Barometers

phanakapan

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The cheapo clock and barometer set that came with the boat is broke. The nice man from the RNLI safety check said to get a new barometer. Now I generally only do day sails, and can nearly always access weather forecasts (mobile phone, texts, radio, Coastguard warnings etc etc)- so just how much use would one be? I will def get one someday; if you think it's an essential, are the £50 ones any good or do they just look pretty.
 

VicS

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Unnecessary for day sailing I would have thought. If you do get one then trend is more important than actual reading so a cheap and nasty one will probably do. Its up to you then how nasty is still acceptable.
 

TigaWave

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You can get them from about £27.00 and they're fine for looking at rates of change, but not good for specific pressure accuracy or repeatability...fine for weather forecasting as its the direction and rate of change which is interesting.
 

FullCircle

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E b*y has a rake of 'em from around a tenner up to a lot.
I am currently buying. Alternative is to get a weather station at 15 quid and up which is electronic. Also on EB*y


Jim
 

ccscott49

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Unless you study the thing and write down the pressure every couple of hours, and also know a thing or two about weqather forecasting, they are not a lot of use. I have a barograph, much more usefrul bit of kit, but not cheap, the real ones, not electronic.
 

tcm

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Re: Barometers uses

hm, and what exactly do you use a barograph for? I can't see how you would use it to open wine, or store wine, or drink from it. Utterley useless to you, surely?
 

Porthandbuoy

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Unless you're going blue water a barometer is in the "nice to have category". It gives you something to look at when it's blowing an F7 outside and the rain is coming down in sheets.
If you're going to splash out on a barograph make sure you get a damped one; the undamped variety are only fit for behind the yacht club bar.
 

starboard

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If thats the only item the RNLI guy found wrong you are doing well. Don't know what type you want but the following web site will give you some idea's of the electronic version's available. I guess for day sailing these would be a little OTT and providing you take heed of a good forecast before departure that should suffice.

Paul.

http://www.ukweathershop.co.uk/acatalog/electronic_sect.html
 

paulskent

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I have a Casio watch which has quite an accurate barometer and graph on it. Whenever I check the BBC website I am never more then one mb out and I get a trend graph fro the last 24 hours or so... I think it cost me about £60, 5 years ago... Probably about £30 now.
BBC currentl say we are at 1005 and rising.. My watch says 1006 at the top of a graph that has come up from 994 yesterday sometime...
PK.
 

starboard

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Don't forget these met office pressure values are given for Mean Sea Level. The value will change by 1mb per 30ft of alltitude above MSL. I work in Air traffic Control, the aerodrome pressure is called the QFE,this is the MSL pressure corrected for the airfield elevation. The MSL pressure is called the QNH. these factors are very important in aviation as all Altimeters are basically barometers and need to be set to a specific datum.........confused????

Paul.
 

ShipsWoofy

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I have used Liverpool airport to cal my barograph (navman 7200). I just matched it during a prolonged high. How can I find out their runway altitude above MSL then?

Is this online I would I have to contact the tower and ask very nicely.

Then I would have to find the altitude of my study.

ah soddit, it is only used for trends anyhow!
 

Metabarca

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I've just bought an electronic weather station from Ebay, from a company in Germany called Elecsa: 29 euro. They're always selling on Ebay. Mine shows the trend over the past 12 hours, plus clock, temperature (x2), tides (sort of), alarm clock and hygrometer. Satisfied customer.
 

paulskent

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Intersting.... How much difference would 80ft make to a Barometer reading ?? I have no idea how much these things change as you go up and down ?? Frinstance I work in a building on the 8th floor. Should I expect the barometer to read differently on the top floor??

PK.
 

Benbow

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Reminds me of the old old question

'how would you determine the height of an office tower using a barometer?'
 
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