliner
Hatteras
Laguna
Lowe
Lund
Maxum
Sea Ray
Triton
There are more. You can see the whole list at:
http://www.brunswick.com/boats.html
I have a Sea Ray SRV 220 that I have totally restored. It was a 1972 model with a very substantial hull and I replaced everything; upholstery, engine,IO/OD, Chrome, teak wood, and cover. I even refinished the trailer.
Heck, my kayak has a depth finder and a GPS. Plus the cell phone in a ziplock in my PFD pocket. A supermodern fishing machine.
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