Fuel data on a yacht’s chartplotter
How a Dutch yacht owner got live fuel consumption on his Raymarine display with a DFM D S7 flow meter and an NMEA 2000 converter — installed by himself.
A skipper on the North and Baltic Seas
A business consultant from the Netherlands owns and skippers a Sabreline 36 Express — a 12.2 m Downeast-class yacht with a single Caterpillar 3116 diesel (300 hp / 220 kW, top speed over 30 knots) and a 1,380-litre tank. He, his family and friends use it on weekends for day trips and short coastal cruises along the North and Baltic Seas.
Fuel figures for safe route planning
The yacht has a Raymarine HybridTouch multifunction display for route planning, charts and sensors on the NMEA 2000 network. Safe route planning needs accurate current consumption and remaining fuel — but the yacht’s standard sensors couldn’t provide either.
The owner wanted live consumption, totals over a chosen period, and all of it on the Raymarine screen.
Flow meter → NMEA 2000 → display
A DFM D S7 differential flow meter in the engine’s supply and return lines measures actual consumption and sends it via Bluetooth. A MasterCAN S7 NMEA converter receives the data, converts it into NMEA 2000 messages and puts it on the vessel’s data bus to the display.
The owner installed, connected and configured everything himself, using the user manuals for the flow meter and the converter.
The Raymarine display now shows hourly fuel consumption, engine hours and fuel used per trip. Data reaches the NMEA 2000 bus without interruptions or distortion, and the equipment works with Raymarine electronics without extra modules. With reliable fuel figures, the owner plans routes precisely — and doesn’t risk running out of fuel at sea.
Task → Solution → Result
No fuel data on board
Standard sensors gave no consumption or remaining-fuel figures for route planning.
DFM D S7 + NMEA converter
Bluetooth flow meter data converted to NMEA 2000 for the chartplotter.
Fuel on the Raymarine screen
Hourly consumption, engine hours and per-trip fuel — self-installed.
I spent a long time searching for equipment that could truly meet my needs. … Even though I’m not a specialist in installing such hardware, the detailed user manual made everything clear. Installation, and setup were smooth and hassle-free.
Yacht owner · Netherlands
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