text: • Part 1: Paul Mann 68
  • Boatbuilding by Eye
  • Remote Magic
  • Paul Mann 68 Specs
  • Paul Mann 68 Deck Plan
  Ever felt like you were being baffled, bamboozled, and otherwise overwhelmed by the very stuff that's supposed to make your life easier? Thanks to the folks at IMS American in Stuart, Florida, every conceivable convenience installed onboard our Paul Mann 68 was integrated and discretely controlled via a high-end Crestron control system, with a nifty set of ultra-simple touchscreen remotes that offered graphics and programming thoroughly customized for the boat's owner.
  This is even groovier than it sounds. Wireless control systems that are less sophisticated than Crestron's often fail to function discontinuously—in other words, you pick up your remote, attempt to use it to raise the window blinds in the saloon, but wind up inadvertently turning off the plasma TV.
  There's no possibility of this happening with Crestron, however, primarily because the radio signals that travel between the various wireless remotes and the main, black-box-type processor (which is hardwired to most of the equipage onboard) are digital and discrete.
  Capabilities? Not only could the electronics on our 68's bridge instantly and flawlessly share navigational imagery with all the TVs onboard, but entertainment was up for grabs as well. What's more, our system could handle as many as 1,000 CDs on a dedicated hard drive as well as download music from the Internet. It could also categorize tunes, electronically display album covers on remotes, and randomly shuffle music in iPod fashion.
  Cost? According to IMS, the entire Crestron system onboard our Paul Mann 68 (with TVs and navigation electronics) added about $250,000 to our boat's $3.5 million as-tested price. —B.P.