Dash and Electronics

March 2024

Although Parliament is old - don’t forget she was built more than 110 years ago - there’s no reason she can’t benefit from the features of a modern sailboat without spoiling her classic good looks. There are eventual plans for a fully electric propulsion system, but for the time being we thought it would be nice to have some modern instruments and electronics on board.

There are many parts of this system that we’ll need to be able to see and interact with while sailing, and for that we’ve built a custom genuine mahogany dashboard with brass hardware. This was a true labor of love, designed to match Parliament’s other mahogany brightwork. 10 coats of varnish.

The dash will house a new Garmin VHF 115 marine radio (always a good idea on a boat), connected to a Metz Manta antenna (favored by the US Coast Guard) atop the mast. Alongside the radio is a Garmin GMI 20 display which connects to a gWind sailing instrument (also atop the mast), and a through hull transducer. This display will allow us to see wind speed and angle, GPS position (via the radio), water depth and temperature, boat speed, and over 100 other marine and vessel parameters. The dash will also house the display for the battery management system, USB, 12V DC and 110V AC outlets, along with switches for the bilge pump, nav lights and siren.

The power for all these electronics will be supplied by a 12V 100AH lithium iron phosphate battery, 200W solar panels and charger, an inverter (for the 110V AC), a breaker panel, and a NMEA backbone. The guts for the system will be stashed away under the bench seats. We’re using varnished marine grade Hydrotek meranti ply with a 3D-printed carbon fiber housing to keep things neat and tidy (and dry).