A month or so ago I wrote a piece here entitled "Intelligent Networking". Two days ago I dicussed "The Convergence Continues". Just in case you aren't following my mind set here let me share with you some rather intriguing information garnered from last evening's national news with Brian Williams on NBC.


Everyone has heard about Toyota's troubles with sudden acceleration by now. The current thinking is that it is somehow an electronically / computer driven problem that may be causing this. But here's the intrigue. The US Department of Transportation has admitted that they don't have the technical expertise to figure out what's going on with this. So, the government is now turning to NASA rocket scientists to solve the problem.


Now, I'll grant that new cars are probably 5-10 years ahead of most production boats technologically, but we're catching up fast. When I talk about consideration for "mission critical" circuitry being totally controlled by an electronic system, or tout the simplification that the convergence of electronics with traditional electrical wiring schemes has created, remember, behind all of this is some rocket science.


My bottom line on this? Its simple really, the boating sector needs to proceed with caution. I love things electronic, but when it comes to safety, we all need to step back and ask ourselves how many rocket scientists its going to take to fix any problems that may arise in spite of the best engineering intentions.

Written by: Ed Sherman
Ed Sherman is a regular contributor to boats.com, as well as to Professional Boatbuilder and Cruising World, where he previously was electronics editor. He also is the curriculum director for the American Boat and Yacht Council. Previously, Ed was chairman of the Marine Technology Department at the New England Institute of Technology. Ed’s blog posts appear courtesy of his website, EdsBoatTips.