How did this become such a big problem?

In the early days of computer coding, programmers did not have the memory space that computer systems have today. To conserve memory, programmers used two digit dates. Making things more difficult, programmers often gave their own unique names to computer commands. Today, thousands of computer programmers are employed to decode these unique commands. Many computer applications were written in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Consequently, many programmers and software companies never expected the software to survive until 2000. But much of it did and new computers simply enable old software to run much faster. Much of today’s computer hardware, heavy equipment and machinery may have embedded computer chips with this Y2K problem.

Why is this a problem for the recreational boater?

Today, boats are sold with machinery, equipment, and instruments that contain computers and microchips. If you replaced or added machinery, equipment and instruments to your boat, do they display data in digital form? Do you use: electronic communication equipment (VHF/FM radiotelephone, marine single sideband radio); GPS/DGPS; a fish finder; electronic navigation equipment (marine radar, Loran, depth sounder, sonar, chart plotter, autopilot); or sailing electronics? If you do, you need to contact the manufacturer to determine if a Y2K problem exists in the equipment and what needs to be done to correct it. Failure to correct Y2K problems could result in serious safety problems for you or others.

How can I get more Y2K information?

Below is a partial list of web sites that provide useful information on the Y2K problem:

The U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center has information on GPS date rollover issues, a listing of GPS manufacturers, and Local Notice to Mariners: www.navcen.uscg.mil

The U.S. Coast Guard Y2K site for the marine industry contains links to frequently asked questions (FAQ's) and allows sharing of solutions to Y2K problems: www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/y2k.htm

The U.S. Federal Government Gateway for Year 2000 Information contains directories sponsored by the General Services Administration and offers a vast resource for Y2K issues: www.itpolicy.gsa.gov/mks/yr2000/y2khome.htm

For more information concerning the U.S. Coast Guard and/or recreational boating, please contact the U.S. Coast Guard at:

E-mail: Infoline@navcen.uscg.mil
Phone: 1-800-368-5647
or visit the U.S. Coast Guard's Office of Boating Safety web site at: www.uscgboating.org

U.S. Coast Guard Preparedness

The U.S. Coast Guard is meeting the challenges of the Y2K Millennium Bug and is preparing contingency plans to minimize impacts on its mission to protect the public, the environment, and U.S. economic interests -- in our ports and waterways, along our nation's coast, on international waters, or in any maritime region as required to support national security. Our systems have been tested and meet Y2K compliance.

Electronics Manufacturers Web Sites

While in no way complete, here is a list of marine electronics manufacturers on the web. It's a great place to start to find out about Y2K compliance of their products.

Shakespeare Standard Communications MariTel Raytheon Interphase Technologies Livorsi Marine Apelco Garmin Simrad Litton

KVH Industries Speedtech Navico Sea Tel Humminbird Magellan Si-Tex RGM Furuno Alden Electronics