Taken a break from 'boat jobs', and went back to  tech project stuff. Got the php scripts written/working for logging to db, the nmea data off the Raymarine data bus, and also printing it on the thermal printer (no need for a watch leader hand written passage log). Not too hard, as I did a lot of the prep work last year at home. All is now working well, as in photo.
Next I need to get the Raspberry Pi Linux computer up and sensing environmental data, which will also be db saved. I intend to add the nmea and environment data to the bottom of the blog posts, at some future date ( before the crossing).
After that I have to program my custom boat alarm system, which has a motion sensor, camera, and emailing system.