Budget chart plotter and radar

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Rikds

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Old yacht with old Lowrance chartplotter mounted over chart table. So old it cannot take the new Navionics chips.
Want to have a plotter in the cockpit as well.
Options seem to be move old one to cockpit and install another. Vice versa. Use tablet on chart table and move plotter to cockpit (then have to keep tablet charged).
What else?
What plotter to buy?

Ideas?

Also a budget radar would be nice, suggestions?
 
You need to do a lot more investigation, understanding what sentences are output and understood by the plotter, and any implications of not being able to upgrade its charts, then you need to set about choosing your new plotter, and looking at its capability ( for example the more modern Garmins have built in Wi-Fi and you could use an iPad below), decide what additional functionality you may want to introduce later (AIS? Instrument integration?) and then design a new install.

I had a friend who was looking to implement AIS last winter, he had a huge Furuno Plotter below, and we finished up installing a new Garmin GPSMAP 751 in the cockpit, and a new Standard Horizon GX2200 (Built in AIS receiver) because the problems of trying to buy the special interface boxes and cables for the Furuno were huge. The by product is he now has an installation that will keep him going for several years.
 
Gladys said:
with NMEA0183 you will only be able to have one talker on the network.
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Thinking of NMEA0183 as "a network" is a good route to confusion and frustration. NMEA0183 is a protocol for one-way point-to-point links (albeit you can hang two or three extra devices off the receiving end). If you know what messages you want to send where, it's easy to work with. If you just have a vague idea of "I want to connect everything together so they share data" you will be disappointed.

A simple plotter with built-in GPS doesn't need any NMEA links to anything else anyway. The one on my binnacle is connected to 12v and that's it. Compass data from an autopilot is useful if available, to see separate heading and track lines, but I think it's unlikely that someone would have an NMEA0183 compass source on board already. That's much more likely to be either NMEA2000 or Seatalk (of whatever generation).

Pete
 
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I agree with all the previous advice but to add: you mentioned a budget radar .... I don't believe a budget radar is a good investment. If you can't afford a good radar I would rather buy a good weatherproof quality daylight viewable chart plotter with AIS and with a bluetooth/wifi link for the cockpit/helm and a tablet at the chart table linked to the main plotter by Bluetooth/WiFi so you get identical charts/routes/waypoints/function on both. If you ensure the tablet has its own built-in GPS then it can have a separate nav app (such as Marine Navigator for about a fiver) and downloaded charts (such as the UK Admiralty raster charts for less than £20 for the whole of the UK from Visit My Harbor) then the tablet also becomes a totally independent chart plotter should the main plotter ever fail. You just need a good 12volt charger for the tablet to keep it powered up.

Colin. Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
 
Like this idea. I have a Samsung Galaxy 10 tablet that will do all of that. I put Navionics on it as well. Now to get a plotter to talk to it.
 
Rikds said:
I think my old one is NMEA 2000 compatible. Sound possible?
Click to expand...

Possible, because NMEA 2000 has be around for a while, and its easy to check because any NMEA 2000 device will have an NMEA2000 connection socket, which is pretty easy to recognise. As you say it cannot take current Navionics chips the question is now whether you can get up to date charts for it. If not then its time to bite the bullet and buy a new plotter for cockpit use. Only a plotter is going to be both waterproof and bright enough for cockpit use. Tablets and PC plotters are fine down below, but not much use in sunlight.

If buying a new plotter, NMEA2000 is the way to go, and my own preference for a sailing boat would be for one of the B&G Zeus range.
 
When you say it doesn't take the "new Navionics chips", what exactly do you mean? If there's been some software change that it's not compatible with, then fair enough. Likewise if it uses some obsolete old hardware format. But if you just mean that in the shop you're looking at an SD card:

kingston-micro-sd-card-33458.jpg


...but the thing you took out of the plotter is a CompactFlash card:

transcend.jpeg


...then you might be OK. The ubiquitous Raymarine C-series plotters use CompactFlash, so even though the format is obsolescent for consumer electronics, Navionics is still supporting it for charts. I bought one from JG Tech just last year, and will now be able to update it via the web for the foreseeable future.

Pete
 
johnalison said:
My iPad charges well from 12v with a lead I got from Maplin. I have a splash-proof socket in a recess in the cockpit which I can connect to, but a tablet screen is unlikely to be bright enough for all light conditions.
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The reason I referred to a "good" 12v charger is that the cheep one I bought only had a claimed 2amp output but when I had my Android tablet on full brightness with the GPS active the charger was not keeping up with the battery demand. Now I have a 4amp one and the tablet battery stays charged while sailing.

Colin. Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
 
Gladys said:
+1 as well, also with NMEA0183 you will only be able to have one talker on the network. Once you have had a modern plotter in the cockpit you won't go back.
Click to expand...

That makes it +4

I recently found we had 7 GPSs on board

chartplotter
old chartplotter
hand held( for back up!)
two tablets with navionics
two mobiles without
 
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