What I (don't) like about the Raymarine Axiom vs B&G Vulcan

Plotter / MFD

FireFly doesn't just have a plotter onboard, it has TWO plotters: a Raymarine Axiom 9+ and a B&G Vulcan 7! Why two you're wondering? I'm not sure myself but I told myself I will make a choice this season which one to keep and which one to sell...

What I (don't) like about the Raymarine Axiom vs B&G Vulcan

In general, the Axiom 9+ is the better choice. Much smoother and easier to use. The AIS PAD (Predicted Area of Danger) rocks, you immediately see which areas you don't want to be in 5 minutes from now.

What I like about the B&G Vulcan that's NOT available in the Raymarine Axiom

The laylines that are drawn in the chart are so much more clearer. The laylines are barely visible on the Axiom; the lay lines are drawn so thin and without any contrasting colors, that in fact they are pretty much unusable.
B&G allows you to use SOG as STW/Boatspeed. This means that if your log's paddle wheel is clogged (happens a lot due to an excessive growth of seaweeds over here), you can still have your laylines, true wind speed and true wind angle. The Axiom doesn't have this feature, and once the paddle wheel stops working, you lose all this information. Considering I almost always auto-pilot based on TRUE wind when going upwind, this is extremely annoying (and perhaps might be a reason to keep the Vulcan next to the Axiom after all?)
The "databoxes" that allow you to display instrument data on top of your (or next to your) chart is much more readable and usable on the B&G. The Axiom allows up to 4 fields that overlay the chart. Then you have a collapsible side menu, which quite frankly is barely readable at best. You can also split your screen to have a chart next to an instrument panel. Problem here, is that the instrument panel doesn't have any option to just show a single column page with fields. The B&G on the other hand, has a very simple yet crystal clear side row with data fields. You can optionally set two column instead of one, doubling the number of fields you can display. I much prefer the B&G approach here.

Raymarine Axiom manuals can be found here or download version 4.4.87 here

B&G Vulcan manual here

Running Navionics on two MFDs

If you have multiple MFDs from the same brand, you only need one Navionics license to use the maps on all devices. If, however, you have MFDs from different brands, like me, this sadly won't work.

If you want to run Navionics on two plotters of different brands, you can't just copy the SD card. The Navionics software will look at the card's ID (the CID) and if that's different from the original card the software was installed on, it will explode and sink your boat. Not good! You can of course buy another Navionics license for just double the costs. You could also buy a SD card with a custom CID (the same as the original) and copy the cards. You'll need an app to read out the CID (free), order a SD card with the exact same CID (for example here) copy the contents of the original card to the new one, and Bob's your uncle! Or so I heard from a friend :)

AIS

For whatever reason I have issues seeing depth at scale. I sail in an area with a lot of commercial traffic, and thought it would be good to have a bit of visual aid before crashing into a cargo ship.

Openmarine MAIANA

I was a bit put off by having to install a VHF antenna, an external GPS antenna et cetera, when I came across the Openmarine MAIANA. The Maiana is an open-source AIS engine that combines the PCB, VHF and GPS antenna into one 1" tube. Very easy to assemble and works great! The maiana can also be used as a transponder, but I never enabled that feature. The transponder hasn't been certified and too many commercial ships in my area to start experimenting with designated timeslots. The code looks good, however.

Assembly instructions and manual here >>

Advansea TR-200 AIS Transponder

Update July, 2023 -- Got an incredible deal on a used Advansea AIS transponder on marktplaats.nl. I bought a Scout KS-30 VHF/AIS antenna that I mounted astern. Unfortunately, the transponder could NOT get a GPS fix in our lazarette and I had to buy an external GPS antenna that fixed the issues. I promised the previous owner that I would clear his ship's MMSI from the transponder and told me I had to go to a dealer to get this done, which would cost me a bit of money. Instead, after a bit of googling I found this tool that allows you to set the AIS boat specifications. Here the technical note explaining how to reset the MMSI without visiting a dealer. Basically, open the proAIS.exe application, connect the AIS device and in the command tab enter the following commands (without CRLF):

$PSRT,012,,,(--QuaRk--)*4B

$PSRT,RDP*6F

After the commands are executed, the devide will restart and you will be able to set the MMSI in the proAIS.exe application (once!). ... You're welcome

Avansea TR-200 AIS Transponder manual here >>

One more thing: Since the Advansea TR100 only has a NMEA0183 interface, and our boat network runs NMEA2k, I had to buy a converter. I choose the Quark-Elec A024 to bridge the different interfaces. As a nice bonus, it broadcasts all NMEA sentences over WiFi. That means, I can now see all instrument data on my Tablet (tip! NavMonitor app), as well as depth and other ships' positions in the Navionics app. Nice indeed.

Instruments

B&G WS310 Wind sensor
Airmar DST810 log & depth sensor / transducer

Radios

Handheld VHF
Bluetooth

Autopilot

Raymarine EV-100 (ACU-100) + P70 pilot head
PC Nautic tiller pilot with built-in rudder position sensor