Trade-A-Boat — February 2018

ABOVE LEFTBut where’s the transducer? It’s

there but through-hull and there are two of them.

ABOVE RIGHTThe big flat dash still manages to

have plenty of space around Simrad’s NSS16

screen despite it stretching to 16 inches. Notable

are the flush switches left of the stainless steel

wheel, while to the right is the Simrad AP44 VRF

Autopilot control panel.

130 trade aboat.com.au

Y

ou have to credit
International Marine with
smart planning when they
designed the new dash
for the Caribbean 2300
because not many owners at the time
were contemplating fitting screens as
large as the NSS16 in Adam Barba’s
boat.
The NSS is the largest of the Simrad
standalone systems, meaning all the
electronics are contained in the unit
rather than needing a separate sounder
module as in the NSO models. There is
though an external GS25 GPS receiver
that was fitted for greater accuracy.
Barba decided on the Simrad setup

after experience on friends’ boats,

where he liked the ease of use and

the latest SolarMAX weatherproof HD

screen, which allows viewing from all

angles. He said it only took a short time

to learn to navigate the system as it is

very user-friendly, and in his short time

with the boat has had luck in finding

fish over reefs down to 100m. Although

we didn’t try it, I’m told that the low-

band sonar can read down to 1500m.

THE TECH

You control the system from either

the touchscreen display or an inbuilt

keypad, and in rough conditions

the touch control can be locked out.

Dual input ports allow information

from Adam’s two 1kW Airmar

CHIRP transducers to be displayed

simultaneously for wide and deep

options. So as well as the two sounders,

the large split screen can also clearly

show the GPS map, radar screen, and

engine information through its NMEA

connectivity.

Simrad Autopilot is also connected,

and Wi-Fi enables the screen to be

mirrored to phones and tablets for

viewing and input anywhere on the

boat.

Recommended retail on the NSS16 is

$6799, but checkout Blue Bottle Marine

for more realistic pricing.

SIMRAD HAS SIMPLIFIED BOAT ELECTRONICS, INCORPORATING THEM

ALL IN ONE MULTIFUNCTION SCREEN, WITH DUPLICATION TO LAPTOPS

AND SMARTPHONES

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Simrad NSS16