Raymarine RSW Wired Wind Gateway (R70946)

If you're running Raymarine's RSW Wired Smart Wind system, this is the box that makes it talk to the rest of your electronics. The RSW Wired gateway (part number R70946) is the NMEA 2000 interface for the RSW Wired masthead wind sensor. The transducer up the mast measures apparent wind speed and direction. This gateway takes that data, converts it, and feeds it onto your SeaTalkng backbone so your displays can read it.

The RSW Wired is a serious piece of kit. It's a professional-level wind sensor built for performance sailing, with a lightweight carbon arm and calibrated output that racers and offshore cruisers trust for real wind numbers. But the transducer on its own can't join your network. It needs this gateway to bridge the sensor to NMEA 2000. That's the whole job of R70946, and it does it quietly in the background once it's wired in.

Most folks buying this are in one of two spots. Either you're building up a fresh RSW Wired install and you need the gateway that pairs with the transducer, or your original gateway packed up and you're replacing it without touching the sensor at the masthead. The Raymarine dealers list it as the replacement wind gateway for exactly that reason. Good news is the swap is straightforward. You're working at the nav station or wherever the gateway lives, not going back up the rig.

Wiring it in is standard SeaTalkng work. The gateway drops onto your backbone with a spur, and the transducer cable lands on the gateway. A couple of things are worth getting right the first time. Give the backbone a clean, dedicated power feed and make sure both ends of the run are terminated. A gateway hanging off an under-powered or un-terminated backbone will drop off the network after a while, and you'll be chasing a fault that isn't really a fault. Keep the spur runs sensible too. Long, noisy cable runs near engine wiring or starter cables can put hash on the data.

Once it's on the network, your Raymarine displays do the rest. An i70s instrument display or an Axiom MFD will pick up the wind data and show apparent and true wind, wind angle, and the usual sailing pages. One thing to check before you go looking for problems: keep your display firmware current. Older software can show blank data pages from a perfectly good gateway, and a quick update usually clears it right up.

Mount the gateway somewhere dry and protected, inside the cabin or a locker rather than out in the cockpit weather. It's electronics, and it lives longer out of the spray and UV. Route its power away from big current draws like starter cables to keep the data clean.

Why the wired version instead of the wireless one? Boaters who go wired usually want the most reliable data path they can get, with no radio link to worry about. The cable from transducer to gateway carries the signal directly, which is one less variable when you're offshore and leaning on your instruments. If your RSW system is the wired flavor, R70946 is the matching gateway. It won't stand in for the wireless gateway and the other way around, so match the part to the transducer you own.

Just so it's clear, this listing is the gateway only. It does not include the RSW Wired transducer, the masthead arm, or the transducer cable. If you're starting from scratch you'll want the full RSW Wired transducer kit alongside this. If you already have a working transducer up top and just need the interface, this is the part you're after. Not sure whether your system is the wired or wireless RSW? Check the transducer or your original gateway part number before ordering, and give us a shout if you want a hand sorting it out. We'd rather get you the right part the first time than have you send one back.