The partnership between HP Watermakers and Raymarine dates back to 2019, the year the two companies started working together. Their collaboration led to the installation (by default) of the HP Watermakers communication app on the multifunction displays in the Axiom range. Raymarine recently introduced the Axiom 2 Pro, which combines chartplotter, fishfinder, radar, autopilot and video in one powerful multifunction display. It is easy to use thanks to Hybrid Touch technology, which combines touchscreen control with an all-weather external keyboard, combined with the intuitive LightHouse operating system.
“The new Axiom 2 Pro is the most powerful Axiom chartplotter ever developed by Raymarine”, explains Michelle Hildyard, VP of Product Management and Business Development. “It offers a smooth and highly intuitive navigation experience. Featuring the latest LightHouse 4 operating system, this new all-in-one display integrates with a Raymarine advanced navigation network that includes LightHouse charts, radar and autopilot, as well as FLIR thermal night vision technology. The new 6-core processor allows for faster chart scrolling, instant response and the ability to run multiple apps simultaneously. The choice of applications, which includes HP Watermakers, has been the subject of careful analysis to select the most used and the most useful for improving the quality of life on board. This is why we included watermakers and the choice fell on HP Watermakers, which was also the first company to develop a communication protocol compatible with our systems.”
“When the owner finds the HP App icon, they are obviously enticed to choose one of our watermakers,” explains Gianni Zucco, CEO of HP Watermakers. “It was not like this at first, as shipyards assembled what they were used to choosing and then had to arrange for the machine to communicate with the on-board system during the set-up phase. It took some time, but now many shipyards have understood that, if the customer chooses the Raymarine Axiom system, combining one of our watermakers solves many of the installation problems; it also spares shipyards from having to explain to customers why there is the HP Watermakers icon on the dashboard but another model is fitted, with its dedicated software. It was a somewhat slow process but, as owners realised how many opportunities combining their Raymarine Axiom with our watermaker provided, numerous shipyards favoured us in their purchasing decisions.”
It is not only a matter of simplifying the installation and management of the fresh water supply system, but it is also a guarantee should maintenance interventions be required. If the watermaker stops working for any reason, the system, which operates on an Android platform, sends an alarm signal that appears directly with a pop-up on the monitor of the multifunction display. But that is not all - the instructions page relating to that specific problem opens directly. The owner can then try to reset the system or consult the manual (available in five languages) or, easier still, follow the video tutorial to solve the problem independently. This simple solution allows significant time and money savings, but often also saves the holiday.