Your instruments are 20yrs old and still working, except for one transducer. That is pretty impressive - what else is expected to do that? Not your phone, your computer or most likely even your automobile. Most likely your dishwasher, washer/dryer, refrigerator, etc will be barely creaking after 20yrs, and they aren't in the marine environment.

B&G has been three different companies since they made your wind transducer. It is likely they don't even have the schematics for it anymore - they probably don't even have the same engineers anymore. Even if they did, what do you expect to fix on it? The part that is broken is a custom asic - where are you going to get that chip and how are you going to get the software to program into it? Is it really realistic to expect that companies keep supporting old abandoned instruments to the extent of supplying customers with custom chips and software so they can fix them themselves?

If you think your time is so cheap as to reverse engineering an old piece of equipment (chasing down custom chips and writing software for them), then go at it. But don't go off on, and denigrate with such words, others who do buy new equipment every 20yrs to either replace broken stuff or get a world of new functionality. That was really unbecoming.

I don't understand what you think is an "unknown interface" - NMEA2000 is standardized far more than NMEA0183 ever was. Your automobiles have been using it for over a decade. NMEA0183 is a royal mess - good riddance.

No doubt you were able to make a better autopilot computer than your ACP1. Good god, that thing is ancient and no one builds ones like that anymore. But don't think that new ones are like that - we switched from an ACP1 to the new version and the difference is incredible. It is hard to even think of the ACP1 as an autopilot computer anymore - in comparison with its replacement, it was more like sheet-to-tiller steering. I doubt you could make one better and sell it for less while still making a profit and providing support.

And yes, it hurts, but at some point with all things, you need to rip out a mostly working system and replace it wholesale just because a single part no longer works. That is the way everything is, and it is unrealistic to expect otherwise - people regularly replace automobiles and appliances when it is no longer cost effective to repair them. 20-30 years is a good run for marine electronics.

It is true that most new instrumentation now is not repairable. That is a very good thing, because those aspects that make them non-repairable actually increase their ruggedness and decrease their prices. The displays are now all bonded glass, the guts are encapsulated systems-on-a-chip, and they are completely waterproof. They also cost a lot less than your old instruments. We recently replaced our B&G Network instruments with B&G Tritons. First, a single Triton can do all of the functionality of your entire Network suite - plus a lot more, including controlling the autopilot. Second, the cost of the unit itself is less than any of the Network units. In other words, your entire cast of Network display units can be replaced with a single $350 Triton - and you gain additional functionality with it. How is that being a rich asshole proving his manliness?

Mark