Awesome Boat Tech

A curated list of boat tech stuff.

Boat tech includes all things NMEA and Seatalk, marine internet, open source projects, hardware vendors, educational resources, blogs, vlogs and forums.

This listing is presented as best endeavours and in the public domain (Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal licence), contains no advertisements, paid placements or referrals.

Contents

• Social Media
• Charts
• Open Source Projects
• Protocols
• Vendors
• News, Education and Reference

Contribute

Contributions welcome! Read the contribution guidelines first.

Social Media

Blogs

Personal sites for sailors and their boats with their tech projects. These are all reasonably live as of 2026.

• Bergie - Baltic sailor, boat projects and SignalK plugin developer (meri-imperiumi) and boat handbook with checklists.
• BoatHackers - Leopard 45, projects with Home Assistant, Starlink, NMEA2000, Victron.
• Catalina 320 Log - Raspberry Pi, NMEA, SignalK, VBA.
• Cricalix - Ireland, Victoria 34, NMEA, Python, Solar, Shipmodul Miniplex.
• Hacking Family - Long term world cruisers on Wauquiez-designed catamaran with advice on electronics, software, mapping.
• Lille Ø - German owner (English language site), Amigo 40, open source software and hardware projects, LoRa, videos.
• Navigation Mac & Co - French, with English translation. News and articles, focus on weather data, macOS and iPad navigation.
• Nick Hayward - Narrowboat projects including Home Assistant, ESPHome, Victron.
• Ole W. Saastad - Raspberry Pi boat integration.
• Pyssel - Boat projects and news, including Home Assistant, OpenPlotter, ESP32.
• Project Bob - Autonomous boat circumnavigation project.
• Seabits - Pacific North West, Kristen 50 and Symbol Pilothouse motor yachts, SignalK, dashboards, Victron.
• SY Bockra - 1981 Corbin 39, OpenCPN, Open Boat Projects, AvNav. One-off summary document of experiences.
• SY Sea Jade Boatstuff - Checklists, equipment choices, passage planning templates and other tabular data.
• The Low Cost Sailor - Boat tech news and articles. English, French, Spanish. Also Spanish and English YouTube channels.
• Zapped Myself - NMEA2000, AIS, ESP32 projects.

Vlogs

Video channels from YouTube and elsewhere for boat tech projects.

• 8-bit Sailing - Raspberry Pi, OpenPlotter and Raymarine.
• Boating with the Baileys - Electrical and electronics projects on a 2000s Bavaria 36, including SignalK, KIP, Node-RED, OpenPlotter and SensESP.
• Boats and Bits - DIY boat tech, Raymarine networking, electrics, 3D printing.
• DIY Onboard - Raspberry Pi and OpenPlotter.
• Gary Woodruff - Boat projects and HowTo guides for boat electrics and electronics, focus on Lowrance equipment.
• Out Chasing Stars - OpenCPN and general boat electrics, electronics.
• Pacific Yacht Systems - Last active in 2023, large back catalogue of instructional videos on marine electrics, electronics and networking.
• Raspberry for Sailing - OpenPlotter, SignalK, KIP projects on Raspberry Pi.
• Smart Boat Innovations - Raspberry Pi, HomeAssistant and SignalK boat projects.
• SV Apres - OpenPlotter, NMEA2000 and general boat tech.
• The Florida Captain - Open source boat network and apps.
• Tom Seahorse - UK. Catamaran. Raspberry Pi, OpenCPN, Home Assistant.

Forums

All active as of 2026

• boatdesign.net - Electronics and Controls forum.
• Boat Electrical and Electronic Q&A - Private Facebook group, >70k members, avg post per day.
• NMEA 2000 Support Group - Public Facebook group.
• NMEA 2000 Technical Forum - Private Facebook group.
• OpenCPN Users - Private Facebook group, >12k members, dozen or two posts a month.
• OpenMarine - Marine electronics and networking, focus on Macarthur HAT, PyPilot, OpenPlotter and Node RED.
• Panbo - Marine electronics and networking.
• Raspberry Pi for Boats - Private Facebook group, >17k members, couple dozen posts per month.
• SignalK Google Group - Active as of end 2025.
• The Hull Truth - Marine electronics forum.

Charts

Open source, crowd-sourced and volunteer chart sources.

• Antares Charts - Volunteer project for charting and pilotage of West Coast Scotland.
• Mapterhorn - Open Source terrain tiles for interactive web map visualizations.
• Nautical Chart Catalogs - Machine readable index of free to use nautical charts.
• OpenSeaMap - Open sourced charts, in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and Arabic.

Open Source Projects

Software projects for boats, with recent commits as of 2026.

• AIS-catcher - AIS receiver for software defined radio (SDR) dongles.
• AvNav - Plotter with Android app and SignalK integration. German with English docs.
• Bareboat Necessities - All in one operating system, incorporating OpenCPN, SignalK, PyPilot etc plus open source hardware projects.
• BlueBridge - Android app integration with NMEA data via MQTT and Bluetooth.
• BoatyPi - Open source hardware/software for boat ePaper display.
• BrineOMatic - Watermaker controller for ESP32.
• CAN Boat - NMEA2000 and NMEA 0183 CLI utilities.
• d3kOS - Raspberry Pi based navigation and automation platform.
• DiscoTime - Time and lat/long dashboard for long distance passages.
• Galadriel Plotter - Raster based chartplotter for low power servers.
• gpsd - GPS and AIS daemon wrapping NMEA0183 in its own simpler format. C, Python. Ubiquitous.
• GWeatherRouting - Navigation and automated routing, Python/GTK4.
• gypsy - Multiplexer for GPS NMEA data, daemon and C library, alternative to gpsd.
• imud - IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit)/Magnetometer multiplexer with NMEA stream for chartplotters.
• Kip - SignalK dashboard / instrument display.
• KPlex - NMEA0183 multiplexer for Linux, Unix, macOS and OpenWRT. (Google Group).
• libWeatherRouting - Python weather routing library with linear iso-routing and shortest path routes.
• Maiana - AIS Transponder open hardware/software.
• MarineYachtRadar - MaYaRa server, display, OpenCPN and SignalK integration as open alternative to commercial radar processing.
• Marinux - Muplex NMEA multiplexer, OSD Depth echo-sounder display.
• nm2k - NMEA0183 and NMEA2000 web based visualization and analysis.
• OpenCPN - Chart Plotter for macOS, Windows, Linux, Raspi and Android.
• Open Marine Systems - Home Assistant add-ons for navigation and anchor watch, installed via HACS.
• Open Boat Projects - DIY hardware and open source projects, English and German.
• OpenFairWind - Alternative user interface for SignalK.
• OpenPlotter - Combined project of SignalK, OpenCPN, PyPilot etc.
• PyGPSClient - Python GPS/GNSS testing, diagnostic and configuration, incl NMEA integration.
• PyPilot - Python based auto-pilot.
• Rhizomatics - SignalK and Home Assistant plug-ins and associated apps.
• ROB - Raspberry Pi On Board, Java and Python navigation utilities.
• Sail-O-Vision - Obstacle and wildlife detection with camera and NVIDIA Jetson.
• Sailtrack - Modular racing performance tracker using MQTT.
• SignalK - Node.js pluggable framework for boat data distribution and analysis.
• Smart Boat Innovations - Videos and articles on building a Raspberry Pi and Home Assistant based smart boat.
• TwoCan - NMEA2000 integration for OpenCPN.
• Venus - Victron Energy's open source OS for their GX products, available for self-hosting on Raspberry Pi.
• Xilje - Garmin integration projects, incl plotter display of local web apps and PyPilot integration.

NMEA

See also OpenCPN NMEA Tools.

!!! note "Not all NMEA is what it seems" A tiny subset of NMEA 0183 is used for GPS integration on almost all devices that handle GPS, including mobile phones, and so has vastly more usage than marine NMEA use cases. Hence, not everything labelled 'NMEA' may be useful in a boating context.

C and C++

• minmea - GPS NMEA0183 parser in C.

C#

• OpenSkipper - C# based NMEA2000, NMEA0183 and AIS integration, last updated 2023.

ESP32

• ESP32 NMEA2000 - NMEA2000 integration with USB, Wifi, 0183 on M5 Atom CAN and compatible with other ESP32.
• NMEA2000 - Arduino NMEA2000 interfacing library used in several commercial products.
• NMEA2000_ais_wifi_gw - ESP32 based NMEA2000 gateway.
• NMEA2000_esp32 - ESP32 objects for use with NMEA2000 library.
• Sens32 - ESP32 based sensors for SignalK.

GoLang

• go-nmea - NMEA 0183 sentence parser.
• nmea0183 - NMEA 0183 sentence parser, with Actisense integration examples.

JavaScript

• canboatjs - Native CAN Bus / NMEA 2000 interfacing.
• nmea-simple - NMEA 0183 sentence parser. Fork of the now deprecated nmea package.

Python

Lots more libraries and tools can be found on PyPI, for example NMEA-related.

• pynmea2 - NMEA 0183 sentence parser.
• nmeasim - NMEA/GNSS receiver simulator.

Rust

• nmea crate - NMEA 0183 sentence parser.

Swift

• NMEAParser - iOS and macOS NMEA 0183 parser and validator.

Protocols

Industry Standards

• IEC61162 - International Electrotechnical Commission standards, partly wrapping NMEA standards (IEC 61162-1 is NMEA0183 and IEC 61162-3 is NMEA2000).
• LoRaWan - Long range wireless networking for IoT devices, including remote boat monitoring.
• NMEA0183 - RS-422 based wiring layer with proprietary information protocol.
• NMEA2000 - CAN Bus based wiring with proprietary information protocol. Also known as N2K.
• NMEA OneNet - IPv6 Ethernet based wiring with proprietary information protocol, using M12 and RJ45 connectors.
• NMEA over IP - Informal standard (with a formal IANA port assigned, 10110) using TCP or UDP provided by several vendor and open source products, and consumed by Navionics, AngelNav, SavvyNavvy and more.
• SAE J1587/J1708 - Pair of older serial based engine networking standards, used by marine engines from 1990s and early 2000s.
• SAE J1939 - CAN Bus standard, using Deutsch connectors, commonly used for engines and engine instruments, including Volvo Penta and Yanmar.
• Shielded Twisted Pair Ethernet - Computing industry standard, commonly used for radars and other high bandwidth marine applications.

Open Source

• SignalK - Open source JSON based standard using HTTP, OpenAPI and Websockets as transport layer and able to model NMEA0183 and NMEA2000 data.

Vendor Proprietary

• Garmin BlueNet - Current Ethernet based netwoking, with proprietary connector.
• Garmin Marine Network - Previous generation of Ethernet networking, using RJ45 connectors.

• MicroNet - Raymarine owned proprietary wireless protocol for instrument telemetry, originally known as TackTick before the original vendor acquired. Gateways available for two-way interfacing to regular NMEA 0183.

• Nexus - Sensor protocol, acquired by Garmin and used for their wind instruments and depth transducer, with NMEA2000 bridge.
• RayNet - Raymarine's Ethernet implementation, using a proprietary connector.
• Seatalk 1 - Raymarine proprietary daisy-chain combined data and power, ubiquitously deployed with ST60 instruments.
• Seatalk NG - Raymarine's implementation of NMEA2000, compatible at data layer with a proprietary 6 pin connection to incorporate SeaTalk 1 data.
• SimNet - Simrad variant of NMEA2000 with different connectors and supporting daisy chaining.

Vendors

Hardware

Full Integration

Vendors offering full suite of products for modern boats, including plotters, instruments and sensors.

• B&G - Sensors, radars, plotters, displays for racing and cruising.
• Furono - Sensors, sonar, radar, plotters, autopilots.
• Garmin - Sensors, plotters, radars, sonar, displays, auto-pilots, charts, cameras and integration.
• Humminbird - Plotter, sonar, charts, apps, One-Boat network.
• Lowrance - Plotters, transducers, charts, trolling motors.
• NKE - Plotters, AIS, autopilot, sensors for cruising and ocean racing.
• Pixel Sur Mer - Racing oriented plotters, auto-pilot, data integration, voice, 3D sail scanning and safety management.
• Raymarine - Sensors, radars, plotters, displays, VHF, AIS and Seatalk NG.
• Simrad - Plotters, auto-pilots, sonar, radar, AIS, VHF, transducers, charts, apps.
• SI-TEX - Plotters, sonar, AIS, radar, autopilot, sensors.

NMEA Interfacing

See NMEA Wifi Options for comparison of available products.

• Actisense - NMEA bridges and gateways.
• Chetco - NMEA bridges, marine PC, SeaGauge and SeaSmart.NET for Bluetooth, 4G and Wifi.
• Comar - AIS focused with NMEA bridge, multiplexer and sensors.
• Copperhill - Raspberry PI and ESP32 NMEA2000 boards, simulators, HATs.
• Digital Yacht - NMEA multiplexers, sensors, gateways plus AIS and 4G/5G.
• Gadget Pool - German vendor, with English info, of NMEA and Seatalk interfaces and displays.
• gedad - German vendor, Marine Control Server for NMEA0183, NMEA2000 and i2c, with SignalK support.
• HAT Labs - Open Source NMEA2000, ESP32 and RasPi hardware, including the Halos containerized marine OS for Raspberry Pi.
• Luissa 351 - NMEA gateways, multiplexers and Wifi integration. Portugal selling internationally through eBay.
• Marine Control Server - Raspberry Pi based NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 interface with OpenPlotter and SignalK integration.
• Matsutec - Chinese supplier of NMEA hardware, testers, gateways plus AIS and auto-pilots.
• MySmartBoat - Monitoring and integration hardware, electrical components, MySmartApp unified dashboard.
• Nauti-Control - Seatalk and NMEA2000 wifi bridges and remote controls. Also on YouTube.
• Oceanav - Spanish vendor, with English info, of NMEA wifi gateways and auto-pilot remote control.
• Onwa - NMEA converters and multiplexers, and general marine electronics.
• OpenMarine - NMEA MacArthur HATfor Raspberry PI with OpenPlotter.
• Pitufino - Wifi gateway for NMEA0183 and NMEA2000 with optional Seatalk 1 and cloud access.
• Quark - NMEA devices, sensors, internet gateways, gauges and remote monitoring.
• Rosuku - TouCAN Marine NMEA2000 USB adaptor.
• See Sailing - NMEA data visualization for yacht race analysis and NMEA to Bluetooth hardware.
• Shipmodul - NMEA/Seatalk multiplexers and LAN gateways, macOS and Windows configuration client (workaround for Linux).
• SK Pang Electronics - Raspberry Pi boards and HATs for CAN-Bus integration, NMEA2000 simulators, GPS modules, LCD displays.
• Tinley - NMEA interfaces, sensors, multiplexers, converters.
• Veinland - German vendor, with English info, of commercial NMEA multiplexers, embedded PCs and instruments.
• Vela Navgea - Portuguese sailor who builds NMEA4Wifi range of multiplexers for NMEA0183, N2K and Seatalk.
• Wegmatt - dAISy AIS receivers and NMEA0183 interfacing.
• Yacht Devices - NMEA bridges, gateways and sensors.
• Yakbitz - Seatalk, NMEA, AIS and Autopilot interfaces.

Marine PCs and Components

• Austral - Marinized Raspberry Pi, sensors, apps including racing auto-pilot.
• Beetronics - Marine monitors and touchscreens.
• Bluestone - Marine LCD displays.
• BVM - Marine displays and PCs.
• Cybernet - Marine rackmount and mini PCs.
• Impulse - Marine PCs and displays.
• Marine Data Solutions - Satellite and mobile internet integration, MDS Blender marine router.
• Poynting - Marine antennas for 4G/5G/Wifi.

Instruments and Autopilots

• Airmar - Transducers, sensors, NMEA bridging, weather instruments and apps.
• Cyclops Marine - Smart load sensors and displays.
• Daniamant - Forward looking sonar (previously EchoPilot), alarms and other safety related products.
• em-trak - VHF and AIS.
• ICOM - Marine VHF, SSB, GMDSS, AIS, radar.
• LCJ Capteurs - Wind and weather instruments, StatMETEO wind data recording software.
• MAPTATTOO - eInk chart plotter.
• NASA Marine - Instruments, monitors, AIS, displays.
• Nautinect - Open source hardware design and mobile app, controller with wheel or tiller drive.
• Navinet - SmartSail autopilot with OpenCPN and NMEA integration.
• PCNautic - Tiller auto-pilot with mobile apps, plus BoatController NMEA and Wifi interfacing and related instruments.
• Safiery - Digital switching, monitoring, Victron and NMEA integration.
• Scadys - MDD400 TFT display for NMEA 2000, NMEA 0183 and Seatalk data, usable as ST60 replacements. Kickstarter project by cruising sailor.
• Vakaros - Racing oriented instruments. Instruction videos on YouTube channel.
• Veratron - NMEA instruments, gateways and sensors, displays.
• Wema - NMEA instruments, gauges, bridges, analog to digital converters.

Boat Integration and Remote Monitoring

• BoatMonitor32 - Mobile app and boat hardware hub with Victron integration.
• Hello Sailor - LTE/SMS based remote boat monitoring, subscription-free.
• iNav4u - Zora integrated monitoring, navigation, dashboards.
• Maretron - Integrated monitoring and visualization, NMEA bridges and sensors.
• Nautic Alert - Remote GPS tracking, bilge and power monitoring.
• Navigation Laptops - Laptops setup for navigation with instrument packages.
• Orca - Data hub for NMEA, auto-pilot, radar with chart plotter and remote monitoring.
• PAJ GPS - UK remote GPS tracking hardware and app.
• Philippi - German supplier of monitoring, sensors and electrical power components, including refit panels for Bavaria yachts.
• PredictWind DataHub - Data logging, remote monitoring, internet data, NMEA and auto-pilot interface.
• Raspmarine - Danish. Raspberry Pi based integration.
• Renogy - Power management and monitoring.
• Sensar Marine - Subscription-based remote monitoring with app, SMS and NMEA integration.
• Siren Marine - Remote boat monitoring.
• Smartboatia - Smart boat hub with anchor alarm, remote monitoring, logging and AI-based trim suggestions.
• Vesscomm - Mobile data (2G/4G) based monitoring hubs and mobile apps.
• Victron - Power devices with associated monitoring, integration, power sensors, displays.
• Vircru - Remote boat monitoring with mobile app.
• Zigboat - Zigbee based remote boat sensors and monitoring with SMS and mobile app notifications by Glomex.

Audio, Electrical, Safety, Accessories

• Aquatic AV - Speakers, amplifiers, head units.
• Avtex - 12V TVs popular on boats.
• Blue Sea - Electrical components, meters, cable glands and enclosures, on-line and mobile calculators, monitoring.
• Crimp - On-line DC diagram editor with simulation and validation.
• Cruising Solutions - 'Marriage Savers' intercom headsets.
• Kicker Audio - Speakers, amplifiers, cables.
• MarineDCAC - Cruising sailor run, builds BankManager for controlling traditional/lithium battery banks, and DC aircon.
• Peplink - Marine antennas and routers for 5G.
• Sailor Hat for Raspberry Pi - Power Pi from NMEA2000 bus, safe shutdown, glitch protection.
• Simarine - Slovenian company supplying battery monitors, control panels, switching, sensors and accessories.
• Topargee - Bluetooth enabled water and fuel flow meters, automated shut-off valves.
• Yacht Controller - Handheld engine & steering remote control for docking.
• Weatherdock - German supplier of AIS transceivers and splitters, personal trackers and beacons, boat monitoring.

Software

See also Open Source.

• Adrena - Navigation and route optimization packages specialized for cruisers or racing.
• AggSoft - Windows based data loggers/aggregators for NMEA, ModBus, GPS, USB etc.
• DeepBlue - Yacht management app.
• Expedition Marine - Windows-based navigation, weather routing and racing app, official supplier to The Volvo Ocean Race, Americas Cup, Sail GP etc.
• LuckGRIB - Weather data download, view and routing.
• Meltemus - Navigation, weather and charts for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and Linux. qtVLM weather and chart viewer free on some platforms.
• Maintenance ROS - Boat maintenance management.
• Navigatrix - Custom Linux distribution for navigation. Free.
• Navimetrix - Integrated navigation, weather, charting, routing for Android, Windows, iOS and macOS.
• Navstation - MacENCx64Integrate plotting, navigation, charts and NMEA integration for macOS.
• NMEA 2000 Solutions - NMEA BridgeBuilder and NMEA Gateway packages, consultancy.
• Ocean Signal - PLBs, EPIRBs, AIS alarms, VHF and radar transponders.
• OsmAnd - Offline mobile apps for OpenStreetMap, with nautical support in Pro and higher.
• Rose Point - Navigation software, North America gazatteer, NMEA gateway.
• Sail Logger - Logbook for mobiles, with NMEA integration.
• Sailing Performance - Racing performance analysis.
• SailRouter - AI based routing for onboard Raspberry Pi with NMEA and SignalK integration. Community Edition with planned commercial and SaaS versions.
• SailSense - Local GenAI assisted analysis, advice and alarms. SignalK based.
• SailTrack - AngelNav plotter app for mobile and PC with charts and traditional charting techniques and NMEA integration.
• SavvyNavvy - Plotter app for mobile with integrated weather, AIS, charting and NMEA integration.
• SeaIQ - Navigation for pilots, on Windows, macOS, iOS, iPadOS. Lower price version for recreational sailors.
• SKipper - SignalK instrumentation display app for iOS, Android, Linux, Windows, macOS and Raspberry Pi.
• Skippo - Swedish navigation app for iOS, Android and web.
• Vessel Vault - Boat maintenance management.
• WilhemSK - SignalK dashboard app for iPhone, iPad, macOS, Apple Watch and Apple TV.
• Zapfware - Mobile apps including NMEARemote dashboard, NMEAConnect bridging and ORC racing.

Consultants

• Nautibus - NMEA2000 design, testing, installation. German and English.
• Francis Fustier - France. Training, advice and integration. News and articles, focused on Apple products onboard.
• Pacific Yacht Systems - Electrical and electronics consultancy, retail and educational articles & videos.
• Seatech Systems - Marine electronics consultancy, with free advice articles on marine internet.
• Tweeds Marine - New Zealand. Consultancy plus free articles, news and calculators online.

News, Education and Reference

News

• Actisense Media - Vendor blog, with self-help and industry news.
• Marine Electronics Journal - Digital magazine published by NMEA.
• Panbo - Marine tech news.
• SmartBoats - Vendor directory and reviews.

Education

• Actisense Hub - Free tutorials, online books and reference from Actisense.
• AllThingzSailing - Catalog of sailing related websites, blogs, videos and apps.
• Attainable Adventure Cruising - Articles on electronics and software and Navigation and Marine Electronics on-line book.
• Boat HowTo - Online courses and articles for marine electrics, NMEA networking and engines.
• GPS NMEA 0183 Messaging Protocol 101 - Arduino tutorial with general applicability.
• Meco Training - On-line marine electrics and electronics courses.
• Mr Lopez - Books and online classes on marine electrics, Spanish and English.
• NMEA Certification and Training - Official NMEA organization courses.
• NMEA Conference and Expo - Annual vendor event in USA.
• Ocean Science Technology - NMEA 0183 and 2000 tutorials.
• Seably - Electronics courses, including Actisense accreditation.

Reference

• NMEA FAQ - 2006 vintage, latest and remains relevant.
• NMEA Revealed - Detailed technical reference for NMEA0183, part of the gpsd project.
• Seatalk Technical Reference - Unofficial documentation of Seatalk 1 protocol.

Checklists

These are openly shared lists, specific to boats, however useful as a starting point, reference or cross-check for your own. See also the World Cruising Wiki examples.

• Caladh - 1990 Victoria 34, British flagged. Pre and post sailing checklists.
• Lille Ø - 1979 Amigo 40, German Flagged. Anchoring, before/after sailing, mast stepping etc plus boat documentation.
• Salty Lass - 2002 Bavaria 36, British flagged. Sailing, laying up, buying a boat checklists plus logbook template.
• Sea Jade - 2011 Bavaria Cruiser 36, British flagged. Before/after sailing, storm prep etc plus navigation templates.

??? warning

The term 'awesome' is used here in its American sense, and because 'awesome list' is a thing, and not in its British sense of actually involving awe.