— From the helm
Marine intelligence, boating tips, and d3kOS updates from Skipper Don.
Adding a Garmin chart-plotter, an NMEA 2000 backbone, OpenPlotter on a Raspberry Pi, and a CX5106 converter was a huge leap forward. Suddenly, my 1994 Monterey wasn’t just a boat with good bones — it was a platform for digital innovation. But here’s the truth: none of it matters if the power doesn’t hold. Why […]
Every boat project has a turning point. For me, it came on Black Friday. I’d been limping along with a 1990s Lowrance fish finder — the kind of unit that belongs in a museum more than on Lake Erie. It showed a boat icon floating on blue nothingness. No detail, no charts, no real situational […]
When the boat is wrapped up for winter and the snow is falling, that’s when the ideas start flowing. I’ve spent decades in IT, helping companies digitize and disrupt, so of course I can’t help but look at my 1994 Monterey and think: how do I bring her into the digital age? The first step […]
I’ve spent my career helping businesses go through digital transformation—taking clunky, electronic and paper‑driven processes and turning them into sleek, connected systems. So when I look at my own boat, I can’t help but see the same opportunity staring back at me. Don’t get me wrong, I love my boat. But it’s not my dream […]
September 2025. The fish were practically volunteering for the frying pan. Four‑hour limit, perfect skies, and the kind of calm water that makes you think you’re in a tourism commercial.Naturally, I pointed the bow home, cranked the throttle, and let the heavy metal blast through the speakers. Because everyone knows horsepower increases by at least […]
