Chart Plotters; behind the times?

I had the same problem last winter

... tried different datums, full system reset, software upgrade.

Then I remembered that the boat WAS sitting in the car park.
 
That's interesting, I didn't know there were corrections to be made. I've just used it 'as is' from when I bought the yacht last year.
I've just checked the manual (Navman Tracker 5500) and it does state that there is a 'Map shift' function, but it should not be used if the correct datum is available........I would have thought that this is WGS84 with the CMAP charts installed?
The GPS and chartplotter LAT/LON agree, so it looks like I have to manually move the map then?
 
Interesting - my cheap and cheerful Lowrance redraws at about x2 the speed of Google Earth on a dual core x64 bit E6850 Intel with 3Gb of cache and 5Gb of ROM.

Suspect it's the chart software you're using (or Raymarine instruments are even more crap than I though they were).

PS That's on a mean download speed of 7.2Mbps.
 
Interesting, for the past 18 years, using various plotters, I've always had my plotter at the chart-table.

I sail about 3000-3500 miles a year, mostly single handed and have never found the position of the screen a disadvantage.

The problems of a cockpit mounted screen are:-
1. Water ingress - even the Garmin is only water-resistant
2. Screen visibility - OK in nice gloomy UK waters, but daylight viewing screens regularly burn out in the Med.
3. Helmsman should be looking where he's driving the boat, not puzzling out the next mark.

How do I steer, well it's a thing called an autopilot, much more accurate than the majority of human steersmen, the control mounted in the main-hatchway is one pace away from the navigatorium.

It's not the ones in front that try and run you down - it's sodding Royal Maroc ferries coming up behind you on autopilot at 15 knots with the lookout having a kip and the OoW flirting with the passengers.
 
i have both.. one is not better than the other really.
I also steer mainly with auto pilot.. My wheel mounted Lawrance Plotter can take me onto the mooring within a few feet.. So can my garmin gps connected to laptop.. I've never noticed any update problem, Its a chartplotter not a pc game.. . I use the gadgets to help me sail my first 45 single handed around the place.. and was navigating with paper 40 yrs ago.. need a few more challenges as time goes by. There's an old saying.. Some people have 40 yrs experience,,, others have 1 yr experience 40 times... Smile
 
Now I learnt to navigate when the only electronics a yacht had was an echosounder and a LW radio for the forecast, and perhaps a handheld RDF. Yes I like my paper charts, I still use 2b leads and a good quality soft rubber too. Having said that GPS chartplotters are wonderfull and with an autopilot make sailing in both the good times and the bad times a lot easier, especially single handed. My chartplotter sits under the psrayhood, though I am in the process of setting up an alternate position at the helm.

As for accuracy, I would suggest that the cahp who is 150 metres out needs to check his unit out, mine pute me on the right side of the right pontoon and I suspect in my berth, though I haven't bothered to count down the fingers to check, the position is accurate enough for my needs.
 
yep, i've got a 5150C too... great bit of kit for the price... and very easy to use....

And I too have been sailing long enough to have made landfall by spotting a light and taking a bearing off it, along with dipping distances on more than one occasion..... and I too still carry a good set of pencils, an excellent pencil sharpener, and a decent rubber on board... a hard habit to get out of... and RDF... well what can I say.... anyone who used it will know what I mean.... the wonderful ability to confrim that you are somewhere in a 3 mile square patch of water.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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and RDF... well what can I say.... anyone who used it will know what I mean.... the wonderful ability to confrim that you are somewhere in a 3 mile square patch of water.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

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When I used an RDF, the best we could do was confirm we were in the Irish Sea /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif - and that was good enough for us in those days /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I also have a Lowrance, (an older one, with a 3 at the front), with an internal aerial - sivels at the wheel, so we can see it from anywhere in the cockpit - excellent value for money!!
 
When I used an RDF, the best we could do was confirm we were in the Irish Sea - and that was good enough for us in those days

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I could get closer than that Off Vancouver Island using a domestic pocket tranny and the local city radio stations.

I still carry a tranny on board with no alc afc gizmo's so that should the fog fall I can use Radio Forth Radio one and the EDI DME to help me find the way home.
 
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Having said that GPS chartplotters are wonderfull and with an autopilot make sailing in both the good times and the bad times a lot easier, especially single handed.

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I can certainly agree with that. Sandhamn to Gotland .. Gotland to Ventspils in 2007. That's two legs of approx. 90 miles odd each..... approx. 18 - 20hrs.

Just before exit Sandhamn fairway autopilot stops working, little later other guy on board falls ill ... Mal de Mer.

Plotter was a god-send allowing me to steer and look after boat without having to keep plotting manually with the accompanying loss of control of boat. After about 14 hrs and Gotland appearing ahead - we get surrounded by incredible electrical storm ..

I can say without hesitation - without the Plotter - that would have been a nightmare leg.

So we leave Gotland later after rest and trying to get tillerpilot fixed ( knackered board ... so unfixed ). Crew and I swap helming at intervals and still we are both tired ... we arrive 10nm of home port - Ventspils. Engine died. This is not funny ... Ventspils is a busy commercial port and strict rules against boats sailing in / out. Plotter gives me all the info I need at hand without leaving helm - I can call and discuss with Port Traffic Control .. giving accurate info for him to slot me into movements after giving special permission to sail in.

Again the plotter was invaluable.

Of course it's all possible without a plotter .. I was trained as a ships navigator long before GPS came about. But why make job harder than necessary ? It is a recognised navigation tool accepted by authorities .. so why this knocking of it that seems to prevail ? I don't advocate blind following of it as some have done to their misfortune, but it can and will save an awful lot of work, save the day in cases .. ie position info in Distress VHF tx. etc.

I will not venture far without my Lowrance 3500C plotter - even boxing it up and taking it on others boats !! Delivering a boat last year - lucky I did carry it .. the Raymarine integrated unit on it was terrible and so darned hard to use ... I set-up my Lowrance on the chart table ... antena laying next to chart .. switched on and bingo - locked on .. away we went.

I read a lot of posts and sorry to say it .. I think some need to get out there a bit more and realise that GPS has become part of the real world ... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Must admit I agree with the OP. Got a C80 on my boat (inherited) and after 4 days of tring to use it I was back to paper charts and a gps. The screen is too small, the operations are clunky and its in the wrong place (chart table) but its not practical to put it in the right place (cockpit).

Maybe just a case of getting used to it but at the mo I'm not impressed.

Mind you, computer nerds are bound to react they way your Norwegian pals did. But then itf the plotter had been designed by computer geeks, it would consume leccy faster than a fan heater, frequently dish out error messages, provide you with way more info than you could ever use, be comprehensible only to other geeks, and need updating on line every week. And above all it would do things just to prove they could be done.
 
I agree, using one of those portable things in the middle of the channel do not give the best results. Mind you even with a good (as fitted to one of HMs grey war canoes) HFDF set working on RDF bearings was only marginally better than using Consol, remeber those dots and dashes?
 
Hu Hum ... NOT my Norwegian pals ! That's another poster.

What I'm waiting for is the day a manufacturer finally get's of this blinkered market stance and provides a plotter that can be programmed with users choice of plotting software / charts.

Imagine a plotter - waterproof to IPX7 or whatever .... YOU can decide what plotting program to install, you can decide what charts etc. If you need keyboard etc. - easy radio linked job or as a PDA does - an onscreen stylus job.

But then of course manufacturer would then have to build a good machine instead of the present ... and use up to date processors instead of outdated stuff that has slow processing and redraw etc.

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