NMEA 2000
When we were designing our 2024 Atlas Boatworks 23F demo boat, we had a lot of decisions to make. One of which was how we wanted the console layout to look. We ultimately decided that we wanted a clean, uncluttered look. That meant that we were not going to do any of the traditional gauges that you would see on a boat’s dashboard. No fuel, speed, or engine gauges.
So, what do you do if you want all of that information, but don’t want 5 little circles on your dash? That’s where the NMEA 2000 (Or NMEA 2K if you’re in a hurry) comes in. NMEA (pronounced “Nee-ma”) is the National Marine Electronics Association and they are a trade group that helps to standardize marine electronic communication and training. NMEA 2K is a communication protocol that allows devices made by different manufacturers to communication with each other.
As long as whatever device you get is “NMEA 2K compatible,” it will talk to other devices that are also compatible. That’s where the beauty of the system lies. You can get a whole bunch of stuff to play nice with each other.
NMEA 2000 Backbone
The foundation of the NMEA 2000 system is the “Backbone.” The backbone is a series of connectors that link the different devices together. One backbone connector provides power to the system, but the rest come from the various devices that you want to link together.
To connect a device to the system, it is as easy as screwing on another backbone connector to the device you want to add. It really is super simple.
Some of the devices get their power from the NMEA 2000 backbone (Power Pole gateway, fuel sending unit) while others require their own power supply (Garmin, engine).
Multifunction Display (MFD)
In order to control or view the info from the devices connected to your NMEA 2k system, you need a MFD or multifunction device. In most cases, it will be your fishfinder or chart plotter. In the case of our demo boat, we went with a 12″ Garmin 126 Echomap. Aside from fitting well in the dash, we knew we wanted the 12″ model to ensure that we had enough screen space to control the devices as well as see the navigation and fish finder functions.
Conclusion
We found the NMEA 2K system super-easy to install and to use. Everything we hooked up was automatically found, and with a little setup on the Garmin, working like it should. You can creat custom dashboards on the Garmin to see exactly what you want to.
Haters will say that they want analog gauges in case the MFD dies. They are not wrong. If something happens to the MFD or the electrical system powering it or the NMEA backbone, then you will lose visibility into all of the systems that are run through there. In our case, there are no absolutely vital systems (Bilge pump, Nav lights, etc…) that we will lose in that instance, so it is a chance we are willing to take. So far we love it.