Storyline
Well-Known Member
When we got Storyline about 7 or 8 years ago I wanted to install a wind generator as I realised all the creature comforts we were going to have would require more power. When I installed it and its control unit I wired in a dedicated GPS and VHF antenna for AIS that Comar supplied as they were one of only a couple of people offering affordable Class B AIS at that time.
As it turned out it never proved affordable as there were always other things we wanted to do on Storyline that kept AIS near the bottom of the wish list. We have just come back from the second cruise of the season in God's own country and while we were up there we had cause and the ability to look at AIS. The ability came from an amazing new 4G WLAN I have just installed and its powerful antenna coupled with 4 different sim cards mean we have WiFi Internet in many more places. The need for AIS was because we wanted to avoid a fleet of boats from Gordenstoun that were in our area and we wanted to make sure they did not fill the anchorage we had chosen each night.
When Chris loaded up a Ships AIS map online I could not beleive what i was seeing. The last time I looked at traffic on the west coast there would be the odd ship transporting timber, maybe a few ships in the Minch and the very rare pleasure craft. Last week (school hols now) and the screen was packed with Class B signals from yachts everywhere. The very first anchorage we looked at, Craggaig Bay on the west of Mull, showed we would not be on our own some 2 or 3 hours before we arrived. This has now effectively removed the excitement of waiting to see if anyone would be in the more remote type places we like. A few days later a forecast sw gale showed a number of boats fleeing for shelter in Canna. I have learned that there is no point in just feeling sad that all the feelings of remoteness and mystery have nearly all gone now on the West Coast but rather just feel thankful we had quite a few years without GPS, phone signals and weather every 4 hours on the vhf and embrace the new tech and so we are finally going to get that AIS.
We navigate using a fixed Garmin plotter/radar and have a couple of tablets that have Memory Map raster charts we use close to the shore and a Navionics app with digital charts we use on passage. For AIS we have a choice of;
a) a box we would hide away and link to our plotter/radar and show the AIS targets on that only
b) a cheap and cheerful Matsutec imported plotter installed in the cockpit that would run some charting software to augment out fixed plotter. It also has a screen we could display wind info on as we have had no wind data since ourTacksit expired some years ago. All would be needed is a wire down the mast and a budget wind speed and direction sensor - who knows, there might actually be a wireless one that worked (I think the previous owners got into the technology too early as ours has never been reliable).
c) another box we could hide away only this time with WiFi so that we could easily configure and talk to tbe AIS and update our destination etc (can't see this being done once the novelty wears off). What wifi would give us though is all the AIS traffic around us on the nav software on our tablets when on passage when we rarely have on line data.
d) as b & c but with the new Class B+ transmissions that are more frequent and 2.5x more powerful.
I really don't know which way to go. In an ideal world it would be a new plotter display & wifi but that is serious money. It would nice to have wind but we have been sailing so long we both know immediately if we are pinching and knowing what the wind speed is when it is blowing hard does nothing to lessen it. I think more engagement would come by having the AIS data on our phones/tablets. Previously we have only used them in tiny anchorages with the wonderful Antares charts but this year I discovered how cheap charts have got and now we use them all the time for passage planning and nav on passage. As to the new B+ transmissions maybe someone could say how much better they are.
Many thanks for any advice .....
As it turned out it never proved affordable as there were always other things we wanted to do on Storyline that kept AIS near the bottom of the wish list. We have just come back from the second cruise of the season in God's own country and while we were up there we had cause and the ability to look at AIS. The ability came from an amazing new 4G WLAN I have just installed and its powerful antenna coupled with 4 different sim cards mean we have WiFi Internet in many more places. The need for AIS was because we wanted to avoid a fleet of boats from Gordenstoun that were in our area and we wanted to make sure they did not fill the anchorage we had chosen each night.
When Chris loaded up a Ships AIS map online I could not beleive what i was seeing. The last time I looked at traffic on the west coast there would be the odd ship transporting timber, maybe a few ships in the Minch and the very rare pleasure craft. Last week (school hols now) and the screen was packed with Class B signals from yachts everywhere. The very first anchorage we looked at, Craggaig Bay on the west of Mull, showed we would not be on our own some 2 or 3 hours before we arrived. This has now effectively removed the excitement of waiting to see if anyone would be in the more remote type places we like. A few days later a forecast sw gale showed a number of boats fleeing for shelter in Canna. I have learned that there is no point in just feeling sad that all the feelings of remoteness and mystery have nearly all gone now on the West Coast but rather just feel thankful we had quite a few years without GPS, phone signals and weather every 4 hours on the vhf and embrace the new tech and so we are finally going to get that AIS.
We navigate using a fixed Garmin plotter/radar and have a couple of tablets that have Memory Map raster charts we use close to the shore and a Navionics app with digital charts we use on passage. For AIS we have a choice of;
a) a box we would hide away and link to our plotter/radar and show the AIS targets on that only
b) a cheap and cheerful Matsutec imported plotter installed in the cockpit that would run some charting software to augment out fixed plotter. It also has a screen we could display wind info on as we have had no wind data since ourTacksit expired some years ago. All would be needed is a wire down the mast and a budget wind speed and direction sensor - who knows, there might actually be a wireless one that worked (I think the previous owners got into the technology too early as ours has never been reliable).
c) another box we could hide away only this time with WiFi so that we could easily configure and talk to tbe AIS and update our destination etc (can't see this being done once the novelty wears off). What wifi would give us though is all the AIS traffic around us on the nav software on our tablets when on passage when we rarely have on line data.
d) as b & c but with the new Class B+ transmissions that are more frequent and 2.5x more powerful.
I really don't know which way to go. In an ideal world it would be a new plotter display & wifi but that is serious money. It would nice to have wind but we have been sailing so long we both know immediately if we are pinching and knowing what the wind speed is when it is blowing hard does nothing to lessen it. I think more engagement would come by having the AIS data on our phones/tablets. Previously we have only used them in tiny anchorages with the wonderful Antares charts but this year I discovered how cheap charts have got and now we use them all the time for passage planning and nav on passage. As to the new B+ transmissions maybe someone could say how much better they are.
Many thanks for any advice .....
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It is showing as o/s at the moment but I will email the guy and find out when they will be in again. 
