We bought our 1986 Jefferson 52 two years ago to live full time on that boat. We love the layout of the boat, but we knew that it will need some serious upgrades, on our list were the instruments for navigation and engine monitoring which were very basic. Especially the old “steam gages” did not fully function any more. In addition I wanted to have a smart home solution to control the lights and heating.

The boat is equipped with two diesel engines, one generator, diesel heaters, autopilot, radar, GPS and depth sounder.

The following items where on top of my list to update:

Control the lights and heating with a touch panel (smart home)

Electronically monitor engine parameters to verify manual gages

Update navigation plotter to be able to use the latest charts

Monitor the batteries

Display weather information

To access all the information, I set up a wireless router to connect all devices, installed an analog/digital converter and connected all sensors via a bus system (NMEA 2000).

All functionalities can be controlled and monitored by the Glory Star touch tablets.

To display and interact with all the systems I used the Glory Star VEGA (for smart home), Nebula 15” (for weather information and engine monitoring), Jarvis 10” (for battery monitoring) and the Ultron to access the navigation app. The iPad is only used for home entertainment (music).

The big advantage from the Glory Star products is that they are easy to install, commercial grade housing, runs with Android (most of the applications run on the tablets) and the touchscreen is very easy to use. Also they are not using much power, the batteries on boats are very limited.

My wife and I have been on some trips and we felt that the new setup works much better now. Of course in boating no project is ever finished so I’m planning to replace all manual gauges with touch screens and also upgrade the radio. Stay tuned for the next level for the upgrade.