Beneteau has become the first boat builder to incorporate Garmin’s Surround View assisted docking technology on a production boat, its upscale Gran Turismo 45 cruiser. Surround View will be available on all of those models now, and will probably roll out to other Beneteau models as well.
The Garmin system has six cameras on the Gran Turismo so the captain can have a view of all angles of the boat, as well as an overhead bird’s-eye view, all appearing on the boat’s MFD at the helm. Both Beneteau and Garmin say the system gives the captain more confidence while docking the boat and increases his or her situational awareness.
Using Surround View, the captain can set distance markers around the boat that are shown on the MFD. They change as the boat moves, and turn from green to red if the boat is too near a dock or obstacle. It also has a visual bumper that you can configure to show the distance to any non-water object, such as a dock or pier.
Beneteau says that docking is one of the most stressful parts of boating, particularly for new boaters but also for experienced skippers. The company says that making boating easier is one of its core values.
The Surround View cameras are located around the boat. There’s a forward-looking camera in the bow, a rear-looking camera aft, and two side-looking cameras on both the port and starboard sides.
The cameras have a low profile for factory-installed through-hull mountings that blend with the boat’s lines. Read more at http://beneteau.com and see the videos below:
