— From the helm
Blog
Marine intelligence, boating tips, and d3kOS updates from Skipper Don.
The Great Water Level Mystery: When My Boat Floated and My Toilet Finally Flushed
Floating and Flushing
Summer Plans, Greek Islands, 65,000 Spammers, and a Boat That Needed More Attention Than Me
I didn’t mean to vanish for months, but once summer arrives and the boat goes in the water, everything else becomes background noise. This year I had a beautifully organized plan: wash and wax the boat, install water lights, swap in a new electric toilet, update the electrical system so solar could finally join the […]
D3‑N1: The Complete Guide to Building for d3kOS
If you’ve ever wanted a DIY marine computer, a Raspberry Pi chartplotter, or a full NMEA 2000 helm system without paying thousands for proprietary hardware, the D3‑N1 open‑source marine computer is the project you’ve been waiting for. This guide walks through every detail of building a marine‑grade navigation computer using d3kOS, OpenPlotter, and the PiCAN‑M […]
Installing d3kOS Image: Step-by-Step Guide
Building your own marine computer is easier than you might think. In this guide, Skipper Don and his buddy D3kOS walk you through installing the d3kOS image from your computer onto a 128GB SD card — the foundation of your open-source marine system. What You’ll Need Before you start, gather two 128GB SD cards: one […]
d3kOS Architecture
Understanding how d3kOS works is part of how it builds your confidence. Because when you understand the system — not just how to push the buttons, but how the pieces connect — you’re in control. Not dependent on it. In control of it. Here’s the architecture that makes that possible. Signal K — the foundation […]
d3kOS AI Marine
d3kOS is an open‑source AI marine operating system that runs across the helm, web, and mobile. It replaces aging gauges, unifies navigation and safety systems, digitizes manuals, and delivers real‑time intelligence, diagnostics, and self‑healing capabilities. The entire platform is built on affordable DIY hardware using Raspberry Pi and PiCAN‑M components. The project began with a […]
I Updated My Website and Accidentally Launched a Marine Operating System
There are days when you set out to fix one tiny thing — a typo, a menu link, a rogue pixel — and somehow end up releasing a full marine operating system into the world. This was one of those days. What began as a harmless “let me just update this page on AtMyBoat.com” spiraled […]
I Tried to Fix a Fuse on My Boat and Accidentally Invented a Marine AI Empire
I need to start with a confession: this blog was never supposed to turn into whatever it is now. Truly. Honestly. I envisioned atmyboat.com as a fun, breezy chronicle of me learning to sail Our Time, my charmingly stubborn 1994 Monterey. I imagined writing about sunsets, minor upgrades, and the occasional “oops, I forgot to untie the stern […]
Say Hello to My Little Buddy
The Marine AI Intelligence Platform I’ve been building — and why I think it changes everything